Help Going Google-less?!!

[Tristan Raghnall]

I've been reading up on going Google-less, which I know may be tricky on an old "GOOGLE" Nexus 4, but I have learned too much over the last 2.5 years since I bought this phone, and esp. in the last 2 months and really want to do this!


It was especially brought home today and just now when I saw a video (link a little later on) on what you have to do to turn off all the spyware in Windows 10 (while the whole OS seems to be geared to that and who knows ... <argh>!) Shades of Google! Now my entire digital life is all about who is tracking me! I may be one of those folks with nothing to hide and have a small, boring little life, as the guy in the Windows 10 video that I referred to above I watched (

,

), but that's how these things start, he's right. Bit by bit is how we give up our freedoms! These companies are getting away with things they're not supposed to be getting away with and I want no more of it!

But the information I've found for going Google-less so far is not current. This particular link, for example, sounds great but it's already over 2 years old: http://www.geek.com/android/advanced-android-creating-your-own-google-free-android-phone-1598734/. Does anyone know of any more recent resources for Droid users who want to get rid of the Google in their Android, by any chance?

Thanks!

 

[Bg260]

You'd be better off giving up Microsoft. I mean Google only supplies the world's largest internet search engine which millions, if not billions of people use on a daily basis, for free.
There's the whole Android thing, too. Free, open source.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Not to mention if you did totally de-Googlize your phone its usefulness would be severely limited.
There are certainly things you can do to minimize data sharing and how much Google can access, but you do need to have a working Google account to maintain a decent level of functionality. To get the utility we have to make certain tradeoffs, if you're totally unwilling to do that you might as well live in a cabin in the woods rubbing sticks together for fire and using an abacus.