←back to thread

Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

(giuliomagnifico.blog)
351 points giuliomagnifico | 5 comments | 22 Aug 25 17:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.331s | source
Show context
TranquilMarmot ◴[22 Aug 25 18:30 UTC] No.44988014[source]▶
I spent the past month "de-Googling" my life after I saw a notice in my Gmail inbox that it was 20 years old. I took a step back and realized just how invested into the Google ecosystem I was. Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Maps, Keep, Photos, YouTube, FitBit, Android. Basically my entire digital life. My goal was more diversifying than security/privacy, but security/privacy is a really nice bonus.

I ended up going with Proton because they had a good solution for mail, calendar, and drive which I was looking to replace. I set up my custom domain to point to it and have my Gmail forwarding to it - any time I get an email to the old Gmail address I go change it on the website or delete the account altogether.

For Google Docs / Keep, I switched over to Obsidian and pay for the sync there. It's a great replacement for my main use case of Docs / Keep which is just a dumping ground for ideas.

For Google Photos, I now self-host Immich in Hetzner on a VPS with a 1TB storage box mounted via SSHFS. I use Tailscale to connect to it. It took a few days to use Google Takeout + immich-go to upload all the photos (~300GB of data) but it's working really well now. Only costs $10/mo for the VPS and 1TB of storage.

Android I think I'll be stuck on - I have a Pixel 8 Pro that technically supports Graphene but there are too many trade-offs there. Next time I need a new phone I'll take a serious look at Fairphone but I think the Pixel 8 Pro should last a few more years.

My FitBit Versa is really old and starting to die - I ordered one of the new Pebble watches and am patiently waiting for it to ship!

YouTube I'm stuck on because that's where the content is. I have yet to find a suitable replacement for Google Maps - OpenStreetMap is still really hard to use and gives bad directions.

replies(20): >>44988286 #>>44988592 #>>44988765 #>>44989953 #>>44990098 #>>44990152 #>>44990278 #>>44990388 #>>44990401 #>>44990425 #>>44992000 #>>44993497 #>>44993728 #>>44993924 #>>44993946 #>>44994247 #>>44994386 #>>44997433 #>>44998116 #>>45001272 #
palata ◴[22 Aug 25 22:01 UTC] No.44990388[source]▶
> supports Graphene but there are too many trade-offs there

What are the tradeoffs? I have been following GrapheneOS for a while, and it doesn't seem like there are many tradeoffs.

> OpenStreetMap is still really hard to use and gives bad directions.

OpenStreetMap is a database, and most commercial services that are not Google use it. E.g. Uber or Lyft.

You just need to find an app that you like. CoMaps is nice, OSMAnd has a lot of feature but the UX is harder. And of course you can contribute to OSM and make it even better than it is! You'll see it's a great community!

replies(5): >>44990590 #>>44990913 #>>44994958 #>>44997375 #>>45005398 #
1. TranquilMarmot ◴[23 Aug 25 17:08 UTC] No.44997375[source]▶
> What are the tradeoffs?

As others point out, my main worry is about banking and NFC. I use NFC payments on my phone a lot, especially for the bus. Getting an Android Smartwatch just for that kind of defeats de-Googling haha.

I will probably try out Graphene at some point but that seems like a multi-day project to get it set up, find the tradeoffs, determine if they're worth it, and then potentially switch back to Android.

I also worry about the future of Graphene with AOSP going more closed/private: https://www.androidauthority.com/google-android-development-...

> OSMAnd has a lot of feature but the UX is harder

OSMAnd was the one I tried and it bordered on unusable. I'll try out CoMaps, somebody else suggested Mapy.

replies(3): >>44998300 #>>44998864 #>>45022527 #
2. nabakolu ◴[23 Aug 25 19:08 UTC] No.44998300[source]▶
There is also Calyx, which is also a privacy friendly Android distribution. It uses open source versions of Google Services. With my Pixel 8a on Calyx I can use NFC to pay with my Credit Card.
replies(1): >>44998882 #
3. palata ◴[23 Aug 25 20:26 UTC] No.44998864[source]▶
> my main worry is about banking and NFC

This may be useful: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa...

> I also worry about the future of Graphene with AOSP going more closed/private

I don't think it's AOSP going more closed, but rather the evolution of the Pixels line. GrapheneOS wants the ability to unlock the bootloader, install their own key and relock the bootloader. Google could technically stop supporting that for the Pixels (just like many (most?) manufacturers do), but they haven't said anything about it.

GrapheneOS has mentioned talks with a major manufacturer. I wonder if it will be a Graphene phone (which sounds very tricky) or if it could be something like Huawei or Samsung offering to unlock/relock the bootloader and committing to providing the features necessary for GrapheneOS. The latter would be amazing.

> OSMAnd was the one I tried and it bordered on unusable.

I love it. But if that's your feeling, definitely try CoMaps: in terms of UX it's on the other end of the spectrum :-).

4. palata ◴[23 Aug 25 20:27 UTC] No.44998882[source]▶
> It uses open source versions of Google Services.

Microg, right? I don't think this is more private than the Google Services, is it? It's just open source, but it can phone home just the same?

> With my Pixel 8a on Calyx

Any reason you haven't tried GrapheneOS, given that you already have a Pixel? I have /e/OS because it's the only alternative Android that runs on my FairPhone 3, but I've come to realise that it's actually worse than the Stock Android in terms of security. I really would like to go with GrapheneOS, and I wish more manufacturers made this possible.

5. wkat4242 ◴[26 Aug 25 05:17 UTC] No.45022527[source]▶
Osmand is great but it has a bit of a learning curve. It's much more powerful than Google maps though so all these features need a bit of navigating. It probably should have a simple mode for most users.