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--- degoogling [2024/02/05 23:35] – [Google Contacts & Calendar] qlyoung
+++ degoogling [2026/05/19 03:49] (current) – [Google Drive] qlyoung
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 Sometime around 2021 I began to feel that use of Google services constituted a grave threat to my digital sovereignty, and began slowly moving off of them.
-Here in 2024 I still have a Google account and probably will for the foreseeable future, because Google Fi and Google Fiber remain the best cell service and internet service providers, and you need a Google account to pay for them.
+Here in 2026 I still have a Google account and probably will for the foreseeable future, because Google Fi and Google Fiber remain the best cell service and internet service providers, and you need a Google account to pay for them.
 Today I use my Google account for five things:
   * As an OAuth identity for services that require one - literally just Tailscale, I have replaced everything else with email-based accounts
-  * Filling out Google Forms - please stop using these folks, they often require a Google account
+  * Filling out Google Forms
+    * If you use these, please set them so they don't require a Google account
   * Access to shared Google Photos albums
   * Google Fi (cell service)
   * Google Fiber (internet)
-Despite these limited use cases, which are all provided for free with a personal-tier Google account, I still have to pay for Google Suite ($8/month). Why? Because years ago when I wanted to use a custom domain on my Gmail account, I started paying for Google Suite to enable this functionality. When you do this, your Google account is converted from a "Personal" to a "Business" account. This is a one way transition. Once this happens, if you stop paying for it, your level of services drops *below* that offered to a free personal Google account. So unless I want to completely disable my Google account (spoilers: I do, but not yet) I have to continue to pay Google, because they don't offer a downgrade path.
+Despite these limited use cases, which are all provided for free with a personal-tier Google account, I still have to pay for Google Suite ($8/month). Why? Because years ago when I wanted to use a custom domain on my Gmail account, I started paying for Google Suite to enable this functionality. When you do this, your Google account is converted from a "Personal" to a "Business" account. This is a one way transition. Once this happens, if you stop paying for it, your level of services drops *below* that offered to a free personal Google account. So until I am ready to completely disable my Google account, I have to pay Google because they don't offer a downgrade path.
 Below I share what I have replaced various Google services with.
 ----
+===== Replacements =====
 ==== Gmail ====
@@ Line 25: / Line 28: @@
 ==== Search ====
-I now pay for [[https://kagi.com/|Kagi]].
+I pay for [[https://kagi.com/|Kagi]].
 ==== Google Drive ====
-This is a tough one. I have replaced Google Drive with a combination of the following
+Gdrive has many uses. Replacing it means replacing each function.
-  * For files shared only among my own devices, I use a [[personal_infrastructure#storage|storage array]] on my home server mounted on all my devices (yes, even iPhone) via Samba
+=== File sharing ===
-  * For files shared to others, I self host Filestash on my [[personal_infrastructure#public|cloud VM]], but this isn't ideal because of space limitations on the VM disk. Similar issue with Nextcloud. Recently (yesterday) I started using [[https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole|magic wormhole]] for p2p transfers and really like it. I have tried Syncthing but it's too hard to use for most people and is geared towards syncing and not transfers. Wormhole has [[https://rymdport.github.io/|GUI clients]] that are usable by plebeians.
+Tried and rejected:
+  * [[https://www.filestash.app/|Filestash]] - kept running out of space on cloud VMs, S3 integration setup is a little scary, software buggy
+  * [[https://nextcloud.com/|Nextcloud]] - I use this on my intranet, but it's too heavy to host a separate public instance just for filesharing
+  * [[https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole|magic wormhole]] - works, but people don't want to install programs to receive files and the mobile story is bad. shout out [[https://rymdport.github.io/|rymdport]] for favorite client.
+  * [[https://syncthing.net/|Syncthing]] - Sync programs are not designed for unidirectional file transfer and don't work well for that purpose
+I now pay for Dropbox. Upload to folder, share link. Sometimes you just gotta pay and move on.
+=== Cloud storage ===
+Okay, "cloud storage" is not really a function. There's two main reasons we use personal cloud storage:
+  - So that we can store files in one logical "place" and then access them from any device
+  - To save space on our devices
+There's other reasons, mostly to do with reliability engineering, but those are the main two.
+TL;DR I now use [[tiered storage]]; what little need I have for internet-attached storage is now met by my home server, which has a lot of storage and is always accessible via tailscale. More on that in [[personal infrastructure]].
 ==== Google Photos ====
-For hosting my personal photos, I replaced Google Photos with [[https://www.photoprism.app/|Photoprism]].
+For hosting my personal photos, I initially replaced Google Photos with [[https://www.photoprism.app/|Photoprism]]. I also tried [[https://immich.app/|Immich]] and while I know this is considered heretical, it doesn't suit my needs. I ultimately gave up on server-based photo management, but that's [[photo management|another story]].
+The short of it is that I now store all my photos in a plain local directory synced across devices.
+=== Sharing ===
+Sharing photos is more complicated. The usual situation for me is that I go on a trip with a bunch of people, and afterwards someone sets up a shared Google Photos album, everyone uploads their pictures to "the shared album".
+When you upload pictures to a "shared album", they are in fact uploaded to your personal Google Photos account and then are published such that anyone with access to the shared album has access to those photos. Consequently you can't add photos to shared albums without storing photos in Google Photos. If you later delete those photos they disappear from the shared album.
-Sharing photos is much more complicated. The usual situation for me is that I go on a trip with a bunch of people, and afterwards someone sets up a shared Google Photos album, everyone uploads their pictures to Google Photos and then adds them to the album. I am usually the odd one out complaining about this. So far I have done one of two things:
+I have tried various methods of sharing my photos with gphotos users, including:
-  * Uploaded my photos to the shared album, advised all participants that they will be deleted in 2 weeks, and then delete them in 2 weeks
+  * Uploading my photos "to" the shared album, advising all participants that they will be deleted in 2 weeks, and then deleting them
-  * Zipped the photos and shared directly via one of the methods described in the previous section
+  * Zipping the photos and sharing the zip via one of the methods described in the previous section
-This is much to the chagrin of people I go on group trips with, because they don't understand why I can't just use Google Photos like them and I end up being viewed as a source of inconvenience. Oh well.
+My current solution is to dump all my photos into a Dropbox album and send people the link. Whenever I need to free up space I delete the dropbox folder. I still have all the photos locally in my own library so I can reshare if needed.
+This is much to the chagrin of people I go on group trips with, because they don't understand why I can't just use Google Photos like them and I end up being viewed as a source of inconvenience.
 ==== Google Contacts & Calendar ====
-I run Nextcloud on my home server and have replaced G services with Nextcloud's [[wp>CardDAV]] and [[wp>CalDAV]] implementations. This legitimately works better than Google's services.
+I run Nextcloud on my home server and have replaced G services with Nextcloud's [[wp>CardDAV]] and [[wp>CalDAV]] implementations. These legitimately work better than Google Calendar and Google Contacts, especially on iOS which has first class support for CardDAV and CalDAV baked into the system; consequently system apps and facilities that rely on accurate calendar and contact sync work flawlessly.
 ==== YouTube ====
@@ Line 57: / Line 86: @@
 ==== Keep ====
-Replaced first by Notion, and then Obsidian.
+See [[note taking programs]].
 ==== Android / Play Services ====

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