What’s uG? MicroG?

I’ve only taken a glimpse at this myself, have not even started setting it up) I’m looking at Owntracks, for example.

I guess the other option would be Linux like PostmarketOS, but it’s not yet ready to be a botherless daily-driver for a non-enthusiasts, from what I’ve read.

and a very significant portion of the Android ecosystem requires GPS to function

Which ones? Not encountered that except for maps.

Auto updates, built-in Android security features

At least Graphene does auto-updates of the system and basic apps just fine, and when it comes to installed apps - you can use F-Droid, Obtainium and other methods that can do it as well.

a significant portion of secure apps like banking and financial service applications

Yeah, those are often blocked off indeed. Although this depends too - for example, in my country all the major banks aside from one don’t require Google services, primarily to accommodate Huawei and other Chinaphones that come without Google services. Find My Phone - indeed, although there might still be workarounds, just not looked at that.

And it’s funny because each one of these removed features are generally replaced with a third party alternative, which means you’re still trusting a third party with your data…

Thing is - you have CHOICE in what third party to trust. And a lot of such choices are indeed more trustworthy than Google judging by prior history. You can eliminate middlemen, such as getting apps directly from the devs’ repos rather than from F-Droid. Oftentimes you can avoid a third-party entirely, as a lot of things are selfhostable.

You may be completely happy with Graphene, but the overwhelming vast majority of people won’t be because it removes the specific advantages of using Android as an ecosystem.

That’s not the same argument as you made previously - “De-googled projects get none of the benefit of being android, while all of the downfall of being android”. Removing Google does still leave a convenient daily driver - whether it’s suitable universally is another question.

Funny thing is that the more you block, the less these bans matter. Every time a big social media gets blocked, a few more unaware people install a VPN (even if a sketchy one, but that’s a completely different story). So pretty much everyone around me uses at least one banned service, which in turn makes all the other bans not matter. The only instance when it does is when they block the previously-working means of ban evasion (like when they blocked Wireguard/Openvpn last year) and people have to find a new one.

get none of the benefit of being android

As someone who uses Graphene… No? It gets the benefit of being usable as a daily driver and having tons of apps. What exact perks are you talking about? You overestimate the benefit Google gives to the OS’ user.

Especially since you can selfhost the server for location sharing!

There are several major degoogled Android projects, while Linux on phones is nowhere near mature enough for mainstream use yet.

There are open-source selfhostable location trackers like Owntracks.

That’s awesome. I just know that someone in my country complained about the absence of offers in our currency and region, even though they’re available and allowed. There was apparently just more variety on Bisq. Hope there are more diverse offers soon!

there is also Bisq - Haveno’s older brother, but Bitcoin-only. Not tried either, but given how much longer Bisq has been around, my guess is that it has a bigger chance of having a suitable offer.

What bothers me is that Youtube replacement is a way more harder task than replacing Twitter or Reddit… The bandwidth and storage costs would grow unaffordable way too quickly for a volunteer. I would really like to see Youtube videos backed up, because I am really afraid Google will eventually loginwall it… But seems like the only realistic way for it is distributing the storage and bandwidth. Like, Peertube does utilize torrents, but the instance still has to have each video in full. I wouldn’t mind seeding just my personal video downloads, but haven’t seen a repository where the torrents could be published and seen.

I recently noticed that this website has an AI picture as a main banner and now I can’t unsee it. I really hope this was just a placeholder, otherwise that’s disgusting.

I have come to the opinion that until stores and malls accept crypto, they will never grow betond being a commodity like gold

I don’t think they need to either. In the physical world, cash is the absolute best. Using crypto in the real world is like using cash by mail - cool gimmick but very impractical. Crypto is a way to buy your VPS, domain, email, etc - the purely virtual things.

I used to keep track of my playlists with my browser bookmarks, watching the videos themselves in mpv, and the channels I just memorized and checked from time to time. But later switched to using Freetube, that has built-in subscriptions, playlists and history tracking.

I don’t even use the browser on my Raspberry Pi - I just watch movies from my hard drive. I did doubt at first that Pi3 with just 1GB RAM would handle videos, but turns out it’s okay, it has hardware acceleration for video. Although I now only watch Youtube by downloading videos in very specific formats.

Old Reddit is consistently blocking my VPS at least. Before Youtube started the recent IP-flagging BS, it was the only site that outright denied me access from this datacenter.

GeoGebra! Our school used it for demonstration on the lessons and had us do homework in there! Have good memories of it.

Signal isn’t, and that’s one of mine (and a lot of other people’s) main gripes with it.

I’m concerned about centralization the most.