Note: I prefer Apple over Google and I’m not ready to go full privacy-hardened, I want to find a balance between convenience and privacy protection.
So I’m moving from Samsung to iPhone soon, mainly because I despise Google. Want to cut Google out as much as possible while I’m at it.
What I’m planning so far:
- Mailbox.org instead of Gmail
- DuckDuckGo for search, would prefer something even better
- Safari with all the privacy stuff turned on
Where I’m stuck:
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What about YouTube? Just use the web version?
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Google Drive alternatives that actually work well?
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Best way to store photos that aren’t big greedy corps?
Questions:
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Any must-have privacy apps once I get the iPhone?
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Settings I should change immediately out of the box?
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Services I’m forgetting that are probably feeding Google my data?
I would consider GrapheneOS instead of iOS. GrapheneOS provides full compatibility with Android without Google, and you can optionally install Google Play Services. Apple is as bad as Google in some aspects.
As for your main questions, these are my suggestions:
Most of these are Android-only, because iOS is still privacy invasive by nature. More software can be found on my list of software.
Cheers!
I like Grayjay for YouTube and also other video platforms
The only thing to note with GrapheneOS is that apps that use the Google Play Integrity API don’t work. It’s mostly banking apps that use it. There is a list here of which banking apps work with GrapheneOS https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
NewPipe or a fork for YT, has a better UI than LibreTube.
LibreTube uses the Material Design 3 design language, which, in my opinion, looks much nicer, more user friendly, and more responsive. NewPipe (and its forks) don’t even use the proper system calls for Picture In Picture.
I’ll take function over form. NewPipe has everything where you need it without excessively large thumbnails or text. LibreTube suffers from “modern” web design principles, where using more screen space to show less information is #1.
But NewPipe has more often updates and works well. Libretube often isn’t working cause google push some updates for yt to block 3rd party apps and only newpipe released update quickly.