At this point, I’m surprised anybody (including myself) still buys/uses Google services, given how risky it is that you’ll become dependent on them and then they kill off the product(s). I really need to get off my ass and switch mail providers.
Google mail is extremely unlikely to get shut down.
But anyway, Proton Mail allows importing e-mails from Google.
Most people will use whatever the default on their device is. Most phones that aren’t iPhones come with Google apps and services set as default.
The only Google services I still use are YouTube and in rare cases Google Maps. But if YouTube continues to enshittify I’ll stop using that. I’ve been using Google Maps mainly to get information about places to eat/sleep in cities, not really for navigation.
If there wernt better YouTube frontends id probably stop using it altogether too. The base site is horrible and idk how anyone could possibly enjoy using it.
I think that YT should open up APIs to make a better frontend for third party apps, like what Reddit had, at least to premium users.
There was a time when the Google apps just worked, the applications were optimised for UX. Maybe I’ve just only noticed it now but the directions (and assistant in general) aren’t as useful, reliable, and filled with sponsored stuff.
what do you use for navigation and how does it compare?
Google Maps was a great app and service, it had decent navigation and always a lot of information on a lot of places. Nowadays it’s cluttered with features including a “news feed” with social network-like posts made by people on places in the area.
On iOS devices I can highly recommend Apple Maps nowadays. They completely overhauled their maps a few years ago and I got great results navigating with it. The app isn’t bloated, it’s fast, the map material looks great and their version of Street View is a lot more sophisticated.
For strictly navigating you can also check out TomTom AmiGO. It’s a free variant of TomTom’s navigational system. I wouldn’t really use it outside of car navigation though.
I used to use Sygic a few years back, but they switched to a subscription model and keep nagging existing “lifetime” buyers to subscribe.
I use them but honestly having to run the bridge to use a normal email client has me pretty nonplused. I wish they’d support S/MIME too; it seems like all email is just encrypted on delivery and at least S/MIME would give you something end-to-end encrypted.
Yeah. I don’t mind that this is a paid feature, but installing the bridge on every device is cumbersome.
I’m surprised anyone uses Google services considering how they infiltrate your privacy.
A Google VPN is as private to me as giving a six year old a cardboard box and asking them but to look inside.
Do you honestly believe that there is a mail service out there that does not record data on you?
Protonmail is encrypted and they literally cannot decrypt to record your data.
I’m just now unravelling the last of the truly important bits of my life that are in their clutches, for that and other reasons.
Two phone numbers, a handful of documents I’ve shared over the years that probably don’t matter anyway, and a couple email addresses that I’ve been actively monitoring for months for anything important, and searches my password mgr for….
I should be free by 1 July at the outside, possibly a few days early if I don’t delay the actual deletion process. Feels fuckin great.
The only reason I have a google account in the first place is android. You cannot use the fucking play store without one.
