De-Googling my life #2: getting Google out of my phone
While moving away from Google search may be a fairly painless process, trying to remove Google from your smartphone is extremely difficult (but not impossible).
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Google as a company is synonymous with the Internet. But the company that once declared a motto of “Don’t be evil” is now very much drawing on the power of the dark side to maximise its profits and limit competition.
Now that a US court has found that Google illegally monopolised Internet search, I feel it is time to de-Google my life.
Across a series of guides, I’ll be sharing my journey to remove my reliance on Google. I’ll compare alternatives, test them out and try to find the best alternatives for my needs.
The news that Google will start charging Pixel 9 Pro users a subscription fee for Gemini Advanced after a year really cements the fact that Google given up any goal of delivering a superior product to its customers. Instead, it wants to squeeze them for every cent, by making its products worse, and doing everything possible to crush competition illegally.
One of the key markets Google has used to become one of the biggest tech companies in the world is by dominating mobile phones.
There are three different levels to this.
Firstly, at the hardware level, Google offers the Pixel smartphones and tablets. These devices often have a deeper integration with Google services.
Secondly, at the operating system level, Google is the driving force behind Android. Core functionality of Android is tied to Google’s services, like the Play Store and Gmail.
Thirdly, there are apps and default services. Whether you use Gmail, or Google Docs, or even just leave your default search engine as Google search, there are several places you need to consider updating as you de-Google your smartphone.
So let’s start at the top:
