I was an early fan of Google, from managing to get an early invitation to Gmail, playing with Picasa and following it when it was purchased by Google and eventually became Google Photos, using and enjoying Google Docs and the other offerings in its Office Suite. My first smartphone ran Android (it was the HTC Desire), I ran library lessons on using Google products when I was a School Librarian and I enjoyed the ease of use and interconnectedness Google products offered.
Sadly over the years I have watched Google move from the days of “Don’t Be Evil” and fear that they are approaching their “I’m With Evil” phase, in fact they may already be there.
I have slowly been in the process of Degoogleing my life, and the other day I decided to share (via Bluesky) some replacements for Google products:
That skeet has proven to be extremely popular. So popular in fact, that I decided to create this post with more in-depth suggestions with regard to replacing Google products and services. I will caution at the outset that sometimes there are not like for like products that work in exactly the same way, but for each I will suggest at least one potential replacement you can try out.
Remember when looking to swap out apps and programs from companies that have taken a stance you disagree with, you should take the time to test out and research potential replacements- it is good to take heed of suggestions but find something that fits your particular needs and ethics.
I have limited this list to free to use products. Depending on your needs (& budget) there are a number of subscription services that may meet your needs that you can find with a quick search on your search engine of choice (see below for some examples).
Replacing Google Search:
Replacing the Chrome Browser:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox
Replacing Gmail:
https://www.fastmail.com paid service
https://mailfence.com basic plan is free
Replacing Google Docs:
https://www.nuclino.com basic option is free
Replacing Google Photos:
https://ente.io 5GB free
Replacing Google Calendar:
Replacing Google Maps:
Replacing YouTube:
Replacing your Android Phone:
Replacing ChromeOS:
Instead of WhatsApp:
A note about Proton
In my initial skeet I mentioned ProtonMail, I received several comments informing me that Proton CEO Andy Yen had made several disturbing statements
https://www. reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1i2nz9v/on_politics_and_proton_a_message_from_andy/
The frustrating thing about this is that Proton offers email, a calendar, cloud storage, a password manager and a VPN all of which are free to use at the basic level. I have included links to these services if your need to deGoogle your life trumps (no pun intended) your dislike of the current US administration.
