So, just to try this out, I'm going to temporarily "de-google" and use other services. What are the absolute best alternatives?

duckduckgo.com

ddg.gg

I believe tiny.cc/ddg may also be worth a shot

I personally use unbubble, searx, and startpage. I hear DDG is good, but I've also heard they aren't anonymous.

https://devrant.io/rants/805932/

Also @runfrodorun and @linuxxx have suggestions (some are listed in comments on that rant).

@JonnyCodewalker Yup know that one as well! It's awesome although it doesn't entirely suit my needs but that's after all why I'm writing one of my own 😃

Dang, I was hoping everyone would post links that redirect to duckduckgo

duckduckgo.com

@runfrodorun ok so I know this is delayed, but I just came across this again after seeing another comment and it got me curious. What do you mean "don't use Android?" Are you implying that iOS (as far as I'm aware, iOS is the only other decent phone OS) is actually better than Android? Sure, it's more secure but I'd prefer a better OS to better security.

@runfrodorun let's agree to disagree. Besides, I'm only 16, I don't have much to lose, or any reason to really worry about security right now. I've used both iOS and android and the only way to customize iOS to the way I'd want it is if I jailbroke it, which just voids the warranty.

@runfrodorun hmm... Ugh but iOS sucks and iPhones are too expensive. And they don't have a headphone jack! And the iPhone 8 models are fucking ugly as hell. Do you just settle or do you genuinely enjoy using an iPhone?

@runfrodorun I wasn't talking about ui. The iPhones are terribly designed. They've got no innovation. No headphone jack. Terrible screens. Too high prices. iOS is actually pretty good, it's just user preference. I was talking about the phone itself.

And by not using a phone you're just letting the rest of society to continue to advance while you lag behind.

@runfrodorun Tbh I can't back you up on the android part as I love android myself (without Google services through and highly locked down through a root firewall and loads of privacy things AND AOSP, not the vendors one) and won't ever use iOS due to its closed sourceness but the other one, I'm not even sure if you'd be able to call an OS good if it doesn't offer great security. Not just talking about company/govt data slurping/hacking but there's a thing called malicious hackers as well.

I'd just rather not be hacked in general!

@Sydochen @runfrodorun security shouldn't be something 'you don't have to worry about'. It's a fundamental thingy which makes sure that your data/devices aren't easily taken over by any form of hackers.

@Sydochen 'lag behind'. Why? I don't use WhatsApp which is technically lagging behind but use other good more privacy friendly services. Lagging behind is subjective and depends on your needs.

@linuxxx I don't use WhatsApp either. I wasn't talking about lagging behind in using popular services. I just meant that not using a smart phone leaves you the odd one out.