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Ask HN: Alternative to Google Services?

by gonvaled on 5/20/19, 8:07 AM with 17 comments

I am heavily invested in Google Services, both on desktop and mobile.

The current restrictions placed on Android devices have made clear that this reliance is very risky. I do not like being played as a pawn on third parties conflicts.

I would like to replace my use of Google services with alternatives. Specifically, by order of importance:

- GMail

- Google Maps

- Youtube

- Play Store

What are my options?

For mobile, I would consider continuing to use Android as base OS, since it seems restricting use of it wouldn't be feasible.

Replacing Google as search engine was very easy in Chrome: https://duckduckgo.com/install?t=h_

I will try the same on my Android phone later.

  • by duiker101 on 5/20/19, 8:33 AM

    GMail -> Fastmail

    Google Maps -> Here Maps or OSM

    Youtube -> Depends on your needs. There aren't really that many alternatives to watching videos on youtube but you don't need an account for that. If you need to host videos you can use Vimeo or checkout something like verond.com but this kind of services tend to come and go a bit too fast.

    Play Store -> F-Droid or amazon store.

    If you want to change your browser too, I strongly suggest Vivaldi.

    Extra:

    Photos -> Canon Irista

    Drive -> Mega.nz

    Analytics -> self hosted Matomo (shockingly easy!)

  • by klingonopera on 5/20/19, 9:06 AM

    Most alternatives have already been listed by others, here are a few I can also add:

    Chrome browser -> Iridium browser

    Play Store -> F-Droid, standalone APKs

    I particularly like installing APKs. It's like installing software with an .exe in Windows. Some software vendors even provide you with an APK, i.e. WhatsApp. Some APKs need to be retrieved from 3rd party sites, which is a security downside though.

    Apparently there's an app, extension, that will allow you to extract an APK from Google's Play Store? Anyone know something?

  • by gcells on 5/20/19, 9:30 AM

    Play Store -> F-droid, yalp

    yalp is a wrapper around google playstore. Handy if you need to install apps not available on F-Droid and not install from apk.

  • by Dduuggrr on 5/20/19, 5:14 PM

    For email I'm using s default email program on my phone (5 different emails) and Protonmail App for Protonmail email address. I changed Chrome with DuckDuckGo and Brave. YouTube... I really don't know yet what to do. Google maps... Im trying Here Maps... Signal Instead Fb Messenger, Google, WhatsApp.

  • by hieloz on 5/20/19, 9:42 AM

    FYI:Alternatives to Google Products – the Complete List https://restoreprivacy.com/google-alternatives/

  • by aitchnyu on 5/20/19, 6:35 PM

    Are there other email services that separate into Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums like Gmail does? Thats the showstopper for me and marketing pages don't provide evidence of this feature.

  • by rando444 on 5/20/19, 4:32 PM

    Why are you still using Chrome? (given your goal)

    I'm actually going through the same process as you, but after chrome's change to default auto-login, it was the first thing I changed.

    You might want to consider the same.

  • by IloveHN84 on 5/20/19, 8:18 AM

    - GMail -> Protonmail - GMaps -> Here Maps - Google Search -> DuckDuckGo - GCalendar -> Zoho - GDocs -> Zoho, Microsoft - GDrive -> OneDrive, Dropbox - YouTube -> Vimeo, twitch

  • by kouh on 5/20/19, 11:28 PM

    Gmail -> Protonmail (500MB free no ads, but calendar functionality is painfully nonexistent)