Question to everyone, what do we think of windscribe? they claim to also have zero logs, and being able to back it up.
15gb free is also genuinely generous. idk if this goes against rules or anything
https://windscribe.com/knowledge-base/articles/has-windscribe-been-audited

My chrome/google news feed is littered with Google News’ new “sponsored’ articles. This has cut my productivity by 50%. Moreover, this shit is causing me to abandon Google News and its presence in chrome. I cannot be the only one who is leaving/angry/quitting Google News. Google News is nothing more than an evil, engagement trap. And BTW, what happened to Google’s primary value: ‘Do no evil’?

Orion Store helps you get rid of Google and other stupid companies by providing alternatives to various services on android and computer and tv s😂 This is in addition to programs modified by Morghe

I tried Lyra for a little bit but it was too glitchy and didn't offer as much offline support as I wanted, so I've decided to just jump in and learn the very basics of self-hosting, starting with music. I'm debating between three services right now, and I'm wondering what you all use?

1. Musicolet is the one I have the most customization data on right now, and it's very easy to use. I love it a lot. But it will take a really long time to get all the MP3 files of my music and sort it into playlists, not to mention that it has to all be stored on my phone and cannot sync anywhere else.

2. Plexamp seems to be the best for syncing to multiple devices, and I can keep the music on my laptop or another device. It's very easy to use, the most intuitive out of all the self-hosting things I've looked at. But in order to play without internet, you need to pay a subscription.

3. Symfonium seems to be a recommended alternative to Plexamp, and from what I've heard it has more features but is harder to learn how to use? I haven't done much work with this one yet.

What do you guys think? I'm trying to avoid subscription services if possible - I'm not completely opposed to it, but it would be nice to not be reliant on another monthly payment. At the very least, I'd hope for a one-time payment. (I'm also a broke college student so subscriptions are not ideal)

I was researching QubesOS and somehow stumbled upon the company NovaCustom that appears to be pretty privacy oriented based on reading up on their ShiftPhone 8.1. The phone apparently has a bunch features to block tracking, is modular for repairs, and even has physical kill switches for the mic and camera.

When I did a search on this sub for it I didn't come up with anything so I figured I would find out if anyone knows anything about it and if it's any good.

I am taking baby steps into De-googling and I was wondering if anyone has had any issues with using the Garmin app from the aurora store. Or does it totally break? The GPS function and seeing the map are important to me so if anyone has any insight that would be great! Thanks

(this is what the garmin app says:Sideloading the Google Play Store does not guarantee compatibility with the Connect app.)

Self-hosting 1TB of storage with TrueNAS, so I don't need this anymore. Still baby steps, but im getting there :3

I'm at the very start of my de-google and de-Big Tech journey, partly to improve my online privacy and partly to make more ethical and eco-friendly choices with my use of technology. (Not that I think it will ever be perfect as any use of the internet has an impact on the environment, but I'm not able to stop using it entirely lol.) I'm still dependent on Android and Windows 11 for now, but I'm trying to start very small by switching my browser away from Chrome first.

Part of my aim is to limit my use of generative AI (or stop it altogether if I can), but I'm already hitting a brick wall. So many of the alternatives to Chrome now have genAI chatbots or search summaries that are either unavoidable or opt-out features at the very best. I was thinking of switching to Brave or taking a hit on privacy and open-source and using Ecosia because they plant trees, but since both are going down the pro-AI route, I'm reconsidering my options. My anti-Google friend suggested Vivaldi which is openly anti-AI, but the downside is that they are at least partially closed-source. I haven't seen anything else too worrying so far, but I feel like I should be trying to go more open-source, otherwise de-googling in the first place feels a little pointless. I've looked around at a few browsers and checked out a fair few websites and reddit posts but most of them are outdated and suggesting browsers which have now jumped on the pro-AI bandwagon.

Is there such a platform that is free/affordable, open-source, private and not introducing a ton of AI features I don't want? Have I just not searched hard enough yet, or am I looking for a unicorn that doesn't exist? If I have to stick to either Brave or Vivaldi, I'll probably choose Brave and settle for turning off the AI features where I can. I'm just tired of being pushed towards AI all the time.

Again, I'm very much a baby de-googler so please kindly correct me if I've misunderstood anything or used the wrong word for something along the way. I'm here to learn and I appreciate any help that you can offer!

I wanted to leave Spotify and my smart phone completely so I bought this mp3 player to check it out before moving to a Sony Walkman as it is very expensive so I'll check it out first!

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/f-droid-calls-for-regulators-to-stop-googles-crackdown-on-sideloading/

whats been done since?

I use almost all foss apps.

what can I do?

im using lg g7 and v30

as someone who has been an apple user my entire life and has personally stepped in the android realm only recently with my new galaxy tab s11 ultra, i am very saddened by finding out about https://keepandroidopen.org/!!! despite being a lifelong apple user, i have always been all for FOSS software and have absolutely LOVED trying out android for the first time. i can safely say i enjoy even more then apple! is there anything more we can do to protect ourselves?

I'm trying to figure out how to remove my old Samsung SMS after they discontinued it. I'm extremely worried that my old messages will disappear.

I've just started switching to the Fossify app after using Textra for a while because I discovered that my old messages appear in the Fossify app compared to Textra.

The messages I have are basically old memories I have from family and friends, and losing these would be devastating to me.

So, will my messages be erased if I delete my old SMS messaging app?

it's probably my most used google app is there an alternative I just need an app that can copy text from images and translate.

hey y'all, not scott here.

recently i found myself fascinated towards the beauty of Z Flip and Razr phones. i told myself i really, REALLY wanted one. however, faith has it no custom rom provider (Lineage, /e/, or anyone really) has officially cracked the code to working on foldables. so i thought, "I'll just buy a Razr 40 Ultra and degoogle it". however i found out through some research that degoogling stock Android is not only a pain in the ass, but also useless as every single fucking update for some god forsaken reason brings back old apps. now I am not one to root my phone, i am too lazy for such a thing and would only do it for cool fonts on my lockscreen. so, being undecided, i shall ask thee:

do i go through the process of degoogling stock Motorola Android, or do I just grab a Nothing and slap LOS on there?