Replace Google, app by app
Every Google service, its private replacement for Android, and an honest word where none exists. Our pick first, alternatives after — including the self-host route. These app alternatives are reviewed for 2026; list updated October 2026.
The pragmatic default: encrypted, Swiss, free tier to start, custom domains on paid plans. One account also replaces Calendar and Drive.
Leaner and cheaper, everything encrypted including subject lines.
German classic — standard IMAP, works with any mail app.
Don't self-host email as your first project — deliverability is a part-time job. Move mail to a provider first, self-host other things.
See all 7 mail apps + downloadsCloud storage
End-to-end encrypted storage that comes free with a Proton account — the zero-thought option if mail already lives there.
Cheap encrypted storage from Germany with proper desktop sync.
Your own Google Drive on your own server — files, sync, sharing, and a whole app ecosystem.
Photos
Encrypted photo backup with on-device face and object search — the closest thing to Google Photos without the surveillance. Painless Takeout import.
The self-host darling: fast, gorgeous, ML search on your own hardware.
Good enough if you already run Nextcloud anyway.
Office
LibreOffice engineered for phones and tablets — opens Word and Excel files offline, no account, no cloud.
Encrypted collaborative docs in the browser — the private answer to 'edit this together right now'.
The most Microsoft-compatible editors; pairs beautifully with Nextcloud.
The desktop workhorse for serious documents.
Notes
End-to-end encrypted notes that sync everywhere and will still open in twenty years. Free tier covers plain notes.
Encrypted with a friendlier editor — closest to Keep's feel.
Free, markdown-based, syncs through anything — including your own server.
Tasks & to-dos
Open-source Android to-dos done right — reminders, lists, widgets, and it syncs over open CalDAV instead of a company's cloud.
Lives next to your calendar if you self-host.
Honestly? A lot of degooglers discover a notes app or paper covers it.
Calendar & contacts
Encrypted calendar in the same account as your mail. Imports your Takeout .ics in minutes.
The open-source Android calendar app, synced to any CalDAV server by DAVx⁵ — the glue app of the whole degoogled world.
Calendar and contacts on your own box, served over CalDAV/CardDAV.
Maps & navigation
Full offline turn-by-turn navigation from OpenStreetMap — download your country, then navigate with zero network traffic.
The one with live traffic. Closed-source but privacy-respecting — it's what /e/OS ships.
Power-user maps: hiking, cycling, every layer imaginable.
Honest caveat: nothing matches Google's live transit and business data. For a big-city transit query, sandboxed Google Maps with location off is the pragmatic fallback.
See all 5 maps & navigation apps + downloadsSearch
The two-day habit change. Results are good enough that you'll stop noticing, and !bangs are genuinely better.
Paid search with no ads at all — the best results of the bunch.
Google's results without Google's profile.
Your own meta-search engine, if you want the full sovereignty badge.
Browser
On GrapheneOS, keep Vanadium — it's the hardened default. Everywhere else, Brave blocks ads and trackers out of the box.
The desktop standard; add uBlock and it's a different internet.
Simplest possible private browsing for a non-technical family member.
Calls & messaging
Messages, voice and video calls, groups — encrypted, free, and the one private app your family might already have.
Video meetings from a link; guests join without an account, the host signs in on meet.jit.si (or self-host it). The Meet replacement for work calls.
Decentralized team chat; the self-host answer to Slack and Meet in one.
YouTube
YouTube without ads, tracking or an account — plus background play and downloads. From F-Droid.
The same idea for your desktop.
Not a YouTube mirror — a federated video world of its own.
Two-factor codes
Encrypted, open-source, and it makes real backups — export the vault, store it with your passwords. Imports from Google Authenticator by QR.
If you want codes encrypted-synced across devices.
Move your 2FA codes before you wipe the old phone. It's the step everyone forgets.
See all 5 two-factor codes apps + downloadsTap-to-pay
Real contactless payments on a degoogled phone. Curve is a virtual card you add your existing Visa or Mastercard to (no Amex) — you tap the phone, Curve charges your real card. Set it as your default wallet under Settings → Connected devices → NFC → Contactless payments.
Many European banks build tap-to-pay into their own app instead of delegating to Google. Free, no middleman — check yours before signing up for anything.
PayPal's app also does its own contactless in supported countries.
The catch is geography, not technology: Curve Pay covers the UK and EEA, not the US. Android's contactless API is open to any wallet app — it's Google Wallet specifically that refuses to run unless Google has blessed your OS. In the US, where banks delegate everything to Google and Apple, plastic is still the answer.
See all 3 tap-to-pay apps + downloadsApp store
The whole Play catalog, installed anonymously — no Google account. This is the workhorse of every degoogled phone.
Open-source apps only; where half the apps on this page live.
A small, security-focused store — GrapheneOS's preferred source.
Installs and updates apps straight from their GitHub releases.
Keyboard
Gboard's layout and glide typing without the cloud — open source, fully offline.
The one with genuinely good offline voice typing. Free to download; FUTO asks for an optional one-time license payment.
Translate
Better translations than Google. It's still a cloud service — more private than Google, not private in absolute terms.
Open-source machine translation you can run entirely on your own hardware.
Web pages translated on-device, inside the browser.
And one we won't pretend to solve:
No good answer
Mostly: live without it. Offline voice typing (FUTO Keyboard) covers dictation, and Organic Maps covers the directions you used to ask for. A private assistant with Google's reach doesn't exist yet, and we won't recommend a worse one just to fill this box.