The Privacy Diet James Patrick
Cover of De-Google Your Life

After The Privacy Diet · An unofficial, independent guide

De-Google Your Life

Move Away from Google Step by Step

by James Patrick

Get the book See the replacement table
Chapters
21
Parts
5
Appendices
3
Commands
None — apps and settings only

Reading along

Email, calendar, contacts, files, photos, passwords, maps and often the phone itself all run through one Google account. This book moves them somewhere else, one service at a time, in an order that keeps everything working while you do it.

You choose how far to go before you start: a lighter clean-up that keeps Gmail and your Android phone, most of the way, or all the way to no Google account at all. Every step uses ready-made services and apps — nothing to host, nothing to type into a terminal.

It picks up where The Privacy Diet leaves off: that book swaps your browser and search engine and installs GrapheneOS; this one moves everything else. For the email move in full, there's Proton Mail: The Definitive Guide. To run these services on your own hardware instead, that's Be Your Own Cloud.

Services and prices change faster than print, so the book's replacement table is kept current here on the site.

What's inside

  1. Part 1 — Before You Move

    • Chapter 1 Why Leave, and How Far to Go ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 2 Map Your Google Dependency ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 3 Get Your Data Out ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY

  2. Part 2 — The Easy Wins

    • Chapter 4 Browser and Search, Finished ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 5 Passwords and Codes Out of Google ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 6 Maps and Navigation ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 7 YouTube Without the Tracking ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 8 Notes, Lists, and Tasks ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY

  3. Part 3 — The Big Moves

    • Chapter 9 Email ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 10 Calendar and Contacts ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 11 Drive and Docs ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 12 Photos ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 13 "Sign in with Google" ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 14 Purchases, Payments, and Subscriptions ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY

  4. Part 4 — Your Phone

    • Chapter 15 Keep Your Phone, and De-Google It as Far as It Goes ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 16 A De-Googled Phone ⚙ ADVANCED
    • Chapter 17 Apps That Need Google ⚙ ADVANCED

  5. Part 5 — Living Without Google

    • Chapter 18 Google at Home and on Other Devices ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 19 When You Can't Leave Completely ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 20 Closing or Keeping the Account ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY
    • Chapter 21 Your 30-Day De-Google Plan ✓ BEGINNER FRIENDLY

  6. Appendices

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