Email

Mailbox.org + Thunderbird

Cloud storage / file sync

Filen

Search engine

i switch between DuckDuckGo and Brave for the Goggles feature

Web browser

Firefox! Iceraven on my phone

Calendar

Fossify Calendar

Contacts management

Fossify Contacts

Notes

Obsidian

to-do lists

1List

Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)

OnlyOffice or CryptPad

Messaging / chat

Signal

Video calling

i don’t lol. but if i did, Signal.

Social media / microblogging

Akkoma & Bluesky

RSS reader / news

FreshRSS + Read You

Music streaming

Spotify for now. considering Deezer, but i’m on a shared plan.

podcast app

AntennaPod

Password manager

Bitwarden

VPN / DNS / Firewall

DNSNet (for adblocking)

App store / APKs

F-Droid & Obtainium

gallery

Aves

Weather

Rain

1.Email –

proton

2.Cloud storage / file sync–

pCloud (lifetime storage purchase FTW)

3.Maps & navigation–

Magic Earth works pretty well

4.Search engine–

Qwant for daily driver, exploring SearxNG

5.Web browser–

Waterfox on desktop and mobile, exploring LibreWolfe and Fennec as well but Waterfox is smooth and fast

6.Calendar–

Proton

7.Contacts management–

Fossify

8.Notes / to-do lists–

Obsidian MD (free) with paid vault sync upgrade

9.Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)–

LibreOffice & Obsidian

10.Messaging / chat–

Signal, Line. I really, really tried with Element and Element X - would love a federated discord alternative - but honestly I was not even successful at adding friends with confirmed accounts. Could be user error.

Signal is great.

11.Video calling–

Line, Signal

12.Social media / microblogging–

Mastodon, BkueSky

RSS reader / news–

TBD open to suggestions -

13.Music streaming / podcast app–

Podcasts - AntennaPod is great, switched over from PocketCasts and haven’t looked back. Fuck Spotify.

Music – Bandcamp (must try it!) + CloudBeats on mobile (streaming my own flac files to myself) + MusicBee on desktop. Also, fuck Spotify.

14.Video streaming / YouTube alternative–

PeerTube, PipePipe

15.Password manager–

Proton

16.VPN / DNS / Firewall–

Proton

17.Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs)– Android with I hope all the right settings and no g-apps in the main profile. Looking at Lineage (my device can’t do Graphene)

Never wanted a pixel for any reason but might try it for next device solely for graphene - we’ll see.

18.App store / APKs–

Aurora / F-Droid

19.Photo backup / gallery–

Fossify Gallery

20.Weather–

Ehh. Still on MyRadar but probably time to switch

21.Smart assistant (if any)–

None

22.Anything else you’ve replaced?–

Left audible for Libro.FM, so far so good.

Left Amazon, been buying books on Thriftbooks.

Pixelfed seems to have potential as an IG replacement.

RedReader when looking at Reddit .

Looking for a meaningful Goodreads replacement with a mobile app…

Goal is to potentially try Lineage this summer…

Organic Maps is mentioned several times in here, but just a note, the project was forked due to the closed nature of some parts of the project and profit seeking of the major shareholders, contradictory to stated values.

The fork is called CoMaps. It doesn’t look like there’s an app release quite yet, but I’d watch for it coming soon.

Tip: If you are stuck using Gmail you can still access it with a third party FOSS client like FairEMail. I used to use it when I was at school and it worked perfectly, although you may need specific versions approved by Google so you can use Gmail, but the app still remains open source!

1. Email

I self-host my email using postfix, dovecot, rspamd and others. The only tradeoff I had to make here is that some of the entities I have to communicate with via email use an allow-list, so some of my outgoing mail is sent through a relay (SMTP2Go).

2. Cloud storage / file sync

I self-host a minio for cloud storage. I don’t need file sync, so nothing there. If I would, I would likely use syncthing.

3. Maps & navigation

OpenStreetMaps & CoMaps. Works much better than Google Maps did.

4. Search engine

Currently a self-hosted YaCy. I have my own index. Not entirely happy with this setup, will switch to something else (still self-hosted, I have no need for a general purpose search engine that indexes the entire internet of slop).

5. Web browser

LibreWolf

6. Calendar

I’m using Emacs & Org for most calendaring. Wife’s using GNOME Calendar & a Calendar app I found for her on f-droid (unsure which one).

7. Contacts management

Nothing on desktop, some random contacts app from f-droid on the phone. I do use EteSync to keep a backup, and potentially sync later. (EteSync syncs her calendar too)

8. Notes / to-do lists

Emacs & Org.

9. Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)

Most of my “office” needs are covered by a combination of Emacs, Typst and Zola one way or another. For the rare case where I need Office compatiblity: LibreOffice.

10. Messaging / chat

XMPP. Dino on Linux, Conversations on Android. I use Matrix too, from time to time (Element), and have Signal too. Not a big fan of the latter two, because it isn’t practical to self-host those.

11. Video calling

XMPP. Dino & Conversations. If I need to video call with someone else, I’ll use whatever they use, usually.

12. Social media / microblogging RSS reader / news

For social media, the Fediverse is my only social media. I’m using Tuba on desktop, Tusky on the phone for it. For RSS, self-hosted Miniflux. For Lemmy, the web ui on desktop, Voyager on phone.

13. Music streaming / podcast app

Lollypop & Shortwave.

14. Video streaming / YouTube alternative

FreeTube or yt-dlp if I need to watch youtube, PeerTube otherwise.

15. Password manager

Bitwarden (via a self-hosted Vaultwarden on the server side).

16. VPN / DNS / Firewall

The only VPN I use is WireGuard between my systems, but I don’t tunnel everything through it. For DNS, I’m using unbound on my VPS, which in turn dispatches to Quad9. Firewall? nftables.

17. Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs)

I haven’t de-googled my phone, because my bank app refuses to work on rooted phones, and I unfortunately need that for the bank’s 2FA. No, I am not changing banks. I do use a custom launcher (Nova), though.

18. App store / APKs

F-droid.

19. Photo backup / gallery

I manually copy photos from the phone to my PC, and it gets backed up with the rest of the stuff. I do my backups with restic, and save a copy on my own server, and another at BorgBase. I’ll have a third copy at a third place later.

20. Weather

wttr.in, mostly.

21. Smart assistant (if any)

My wife. <3

22. Anything else you’ve replaced?

Not strictly de-googling, but I’m using Codeberg & my own self-hosted Forgejo instead of GitHub. I replaced LibreWolf’s bookmark manager with Readeck. For push notifications on Android, I’m using a self-hosted nfty.sh.

Would love to hear about your setup — both what works well and any trade-offs you’ve had to make. Always looking for better FOSS or privacy-friendly alternatives

Oh dear. Strap in, for you’re in for a Journey! The entire configuration of both my desktop and the rest of my fleet (my VPS, my homelab server, and my Mom’s miniPC at the moment) are all free software. Based on NixOS, declarative configuration written in a literate programming manner using Org mode. There is a lot of documentation.

1. Proton
2. Proton (Sync leave a lot to be desired)
3. Organic Maps
4. Kagi
5. Firefox (LibreWolf)
6. Proton
7. Contacts are kind of a mess. A combination of Proton & my phones Google Contacts library. Though I use the Fossify app
8. Standard Notes / Tasks.org
9. LibreOffice
10. Had to go back to Google Messenger when my new phone wasn’t receiving work MMS and group messages.
    I use Signal with my closest friends and family
11. Signal / Zoom
12. Fediverse almost exclusively (~90% Lemmy)
13. AntennaPod for podcasts
14. I still use Youtube for videos and streaming since I’m still grandfathered into the $8 original Google Play Music All Access intro offer. They are contractually obligated to never increase the price on me.
15. BitWarden (Not a fan of the updated interface, may switch to Proton)
16. Proton
17. Lawnchair
18. Droid-ify with Play Store as fallback
19. Proton
20. Breezy Weather
21. Too picky for an assistant, AI or otherwise

My setup.

1. Proton Mail - Email
2. None. I use local storage only.
3. Organic Maps - Maps
4. DuckDuckGo - Search Engine
5. Brave + Mullvad + Firefox Focus - Browsers
6. Proton Calendar - Calendar
7. Samsung Contacts stored locally. - Contacts
8. Standard Notes -Notes
9. LibreOffice - Office
10. Signal - Messaging
11. None with the exception of Signal - Video Calls
12. Lemmy, Bluesky and soon Masterdon - Social Media
13. Spotify (not good for privacy but my family pays for it so I ask myself why not) - Music
14. Odysee or Tubular Frontend - Streaming
15. KeePassXC and KeePassDX - Password Manager
16. NextDNS. I don’t use a VPN - DNS & VPN
17. Don’t use a custom ROM - OS
18. Droidify and Aurora Store - App Stores
19. Used to be on Ente but I now store my photos locally - Photos
20. Samsung Weather - Weather
21. None - Assistants.

1. Protonmail

2. None

3. Organic maps/gnome maps

4. Searxng

5. Librewolf/Fennec

6. Fossify calendar/gnome calendar

7. Fossify contacts

8. Fossify notes

9. Libreoffice/overleaf

10. Whatsapp (everyone uses it, so yeah :/)

11. Sometimes discord

12. Lemmy

13. Spotify on the browser

14. Only YouTube :/

15. KeepassXC/KepassDX

16. Yearly plan of nextdns (really recommend)

17. Wanting to use lineageos

18. Droid-ify/Aurora store/pacman

19. Fossify gallery

20. KDE weather/gnome weather

21. None

22. I think it didn’t use almost anything from google, so idk

1. Protonmail though thinking of going to tuta
2. None, does a flash drive count?
3. OsmAnd+
4. Kagi
5. Fennec f-droid (firefox)
6. Fossify calendar
7. Aosp contacts
8. Fossify notes
9. None
10. Molly (signal), matrix, SimpleX. SimpleX and Molly most though
11. None
12. Lemmy (daily), Nostr (mostly daily), Mastodon (sometimes), ReadYou RSS (DAILY)
13. ANTENNApod and VLC
14. Peertube and Odyssee (NewPipe for YT content)
15. Keepassdx
16. ControlD.com DNS blocks ads, tracking, and malware (via private dns setting in system settings. DoT)
17. Launcher3 i think its called on LineageOS 22
18. F-droid (frequently) and obtainium (rarely)
19. See #2 / fossify gallery
20. Wx and Quickweather (fdroid for both)
21. None
22. Cant think of anything right off the bat

1.Email

Migadu.com

2.Cloud storage / file sync

Trying out some things, not settled yet

3.Maps & navigation

OsmAnd

4.Search engine

Kagi

5.Web browser

Firefox

6.Calendar

Baikal

7.Contacts management

Baikal

8.Notes / to-do lists

LogSeq

9.Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)

LibreOffice

10.Messaging / chat

Matrix, Revolt, IRC

11.Video calling

/

12.Social media / microblogging RSS reader / news

Lemmy (jerboa), Mastodon (Tusky), freshRSS

13.Music streaming / podcast app

Navidrome +Tempo app for android

14.Video streaming / YouTube alternative

Jellyfin

15.Password manager

Bitwarden

16.VPN / DNS / Firewall

Mullvad wireguard

17.Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs)

GrapheneOS Olauncher

18.App store / APKs

Droidify Aurora Store

19.Photo backup / gallery

Ente

20.Weather

OSS Weather

21.Smart assistant (if any)

/

22.Anything else you’ve replaced?

1. Email: Migadu via Thunderbird
2. Cloud Storage/File Sync: I have Syncthing-Fork synchronising my wallpapers on my mobile devices. In a pinch I use a self hosted MicroBin or NextCloud.
3. Maps & Navigation: N/A
4. Search Engine: SearXNG
5. Web Browser: Firefox
6. Calendar: NextCloud via DavX5
7. Contacts Management: NextCloud via DavX5
8. Notes/To-Do Lists: BundledNotes
9. Office Suite (Docs, Spreadsheets, etc.): LibreOffice
10. Messaging/Chat: Telegram, Signal and RCS
11. Video Calling: Telegram via MercuryGram
12. Social Media/Microblogging: Mastodon via Moshidon
13. RSS Reader/News: Miniflux via CapyReader or ReadYou
14. Music Streaming/Podcast App: Navidrome via Symfonium
15. Video Streaming/Youtube Alternative: Jellyfin
16. Password Manager: Bitwarden
17. VPN/DNS/Firewall: Pi-Hole
18. Launcher/Android OS (if you use custom ROMs): N/A
19. App Store/APKs: F-Droid
20. Photo Backup/Gallery: Immich
21. Weather: N/A
22. Smart Assistant (if any): N/A
23. Anything Else You’ve Replaced? Home Assistant for Google Home and Kavita via Legado for Kindle

1. Protonmail (would like to find a better alternstive)
2. Syncthing/SMB over Tailscale
3. OpenStreetMap (Organic Maps)
4. Searxng (still pulling results from Google among others)
5. Firefox
6. Self-hosted through nextcloud
7. Baikal
8. Obsidian
9. LaTeX, markdown and LibreOffice
10. Signal
11. Signal
12. FreshRSS through Capy Reader over Tailscale
13. Finamp/Audiobookshelf/Antennapod
14. Still youtube through Tubular (looking for a better service)
15. Bitwarden
16. Tailscale and Mullvad / PiHole and Quad9 / OPNsense
17. GrapheneOS
18. Obtainium
19. Restic to backup NAS and periodical cold storage/Immich
20. Pirate Weather and local weather station reporting over Meshtastic through Home Assistant
21. Home Assistant with local LLM
22. Media streaming - Jellyfin, push notification system - ntfy

1. Tuta
2. Nothing
3. Organic maps
4. Duck duck go
5. Firefox
6. Nothing
7. Nothing
8. Nothing
9. Nothing
10. Whatsapp
11. Nothing
12. Nothing
13. Newpipe / AntennaPod
14. Newpipe
15. Nothing/Quad9/Nothing
16. Nothing
17. LineageOS
18. FDroid
19. Nothing
20. Nothing
21. Nothing

ProtonMail for mail Nextcloud for cloud, self hosted. Here wego and Mapy for maps, but I still have Google Maps as a fallback:(((

For search I’m using a combination of DDG, Qwant and Startpage.

Web browser: Vivaldi and Firefox, Brave and DDG as backups. ProtonCalendar for calendar

Still using Google Android on my daily driver so haven’t moved contacts yet, but really looking for some recommendations!

Apparently my task list is an app just called Reminder, haven’t thought about it for years

Don’t really do office stuff myself much, but if I do and it’s just for me I just use any text editor (even Vim) and if I collaborate it’s almost always some Google Doc :(((

Messaging is still FB messenger and Discord, but I’m trying my best to move my best people over to Signal, it’s not a battle I think I’m gonna win any time soon tho.

Lemmy and chats for social media. Antennapod for podcasts. Qobuz and Bandcamp for music.

For youtube I just run the site in either Vivaldi or Brave on my phone without logging in since they allow for background playback (might have to change a setting for it to work), but I mostly just stopped watching TV/screen content for completly different reasons so 😅 I also host a Jellyfin server with some films.

Bitwarden for passwords. Only use VPN for work, haven’t seen any compelling reasons for having my own, but if I did I’d probably use Tailscale or Wireguard.

I have been testing e-OS on an old Samsung S9 for a few years and that’s a great alternative to Google Android, it’s on my list to consider when I feel like I can defend getting a new phone.

So far:

Email - Tuta

Cloud storage / file sync - pCloud

Maps & navigation OsmAnd (OpenStreetMaps)

Search engine - Kagi

Web browser - Librewolf

Calendar - Nextcloud (on theGoodCloud)

Notes - Joplin

to-do lists - Todoist (cause integrates with HomeAssistant)

Office suite - LibreOffice

Social media - Mastodon/Lemmy/GroundNews

podcast app - AntennaPod

Password manager - KeePassXC

VPN - Nord DNS - PiHole Firewall - Ubiquiti ERX

App store - FDroid (if at all possible)

Photo backup - pCloud here too

Weather - (personal weather station) and Wunderground

Smart assistant - HomeAssistant

Liking all my choices so far… No real trade-offs (that I miss/notice).