De-Googling

On May 19, 2026, Google held their annual I/O developer conference and unveiled their usual host of updates and changes to their various platforms, from previewing Android 17 to replacing their flagship "10 blue links" Search product with even more AI. Some of these changes included tests to replace news headlines with ones written by AI, replacing the SEO-search we knew and loved with natural language options that cannot seem to parse out basic search queries from genuine instructions, and an Agentic web experience rife with even more misinformation. Great.

If you know me, then it's definitely not a surprise to you that I am not on the AI-bandwagon at all. From the ELIZA and the LLMentalist effects (no, AI/LLMs are not conscious), to "the unholy alliance of the busy trap and software brain," I strongly believe that these products have been rushed to market, prioritizing capital and hype over actual usefulness and safety. Or, as Dr. Ian Malcolm as played by Jeff Goldblum put it so eloquently in Jurassic Park,

"I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here, it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now... your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."

Beyond the very obvious bad implications of using LLMs, from the studied decline in our cognitive abilities, death by chatbot, and the massive harms caused to our planet (no wonder that the less people know about AI/LLMs, the more inclined they are to like it), it's still important to remember that anytime we use a Google product or service, we are funneling our data directly to them for free - and sometimes in very scary ways we're not even aware of. As the old adage goes, if you are not paying with money, you are then paying with your data, your privacy, and your attention. And it's equally as important to remember that Google is not a tech company with an ads business; Google is an advertising company with a tech side hustle. Personally, none of this sits well with me (and this clearly doesn't sit well with Google employees either), from the lack of agency over my data to the current US administration acting like that of a hostile, rogue nation (not that Canada is helping, elbows down amirite?), so much so, that I've been toying with the idea of fully de-Googling my life. I've done it in the past with both Meta and Microsoft products and services, so how hard could it be to do the same with Google? Well, as you'll soon find out, in some cases it's easier than expected and in others significantly more difficult.

Below, I've outlined many of the specific changes I've made to actively de-Google, and where possible, the efforts I've made to divest myself from US-based tech options (which, as you'll see by the sheer number of 🇺🇸 flags below, turns out to be an even harder task than de-Googling). It's a slow and ongoing process, and I expect to update this guide of sorts as I continue down this journey.

CONFIRMED CHANGES

Chrome: Arc Browser 🇺🇸, released in Summer 2023, fundamentally changed my workflow at my job and more broadly how I browse the web at home. However, The Browser Company has since been acquired by Atlassian, and they've pivoted to a similar browser just with more AI shoved front and centre, leaving Arc to die a slow death. I've since switched Arc as my work and personal browser of choice to Zen (I can't find any details on where Zen is based, so I'm going to assume it's based in the US), an open-source, privacy-focused fork of Firefox 🇺🇸. It has all the features of Arc, but without Chromium as the backbone. On Android, I recommend Firefox for ease of syncing with Zen, and on iOS, either DuckDuckGo 🇺🇸 or Safari 🇺🇸 (more on these choices later).

Google Search: Given how much Google has degraded Search (remember their $60 million deal with Reddit?), now is as good a time as any to try out the deluge of other options available to us. If you want to stick with Google there's &udm=14 🇺🇸, which is a de-enshittified version of Google Search that strips out all the AI-injected misinformation. The major issue is that it's still Google. Then there's DuckDuckGo Search 🇺🇸 (and their pretty decent No AI option as well), which I've been primarily using over the last year, but I've recently moved away from it given it tends to fall back on Microsoft's 🇺🇸 Bing search index which isn't all that great. I used to recommend Ecosia 🇩🇪, but they've recently started to push more AI elements into their offering, which if you ask me, completely runs counter to their whole climate-first approach. Instead, I've lately been using Qwant 🇫🇷, which is a privacy-focused option that I've so far had a really good experience with. Finally, I've seen some pretty compelling reviews regarding Kagi 🇺🇸, but it's both US-based and paid, and while this is most likely the elder millennial in me, the idea of paying for search feels almost a bit too foreign for my liking.

• NOTE: If you're an Android user, I strongly recommend installing the DuckDuckGo app even if you don't use it for search specifically for two features. The first is their App Tracking Protection which blocks services and companies like Google from fingerprinting your activity across apps (basically Apple's baked in App Tracking Transparency, but for Android users). The second (and this is something iOS users can also take full advantage of) is their Email Protection service which lets you create a unique @duck.com email ID that you can use as a top layer which strips out all tracking elements before forwarding to your email alias of choice (and it lets you create quick burner emails that do the same, adding another layer of anonymity and protection in the event of privacy breaches).

Gmail & Calendar: Back in 2009, I ditched my very first @hotmail.com email address for Gmail and right up until the last ~4 or so years, I was pretty happy with the out-of-box experience. However, much like Search, Google has slowly degraded the Gmail experience, resulting in the necessity to pay for extensions like simpl.fyi to bring it back to a usable state. With Google pushing Gemini into every facet of their product suite, including the right to train their Gemini LLM on your emails, I recently made the decision to switch over to Proton Mail 🇨🇭 which I've really been enjoying. It's fully-encrypted, non-US based, and lets me use a custom domain with up to 15 aliases. And most recently, they've added in baked in support to use your Gmail account directly in Proton Mail, making it an even more appealing private option all around. Other options include Tuta 🇩🇪, Fastmail 🇦🇺, and ThunderBird 🇺🇸, but Proton Mail to me felt like the best and most secure option available.

Given the switch to Proton Mail, switching from Google Calendar to Proton Calendar 🇨🇭 made the most sense. It's not nearly as feature filled, most notably in that it's missing a built-in tasks feature (and I loathe having a separate app for tasks), but I'm hoping that this gap will be resolved soon enough.

Drive/Files & Docs: For the last few years, quite honestly longer than I'd like to admit, I've been paying an annual Google One subscription for myself, my wife, and my extended family mostly so we could all have unlimited full resolution back-up for our photos (more on that in a sec). Google Drive 🇺🇸 does work pretty well, and Google Docs has become so ubiquitous going as far to almost fully supplant Microsoft's suite for the vast majority of users as it comes automatically bundled with any free/basic Google account. With my shift to the Proton Suite, it only made sense to utilize Proton Drive and Proton Docs 🇨🇭 for collaboration purposes, which much like Calendar, might not be as feature filled as Google's offerings but is absolutely good enough. For a docs option installed locally on your machine that gives you an experience comparable to either Google Docs or Office 365 🇺🇸, LibreOffice 🇩🇪 is rock solid. Long term, however, my goal is to set up a homelab via NextCloud 🇩🇪 so that I have full control and agency over my files and information.

Photos: As far as I can tell, there really isn't anything that's comparable to Google Photos at this time. Sure, Ente Photos 🇺🇸 exists, but it has many of the same issues in that it's not self-hosted and is US-based. Huge bummer! Proton Drive 🇨🇭 does have a Photos storage/sharing option baked in, but that still means saving my memories to the cloud (effectively server I don't own or have control over). Like my long-term goal with NextCloud, I'm hoping to set-up Immich 🇺🇸, a self-hosted photo storage option. The primary issue with Immich right now is that there isn't a properly secure way (that I know of at least) to share photos externally without fully exposing your entire library to the open-web. Personally, I would love if there was a way to set up an Immich instance using the encryption that Proton Drive offers, but until that's available (and I'm not holding my breath), I think this semi-hacky workaround might be the best option in the interim.

Messages: On Android, the default on most OEM offerings is Google Messages 🇺🇸 - an RCS enabled and E2E-encrypted messaging option. The issue here is that it's still Google, and given their push to add AI across their entire ecosystem, from Gemini in Chat to features like Magic Cue, I'm not sold on Google's privacy-first claims (especially after how in I/O '26, Sundar Pichai directly referenced what should be a private Gemini Chat as a real-world example of how powerful their tools are). I've long recommended avoiding using WhatsApp, and it looks like my worst fears might be coming true (which, if I'm being honest shouldn't surprise me given Meta's recent pivot to keylogging employees to train their LLMs) and Telegram is completely off the table as well. This leaves Signal 🇺🇸 as the only truly viable option remaining. If you're not already using it, you absolutely should switch over. Signal messages are fully encrypted, meaning not even Signal themselves has access to any of the metadata. You can even go as far as hiding your phone number, opting to share your Signal with others using a username instead.

• NOTE: If you, like most people, have multiple chat apps on your mobile device, then Beeper is a solid option. On Android, it can pretty much replace every app you have in a single inbox, and their on-device bridges are a great way to ensure you maintain full encryption without any data touching Beeper servers. On iOS, it can replace everything with the exception of iMessage.

Maps: I was fully expecting quite a bit of friction leaving Google Maps 🇺🇸 behind, and while there certainly is, I've been happy with HERE WeGo 🇳🇱 for driving turn-by-turn navigation and Transit 🇨🇦 for public transit details. OrganicMaps 🇪🇪 is another excellent privacy-focused option, but one I personally haven't spent too much time with. The main considerations I'm still working through at the moment are how I can replace Google's ability to search local options, read user reviews, and how I can replace real-time location sharing with my wife.

Authenticator: Everyone should have a non SMS-based multi-factor authentication system setup. For me, because I was so deep in the Google world, that meant Google Authenticator 🇺🇸. The major issue there is that it's mobile-only, so if your device is lost or stolen, you lose access to those MFA codes. I toyed around with Authy 🇺🇸, but they also recently went mobile-only and parent company Twilio 🇺🇸 has faced a number of privacy breaches which made it a non-starter for me. Given my switch to the Proton 🇨🇭 ecosystem, it made sense to use Proton Authenticator 🇨🇭 which is both mobile and desktop friendly and is cross-platform in all the best ways.

• NOTE: Beyond an authenticator app, everyone needs to have at bare minimum a software based password management app (I use Bitwarden's 🇺🇸 free tier) and if possible, a hardware security key (I'm adding two Yubikeys into my security stack) to ensure you're fully resistant to phishing attacks. It may seem like overkill, but do a quick search of your email on haveibeenpwned and you might start to think otherwise. Just, whatever you do, please do not use LastPass.

YouTube: This is one where I just don't think there's any true competitor. Sure, there's Vimeo 🇺🇸 (which seems to have pivoted from social to corporate) and Nebula 🇺🇸 (a paid option to boot, raising concerns about it's longevity), but not all accounts that I like to watch are on either of those platforms. That said, there are a few options to help you bypass some of the Googley-ness of it all.

• Mobile (Android): the best option here is YouTube ReVanced. This approach patches the YouTube app, effectively giving you YouTube Premium features for free. You'll need to install MicroG Services alongside this if you want to log-in and subscribe to accounts etc., and if you do, I'd strongly recommend not using your actual Google account and opt for a burner one instead. You can use this burner account on your TV and desktop as well for cross-device/platform syncing.
• Mobile (iOS): Here, given Apple's strict platform limitations, the options are, well, more limited. The best bet is to install AdGuard and use YouTube via Safari or DuckDuckGo browsers. It's definitely not as smooth of an experience as YouTube Revanced is on Android, but it does help get around most ads and enables Premium features like picture-in-picture and screen-off listening modes.
• Desktop: Any browser + any adblocking extension + a burner account will suffice.

Finally, these last three are strictly mobile options that I've found to work fairly well as non-Google options. Replacing Google Translate for me is DeepL Translate 🇩🇪. While it does use "AI", I like that I can download any language pack and use it fully offline without needing an internet connection, and so far while certainly not as aesthetically pleasing as Google Translate, it absolutely goes toe-to-toe with it feature wise. Replacing Pixel Weather for me is Gradient Weather 🇬🇧, a relatively new app on the scene but has been thoroughly enjoyable. The free tier is absolutely more than enough, especially when the month-to-month or even one-time payment options are a bit steep at the moment. And lastly, replacing the Play Store is F-Droid 🌐, a community-run project with contributors worldwide that doesn't have a single physical location in the world.

STILL RESEARCHING

Gboard is by far the best digital keyboard experience bar-none (don't get me started on how trash the iOS keyboard experience is), but the sheer amount of telemetry collected and sent back to the mother ship is deeply concerning. Apps like Heliboard, FlorisBoard, and FUTO Keyboard exist, with FUTO (the same parent company to Immich) coming arguably the closest to the feel and fluidity of Gboard straight out-of-box.

Google Meet is the default video calling app on Android, and there are other options like Zoom 🇺🇸 and Teams 🇺🇸, but both are big tech and neither are as easy to use. So far, Proton Meet 🇨🇭 feels like the best option for folks not using Signal (which has its own excellent and fully encrypted voice/video calling options built in), but it's still too early for me to make a final determination.

Google Lens is an incredibly helpful tool, especially when I'm out and about with my wife and we want to try to identify a bird or a plant. There are other apps to help with that, like Merlin Bird ID 🇺🇸 and PlantIn 🇨🇾, but each comes with their own set of pros and cons.

Google Recorder is an excellent app, from its ease of use to its pretty incredible transcription and person/animal speech and sound detection. There are other mainstream apps like Otter.ai 🇺🇸, but many of these require a paid subscription, and while I'm sure any number of offline apps could theoretically be synced/saved to my Proton Drive, I just haven't really explored these options thoroughly enough yet.

Google Home is another one of those Google apps that just works, well, at least on Android. It connects so easily with a number of third-party smart devices (in our home, it's really just smart bulbs across Philips and Govee brands) and as long as you have an active internet connection, works anywhere in the world. iOS, on the other hand, is an exercise in frustration with both Google Home and Apple's own Home app. If you've already set up a Matter/Thread-enabled light using a first party app like Philips Hue, have synced it to Google Home and you've blown past the 15 minute window to also sync with Apple Home, the only option left to connect said lights/smart appliances to Apple Home is to fully factory reset and start the process all over again from the beginning. Thankfully, there is Home Assistant 🇺🇸 - a self-hosted option - which I'm excited to play around with more as part of my longer-term HomeLab project, so stay tuned for an update!

MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS

Notes: Anytime someone says that iMessage is Apple's secret weapon to platform lock-in, I wonder if they've really ever tried exploring the world of note taking apps, because in my honest opinion, Apple Notes is the true secret to platform stickiness. Sure, there's Notion 🇺🇸 and Evernote 🇺🇸 and Simplenote 🇺🇸 and UpNote 🇸🇬 and Obsidian 🇨🇦 and on and on and on, but none of them are as easy to use or feature filled for the average user as Apple Notes is. Google Keep is the default option for most Android users given it's free and automatically available to anyone with a Google Account, but it still doesn't even come close to how easy and functional Apple Notes is. And while I don't need a "second brain" or anything more complicated than what Apple Notes has to offer, I'm also not particularly enthralled with the idea of moving from one walled garden to another. Ultimately, I think that Obsidian is likely the best option given that it's a Canadian company, and with some relatively hacky workarounds, I can set up vault syncing without needing to pay a $4/month subscription: Syncthing if I want a local option direct via my MacBook, or FolderSync if I want to go through something like NextCloud. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's an easy way to sync Obsidian across devices via Proton Drive, womp womp.

Wallet: I don't know how else to say this, but the Apple Wallet app is deeply trash. It still lacks a native option to scan barcodes, requiring you to either download the company's app (i.e. Air Canada for Aeroplan Points) or a third party app like Pass2U for the apps that don't support direct import into Wallet. So more often than not, on top of Apple Wallet, you still need a secondary app to reliably store and access your loyalty cards. Google Wallet, on the other hand, is an incredible experience that just works. I can add in all my payment methods, transit cards, and loyalty cards by either searching or scanning in-app, and if I wanted to, I could add just about anything else my heart desires, from my passport to driver's license to health card (not that I recommend doing any of that). The issue with Google Wallet is that unless you know to turn off (this is opt-out, not my preferred opt-in) telemetry in the settings, all of your purchasing data is sent straight to Google that is then used for targeted advertising purposes. Leaving Google Wallet behind means losing tap-to-pay, which isn't the end of the world, but is a definite loss of convenience, and I simply cannot fathom having to rely on Apple Wallet either.

OS: By now I'm sure it's pretty obvious that I'm an Android user through and through. In fact, it's been my mobile OS of choice since I got my first smartphone - the HTC Desire back in 2010 - and since the Nexus 5 was released in 2013, I've long preferred Google's particular flavour of Android. While the Pixel line is great for the average user - great software and a great camera - the Google of it all is quite difficult to get away from. This really only leaves me with three remaining options - iOS 🇺🇸 (after playing around with an older iPhone 15, I'm really not sure I can get behind due to the combined disasters that are Liquid Glass, the truly godawful keyboard, the trash apps that are Home and Wallet, and the genuinely terrible notification management system), GrapheneOS 🇨🇦, a security-hardened fork of Android that has direct support for Pixel devices, and more recently, Motorola phones, and finally, Ubuntu Touch 🇩🇪 (which not only lacks support for just about every device currently on the market, it also has the additional downside of being based on Linux which almost never works as intended - something I'm not willing to experiment with on my one and only phone - effectively making this a total non-starter). I do think that GrapheneOS will be the way I'll go, especially given that I can sandbox Google apps and services to reduce the level of telemetry sent back to Google. This is likely a longer-term experiment that I need to run, so stay tuned!

OTHER CHANGES

These changes aren't specific to Google or even trying to divest myself from US-based tech, but are changes I've made recently and ones that I've been pretty happy with and thought I'd share here as well.

Music: Last year, my wife and I made the switch from Spotify 🇸🇪 to Apple Music 🇺🇸 and overall, it's been a pretty seamless transition. The main reason for this is that Spotify became far too bloated, and started to add in features I personally didn't jive with, such as AI slop music, a TikTok style scrolling feed (just, why?), and their CEO, Daniel Ek, using his ill-gotten gains to lead a €600 million investment round into an AI-military startup. Apple Music by comparison felt like a return to my iPod of old - a calmer, truly music focused experience. They've also started adding in some of the Spotify features I was missing, such as concert notifications for bands I'm interested in, and they even have a built-in tool to transfer your playlists over (this came out after we made the switch, so I haven't had a chance to test this out myself). All in all, if you're tired of Spotify and have yet to dig-up and restore/refresh your iPod, Apple Music is a great alternative. I also want to give a quick highlight to Qobuz 🇫🇷, a music streaming app I've heard relatively positive things about (including some of the best artist pay) with the one caveat that there's no free tier.

News: Ever since Google killed off Google Reader in 2013 (pour one out for a real one), Feedly 🇺🇸 stepped in to fill that gap. But since 2013, the core app itself really didn't change, leading to an experience that felt like it was lagging behind the rest of the apps and services I use. Moreover, they have increasingly moved many features behind a subscription service, and even went so far as to launch "strikebreaking as a service" in 2023. Yikes! Having grown quite bored of the Feedly experience, and not wanting to support strikebreaking, I went on a hunt for a new service and that landed me with SmartRSS 🇨🇳 via FeedBin 🇺🇸. I'll have more to say on RSS in a future post 👀.

Streaming: Remember when cord-cutting meant cost-savings? Now, streaming is just as, if not more expensive than cable of yore. Thankfully, you can pretty easily cut the cost of streaming by sailing the high seas 🏴‍☠️. There are a few options available, such as Jellyfin/Plex via the *Arr stack, but if you want something that's more comparable to the current ease of streaming, Stremio 🇧🇬 bootstrapped via Torbox is a great option as well.

And that's everything! If you've made it to the end, thank you for taking the time to read this monster of a post. I'd honestly love to hear any thoughts or questions you might have about anything I've mentioned (or forgot to include), so feel free to send me an email at hello@tapaseaswar.com.