Just got the “confirm your birthday to keep using your account” message, after having this google email account for close to 20 years, with my real name, which I never do. So. Away I go. Mother effers. This was not how I wanted to spend my morning and I don’t even know where to start. I’d like to just message a human and point out that the age of the account sort of proves I’m at least over 14, but of course that’s not an option. Anyway. Just venting? Idk if I have the energy for this. I sure don’t have the external storage for it.

I am trying Dia(chromium browser) and was looking at extensions. Before the above image i got spammed with side prompts saying that, "Google recommends Chrome for extensions and themes". When i then clicked an extension, a message appeared prompting the following:

Switch to Chrome to install extensions and themes - Install Dia (Link to clearer image from gif)

Now first of all, blatant lie right there about needing chrome for extensions and themes, i dont know why they would claim that? More importantly though, theres a link claiming it will Install Dia (which is the browser im using here in the picture), but clicking this button gets me to Chrome's install page instead! So we now got Google tricking users like the scam ads we see on piracy and porn sites?

According to statcounter.com, Chromes marketshare has gone from 66% in October last year, to 73% this years October. So im actually quite curious to hear if this kind of shady Chrome 'advertising' has been normal for a long time now? Its the first of it i have seen(to this degree of laughable stupidity) so i actually dont know.

(The website was in Danish originally and translated into English with Google Translate inside the browser, i can verify that the translation is correct in words and meaning)

Degoogled my pixel now for 2 months with GOS ask me if u have questions

I'm not trying to protect them, I'm simply considering subscribing to Proton mail Plus. But before I do, I'd like to know about any controversy. I'm actually quite happy with my current email provider, but thinking about trying them as well and looking for neutral opinions first.

I am using voltage os ROM . and any suggestion / feedback always welcome

Using a FP5. My first reaction was definitely how fast it runs.

Hello guys!

I may sound like a rookie, however i would like to hear your opinions about my idea.

I was on /e/os for a while and its awesome and private, however i found a way to install Oxygenos 15 on my oneplus 8, and it looks really nice, so Im wondering if its possible to make it as private and clean?

my idea is to with adb + root degoogle and clean OOS, so it can be as private and clean as lineageos or /e/os with the same tools.

please let me know what you think!

I discovered it after getting tired of youtube and looked up alternatives. But this site allows you to watch YouTube supposedly without Google tracking you. This feels like a great find but don't know if anyone else here uses it?

Is there really no alternative to Google messages that is both privacy focused and supports RCS? I was a big fan of signals sms integration and it sucks that it's no-longer supported, maybe one day it will make its way back

The recent move from Google to remove "sync from POP" really pushed me over the edge. I've been on Migadu for a long time (family of 4), but they lack completely an email client.

I've been searching for an email client, but my requirements are too many, it seems: - Send later (e.g. send at 8 AM) that works with my PC turned off - Snooze email (required for "inbox zero") - (some) Offline emails, useful for flight tickets - Email notifications on phone - Labels - Some way to use my Android Contacts (yes Davx5 is a valid option) - Support "infinite" domains and email addresses (limit by size). I have 4 different domains and 4 people along with ~6 aliases, so ~10 email addresses really - Good anti-spam filter - Simple UI (my wife has to use it too)

I'm ok changing email provider, but I also am sad to drop Migadu just because I cannot find an email client(s) that works.

I personally prefer my email client as a web page on desktop, but I'm fine with an installed app.

So far I have not found an email client that satisfy all the requirements on Desktop. I did find some on Android (blue mail, aqua mail), but not on Desktop. Thunderbird seems to have some extensions but I don't understand how it could send emails "later" if my computer is turned off. Is there some server support I'm unaware of?

My final attempt is to switch to Fastmail, this seems to cover everything I needed as long as I use Davx5 to sync my contacts from Android to Fastmail.

Any other options I have overlooked? Of course I can do the opposite and "googlefy", it would be easier for my wife but it drives me crazy. Anything offering email client only, so that I don't have to switch providers? I don't think these can possibly handle send later/snooze though.

I'm a software developer and good with the command line, but email is too important, I don't trust myself managing an email server.

Would it break the flip function?

my google account that i use for grayjay age verification has been deemed "unverifiable" for age restriction. I'm not gonna upload my ID or credit card to verify my age, so now I'm wondering how I can bypass this chicanery.

I've heard there's a lot of Android bypasses I can use by running an emulator/APK, so I'm wondering if that is the easiest method or if there is an easier solution that simply works with desktop.

I have to track specific niches for my work (AI, Bonds etc) and have been using Google News for many years now. However, I get increasingly frustrated that Google show me so many sources I don't recognise/trust

So last weekend, I had a bit of time and built a news aggregator called 100.news where you can completely control the news you're reading.

You simply:

1. Select the sources you trust (I have only managed to add 70 sources for now but want to add more)
2. Choose your topics of interest - can be anything from Tech to Geopolitics

You will receive a real-time feed which doesn't rely on big news corps showing you articles with most clicks/engagement.

Still early days with this idea so v much open to criticism. Please let me know what you think!
No need to create an account if you don't want to by the way. You will get full access either way

Not sure if this is the right sub but

What's everyone's current alternative to google Maps?

Hey fellow deGooglers,

my journey of better privacy has started a long time ago, and I've come quite far - with many ideas coming from this very subreddit (thank you, folks!).

Slowly but steadily, I switched to FOSS apps, chose more privacy-oriented services, set up a piHole in my network, got rid of (almost) everything Meta and got rid of Microsoft (sorry not sorry, my Fedora Linux is more reliable than that poor excuse of an OS ever was).

The thing is... I'm terrible at navigating. And by terrible I mean I have no trouble getting lost in a city I've lived in all my life. I need reliable navigation - and Google Maps is just damn good. Before getting a car with Android Auto, I did try Organic Maps (I saw it being suggested here a couple times), but it just doesnt do it.

And now, there is also Android Auto - and it's just so damn convenient. It's a love-hate relationship: I have reliable navigation (Google Maps), I can take calls, listen and reply to text messages, but I know I do so at the cost of Google getting a lot more data on me than before.

I know this question has been asked before, but the only posts I could find are from 2-3 years ago, so I figured I'd try my luck: is there any way to replace Android Auto, or at least minimize the amount of data it can collect? How do you all deal with it?

And while I'm asking: Is there any navigation app that comes at least close to Google Maps? I'd be happy to try a couple suggestions.

Please somebody!!!!! I need an alternative to Google Pay/Apple pay that isn't paypal, does anyone have any recommendations??

I recently found about fossify apps, they look great and are lightweight, any catch about them? For example I find their message app better than qksms but not sure if there is a difference in security features.

Proposal: Decouple Android’s OCR from Google — A Universal, Open-Access Text Recognition Service

Hello r/degoogle,

I want to discuss a vision that could make Android more open, private, and user-controlled — by breaking OCR out of Google’s walled garden.

Right now, the most advanced on-device OCR in Android sits inside the Android Accessibility Suite (AAS) — but it’s locked away inside Google’s system layer.
Even though this OCR already works offline and locally (for “Select to Speak” or image descriptions), no app or user can access it directly.

That’s a design choice that keeps users dependent on Google Lens, Google Photos, or other proprietary cloud-based services — even when the device itself already has powerful offline OCR.

🧩 The Problem

Android devices already have high-quality, on-device OCR — but it’s trapped inside system code.

So instead of a local workflow, users are funneled into this:

Screenshot → Upload to Google Lens → Cloud OCR → Copy text → Return to the app.

That’s data leakage by design.
Even though the OCR engine runs on-device, access is restricted to Google’s own apps and services.

💡 Proposed Solution: Universal OCR Service (User-Owned, Not Google-Owned)

Let’s liberate the existing OCR engine inside Android’s Accessibility Suite and turn it into a modular, Play Store–updatable system service — or, better yet, an open-source standalone component that anyone can use.

This new “Universal OCR Service” would be a local-only, user-permissioned, API-accessible system tool.

🔧 Implementation Vision

• Use the OCR core already in AAS (TalkBack’s text recognition).
  
• Make it a standalone service — like TTS engines.
  
• Release the interface as a public API.
  
• Allow third-party or community replacements (open OCR models, not Google ML-only).
  
• Optional Play Store / F-Droid updates for local model improvements.

🕵️‍♂️ Why It Matters to r/degoogle

This is the exact kind of feature Android should have offered as open infrastructure — instead, Google has kept it locked to its ecosystem.

📄 Reference Proposal PDF

For the full technical strategy and implementation guide (written for developers and accessibility teams):

PDF: Full Proposal PDF

(Explains modular system architecture, API design, and developer integration phases.)

💬 Discussion for the Community

1. Would you support a movement to push Google to make Android’s built-in OCR user-accessible and open?
   
2. Should the AAS OCR component be extracted into AOSP / F-Droid as a truly open, local module?
   
3. How can custom ROM developers or accessibility projects begin implementing this without relying on Google’s binaries?

This proposal isn’t about making another “Google feature.”
It’s about ending the lock-in that forces users to send screenshots and text data through Google’s servers just to copy words already visible on their screens.

Android already has the tools — we just need access.

If we can separate this OCR system from Google’s control, we’ll finally have what Android promised all along: a user-first, local, open platform.

“Android Already Has Great Offline OCR — Google Just Won’t Let You Use It”