Stepping aside from Google

CircleFaust · 30 Apr 2019 at 16:15

hi
after digging around in my phone (android samsung) i just realised how much my google account is storing and intertwined. it's pulling info from my gmail account (was storing all my transactions , why :confused:

), all my new contacts were stored under the gmail account, so when i deleted it they all went from my phone. maps, youtube. chrome was a scary one with all the passwords it was saving for websites. i did know it was doing this, it is all very convenient but if someone got your phone and got in...
i've made a few changes but is there a better alternative than a google account and gmail?
what other approaches have people taken to scale down the google intrusion

neoboy · 30 Apr 2019 at 16:57

I mean you're kinda stuck not using Google in some way using an Android phone. You can control permissions in apps, I don't use it but I'm sure Chrome asks you if you want to store the passwords? iPhone is the alternative and they advertise how cool their privacy is etc, but not sure what that means exactly as they also collect your data.

As for people getting into your phones, this is why it's important to have pass codes, fingerprint, face unlock and so on.

bazzabear · 30 Apr 2019 at 16:58

I remember a few years back it was quite eye opening when I was looking across an area in Google Maps and saw an icon telling me that I had a concert to attend in a couple of months, including the date and the act I was seeing.

Orcvader · 30 Apr 2019 at 22:11

For password management, you can use something else apart from Google. I've set Chrome to not remember passwords and have Bitwarden to manage it. Only issue is, Chrome doesn't support Android's Autofill API for some daft reason. But Kiwi browser supports extensions so I'm able to use Bitwarden's extension for that at least. I suspect Lastpass and other password managers will work fine as well.

For contacts, you can use another service (eg, Microsoft) to back it up, but that will also be linked to that service's email too.

A lot of other cloud services (Dropbox, Onedrive, etc) will offer photo backup which is an alternative to Google Photos, but Photos offers unlimited storage (although resized) which makes it hard for me to move away.

CircleFaust · 2 May 2019 at 10:06

i've started to use the samsung secure folder
it's like having a separate phone. adds another layer of security but is a little inconvenient

Shocky-FM · 2 May 2019 at 12:29

Depends how much confidence you have in Google, if somebody takes your phone they can't access anything; they could force you to unlock the device and remove the security, but let's be honest, that's unlikely to happen.

CircleFaust · 2 May 2019 at 15:07

i do have some confidence in them, it's more someone getting my phone i guess
it's only a pin code, surely people could hack them if they wanted ?

Shocky-FM · 3 May 2019 at 10:37

CircleFaust said:
i do have some confidence in them, it's more someone getting my phone i guess
it's only a pin code, surely people could hack them if they wanted ?

Doubtful anybody would go to that length for a random phone, most people would try the popular pins and then stop, 10,000 to 1 odds could take a while a break.

By the time they do you've already logged into your account and told Google to wipe the device remotely and/or changed your password for your account/s.

MartinPrince · 3 May 2019 at 10:46

bazzabear said:
I remember a few years back it was quite eye opening when I was looking across an area in Google Maps and saw an icon telling me that I had a concert to attend in a couple of months, including the date and the act I was seeing.

Yeah like booking a hotel on Booking.com and then seeing the dates you are staying at it highlighted in Google Maps! It now takes me a while to go through all the options disabling the stuff I don't want, plus it's often not easy to find, and a few layers down menu systems.

FishLicker · 3 May 2019 at 11:09

I feel like I'm one of the few people who seem to enjoy the convenience that Google's stuff offers. I love that I can book a flight and gmail will pull the details into my calendar, and so on and so on... obviously for someone concerned about security then this is, I guess, a bad thing, but it really is convenient some of the stuff they do.

Basically if you're concerned about all of that you probably shouldn't be on the internet. You would have to go to massive, inconvenient lengths to complete secure your privacy, but each to their own.

As the others have said above, your phone is actually pretty secure, and the only way your average Joe is getting into it is by force (i.e. forcing YOU to open it) or by being careless.

Rimsy · 3 May 2019 at 11:57

FishLicker said:
I feel like I'm one of the few people who seem to enjoy the convenience that Google's stuff offers. I love that I can book a flight and gmail will pull the details into my calendar, and so on and so on... obviously for someone concerned about security then this is, I guess, a bad thing, but it really is convenient some of the stuff they do.

Basically if you're concerned about all of that you probably shouldn't be on the internet. You would have to go to massive, inconvenient lengths to complete secure your privacy, but each to their own.

As the others have said above, your phone is actually pretty secure, and the only way your average Joe is getting into it is by force (i.e. forcing YOU to open it) or by being careless.

Agreed. Pretty sure most people find it a little "creepy" but enjoy the convenience it affords and let's face it - most people's lives are rather mundane and uninteresting. Seriously doubt Google employees are poring over our gym appointments or visits to the dentist's with any great interest!

mrochester · 4 May 2019 at 06:25

FishLicker said:
I feel like I'm one of the few people who seem to enjoy the convenience that Google's stuff offers. I love that I can book a flight and gmail will pull the details into my calendar, and so on and so on... obviously for someone concerned about security then this is, I guess, a bad thing, but it really is convenient some of the stuff they do.

Basically if you're concerned about all of that you probably shouldn't be on the internet. You would have to go to massive, inconvenient lengths to complete secure your privacy, but each to their own.

As the others have said above, your phone is actually pretty secure, and the only way your average Joe is getting into it is by force (i.e. forcing YOU to open it) or by being careless.

It’s not the fact that they use the content of your emails to populate a calendar entry that people don’t like it’s that they use all of those bits of information about you to create an advertising profile they then use to sell advertising against.

MichaelAwkward · 4 May 2019 at 11:56

CircleFaust said:
hi
after digging around in my phone (android samsung) i just realised how much my google account is storing and intertwined. it's pulling info from my gmail account (was storing all my transactions , why ), all my new contacts were stored under the gmail account, so when i deleted it they all went from my phone. maps, youtube. chrome was a scary one with all the passwords it was saving for websites. i did know it was doing this, it is all very convenient but if someone got your phone and got in...
i've made a few changes but is there a better alternative than a google account and gmail?
what other approaches have people taken to scale down the google intrusion

So you use Google services for all of these functions and are then surprised that they're all linked and sharing data to enhance your experience of those services? Which is pretty obvious when you're asking to sign into said services all using the same Google account...

You can quite easily stop the data collection, it's not like they've hidden it all away through several menus.

I use Outlook for email/calender, Firefox for internet and Google account for YouTube/Maps. All with the data collection turned off.

phrases · 4 May 2019 at 12:21

I mean usually before you even get far enough to install the app fully it should list the permissions you need to give it to work? Some people look past that and just get click happy.