@geliga @futurebird I have GrapheneOS installed and doesn't require a Google account.

@weirdfish @futurebird @GinevraCat I can use this for websites too?

@futurebird @Elischeva91

Other. I have Google accounts to participate in places where the knowledge share is a Google Drive. I'm sure they all have Gmail, but I don't actually use Gmail.

@geliga
> to people answer "I have no google accounts", what's your phone? An iPhone?

nope
an android without installing google mail or play store but installing #fDroid.
You can accept android TOS and than skip the rest.

@futurebird

@futurebird

I'd love to replace Gmail, but I simply don't see any viable alternative.

Not only is there no other free service that looks like they'll stay around, but I believe a Google account is *required* to use the "Play" store to install software on Android.

And a smart phone is a requirement to participate in the modern world. I work as a dishwasher, for instance, and must clock in and out with an "app".

I couldn't have my job without a Gmail address (or Apple equivalent maybe).

@privacy_guru Yes! For a very small subscription. The free offering is more than sufficient for casual use. I have been using it first years. @weirdfish @futurebird

@mensrea @futurebird

Same here. It's basically become my digital identity and the prospect of migrating off of it gives me unpleasant shudders.

@futurebird

i have a Google account because i own an Android phone, but i have all of the privacy options possible enabled, i use DuckDuckGo for my search engine, i never log in to the google account on my computers, i do not use gmail. Except for the bare minimum required to keep my phone operational i avoid google as much as is possible. (And for those now thinking about it, i have reasons for not doing business with Apple, too, so please don't suggest i get an iPhone.)

@GinevraCat @weirdfish @futurebird I went to the DeepL website and plugged in an address but it didn't open a translated page. Unless you need to copy/paste the text into their service.

@futurebird only have an account cuz folks use google meet.

@futurebird I have a Google account for work. I use Google search without AI as a last resort, my default search engine these days is Ecosia. I do watch YouTube videos (without an account, with an ad blocker and reject all cookies).

@futurebird I have a Google account for YouTube, that actually existed before the link was made and was just a YouTube account when I made it, but apart from that, and YouTube Music through a frontend app, and Google Maps, I don't use anything else Google related

@roknrol @futurebird Huh. I haven't run into those yet. I just assumed FreeTube was working around them, but I try to stay away from news and politics on YT so maybe that's it.

@futurebird I have grapheneOS and use proton for email and cloud storage. I have a legacy gmal account but rarely log in. Just to check anything old that came in.

I try to use organic maps as much as I can but google maps traffic is too valuable sometimes so I often eject to my "google" profile for that.

I still watch YouTube but am trying to take my usage down and rotate through smaller services like curiosity, floatplane, etc

@Linebyline Usually it's music videos and a few videos by Simon Whistler (one of the more recent vids was an expose on a particular criminal gang).

It's not stuff that I miss too much, but it is annoying when it shows up in my feed.

@futurebird

@privacy_guru @GinevraCat @futurebird true, it's only copy and paste

@moriel @futurebird This is me exactly - thanks for saving me so much typing!

@futurebird I've gone the other way. I have chosen to allow exactly one evil corporation to spy on me, so I'm letting Google have it all and I'm avoiding Facebook/Meta, Twitter/X, Apple, Amazon/everything else.

@futurebird I don't aspire to be Google-free, but I am absolutely working on migrating the vast majority of my photos off. also contacts.