How to stay away from Google and other evil tech giants: Difference between revisions

 

 

### Mobile Operating Systems

* '''Android based OSes'''

** <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Replicant_logo_alpha.svg/800px-Replicant_logo_alpha.svg.png" height="16"/> **[Replicant](https://www.replicant.us/)** (**Freedom and Privacy Tip**) is the only Android OS that is 100% free software, so all proprietary Android parts are removed. It is clearly the most privacy friendly Android flavor, but since it is only supported on a limited number of mostly old devices and it lacks many features people are used to on their smartphones it's mostly relevant for activists and free software idealists. They have some [great recommendations](https://www.replicant.us/freedom-privacy-security-issues.php#recommendations) on how to be extra safe.

** <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Lineageos_logo.png" height="16"/> **[Lineage OS](https://www.lineageos.org/)** (**Beginner Tip**) is a great compromise between privacy and usability for most users. It is actively developed by a great community and receives timely security updates and Android upgrades and comes with some cool built in features that other Android OSes lack.

** Let me here mention other <abbr title="Android Open Source Project">**AOSP**</abbr>-based OSes in general. Most are probably similar to LOS when it comes to privacy, but have less features. One notable mention (❗️ here I am biased) is <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/FairPhone_Star_logo.png" height="16"/> **[Fairphone Open OS](https://code.fairphone.com/)** which is one of the few such OSes that is officially supported by the phone manufacturer and one of the few that comes with <abbr title="addon for the F-Droid client app that let's it act as a system app">F-Droid privileged extension</abbr> preinstalled.

** <img src="https://lineage.microg.org/favicon-96x96.png" height="16"/> **[Lineage OS for microG](https://lineage.microg.org/)** is great if you are a little more dependent on apps that refuse to work without Google. MicroG is a free implementation of Google Services, so your device and apps can use Google's services while sending a minimal amount of data to Google - but still some.

** <img src="https://e.foundation/wp-content/uploads/logo-black-01.png" height="16"/> **[/e/](https://e.foundation/e-solutions/)** is a great option if you still miss more services Google usually offers. With an /e/ account you can sync your data from your /e/ device to your /e/ cloud. The OS is still in beta phase, but a lot of exciting features are rumored for the first official release that should come soon. With that /e/ could become interesting for a wider range of people between super-privacy-aware and shiny-feature-junky.

** Not an OS, but as the next step on the spectrum between living completely without Google and living with as much Google as you need I should mention **[OpenGAPPS](https://opengapps.org/)**. It is a free script that installs ❗️_the_ Google Apps and Services on your Android phone, so if you choose to do that you are already very dependent on Google, but you can choose different packages which include more or less apps - so at least you don't have to have all Google apps on your phone if you don't need them.

* I haven't extensively tested any **Non-Android OS**, so I can't say much here. <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Blancuco.jpg" height="16"/> **[PureOS](https://pureos.net/)** would definitely be my first choice as the most privacy friendly option. I tested <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Logo-ubuntu_cof-orange-hex.svg/1024px-Logo-ubuntu_cof-orange-hex.svg.png" height="16"/> **[Ubuntu Touch](https://ubports.com/)** for a while in 2017 and was quite pleased with it. It's definitely worth checking out if you don't like Android.

### Mobile App Stores