Leave Google Without Breaking Your Life

A realistic path off Gmail, Drive, Photos, and Maps without losing your data, your contacts, or your Tuesday morning. Six switches, ordered by leverage.

1. STEP 1

   Email last, search first

   Search is the easiest switch — change the default in your browser to Brave Search, DuckDuckGo, or Kagi. Use it for two weeks before deciding. Email is the hardest because of contacts and history; do it last when you've already proven you can live without Google's gravity.

2. STEP 2

   Switch documents to a non-Google option

   Most people use Google Docs collaboratively, which is the hard part. CryptPad and OnlyOffice cover the collab use case with E2EE. For solo, just write in Markdown — it outlives every tool.

3. STEP 3

   Migrate photos to Proton Drive (or Ente)

   Google Takeout exports years of photos in a few clicks. Both Proton Drive and Ente Photos offer E2EE photo storage with face/place AI that runs on-device, not on their servers. Budget time for the upload — broadband bandwidth is the bottleneck.

4. STEP 4

   Replace Maps incrementally

   Apple Maps quietly became excellent on iOS in 2024. OsmAnd or Organic Maps if you want fully open. The frustration with Google Maps' walking directions or transit is sometimes worse than the privacy hit; pick what works for your city.

5. STEP 5

   Migrate email — slowly

   Set up Proton Mail. Use a forwarder from Gmail to it for a month while you update important services (banking, taxes, primary social) to your new address one at a time. Auto-forward keeps you from missing anything during transition.

6. STEP 6

   Phone last (if at all)

   Android → GrapheneOS on a Pixel is a bigger commitment than the rest combined. Most people get sufficient privacy benefit from the first five steps and never need to touch the OS. Save it for if your threat model demands it.