Episode two: The degoogled phone
25-11-2025
In 2023, after my beloved Redmi Note 10 abandoned me with a swollen battery screaming danger and threatening to explode, I decided to go over to the dark side and leave Android to try Apple.
I had already bought an iPad Air to read and take notes at university, and the idea of having more parts of an ecosystem seemed smart. Still, even without using Android, Google remained my primary email account.
I don't remember exactly what made me say, "I've had enough," but I think it was the news of a class action lawsuit in the U.S. that made me reflect on how, with some companies, you are the product being sold, not the service being offered. So I decided to remove Big Tech from my life as much as possible.
To see if it was possible to use a smartphone without Google, I tried LineageOS on an old phone I had lying around, which I used as a camera for the parrot room. It took me three hours to get it installed, and after "cursing some saints", I managed to install almost all the "essential" apps: even my bank's app worked without Google! But since it was an old phone, the battery didn't even last half a day, and I ended up turning my iPhone back on. So, after gathering a bit of information, I took the leap:
I swapped my iPhone 13 (of course, it wasn't thrown away—my sister-in-law adopted it :) ) for a Google Pixel 7a on which I installed GrapheneOS.
The installation was easier than LineageOS, but getting the apps I needed to work was trickier:
I created a second profile with Aurora Store, where apps that require Google Play can function.
In the second profile, I can use almost all the necessary apps, like my banking app and apps for the automated lights in certain rooms.
In the main profile, there are only FOSS apps.
I would love for all the apps I need to be FOSS in the future, but for now, to do online banking or payments, I have no other choice.
Saying goodbye to Google also meant giving up NFC payments, which I had gotten so used to with the iPhone.
What I would do differently
It's not perfect but it's better, sometimes the phone doesn't work perfectly, and google maps was a great program to navigate with.
I need to get used to all the new things and apps. And this learning curve can be a real pain, which not everyone is willing to endure.
Also installing the alternative OS was difficult with LineageOS and a little easier with GrapheneOS, but for the average person, it would still be challenging. My family members wont even try to do it.
To remove Google from my life, I still looked for the most economical and sustainable solution;
a second-hand phone is always less impactful than a new one.
But if I ever needed to buy a new one,
I think I would choose companies that stand out for their innovative and open-source ideas:
Volla Phone – https://volla.online/en/index.php
Brax Phone – https://www.braxtech.net/
I want to clarify that I haven't tried any of these smartphones myself, but they exist for anyone who isn't interested in doing everything on their own.
On the top of that, my relationship with my phone has changed a lot since I removed traditional social media. The phone has gone back to being a communication tool rather than somenthing to kill time. I use it for banking, the very basic IoT devices I have at home, and for calling and texting. Online shopping and everything else is done on my computer.
I'm very curious to know if anyone else has embarked on this journey and what solutions you've adopted. Maybe there are other paths I haven't considered that could be more interesting and easier. See you in episode three!
P.S.: I also tried a dumb-phone, but unfortunately we live in a world where, to make a bank transfer, you need a smartphone.See you in the next episode!