I switched to indie apps for privateness, and now my workflow is a multitude

I simply wished to ship a file from my Android cellphone to my Home windows 11 PC. It ought to have been simple, however I had de-Googled my life, and out of the blue, I used to be caught. Fast Share was gone. Google Drive wasn’t an possibility. Docs and Preserve have been additionally out of the image. My new setup relied on a handful of indie instruments, they usually weren’t cooperating. Microsoft’s Cellphone Hyperlink wasn’t working (once more), and my Canadian cloud service was as sluggish as molasses.

It was at that second I spotted escaping Massive Tech solely sounds good in idea. The apply turned out to be way more tough than it ought to have been. Right here’s what I discovered attempting to stay a Massive Tech-free life, and why I’m nonetheless selecting up the items.

I’ve grown bored with handing over my information to monumental monopolies that deal with me like a product. Google reads my emails, Fb tracks me throughout the web, and Amazon is at all times spying on me.

I didn’t need that anymore. I wished to assist unbiased builders constructing considerate, purposeful software program. I didn’t need to be a part of an algorithm or a data-scraping scheme for AI. So I set some floor guidelines for my new digital life.

I used to be on the lookout for apps that weren’t US or Chinese language-owned. If there was an app within the US that I completely wanted, then it ought to be a nonprofit, like Firefox. If it was Canadian, my house turf, it jumped to the highest of the record, however Australian and European apps have been high-quality. Massive Tech was an instantaneous no.

Right here’s what I ended up utilizing:

• Sync as an alternative of Google Drive
• Obsidian as an alternative of Preserve
• ToDoist as an alternative of Duties
• Elemental as an alternative of chats
• Kobo as an alternative of Kindle
• VLC as an alternative of YouTube Music
• Firefox as an alternative of Chrome
• Ecosia as an alternative of Google Search
• Fastmail as an alternative of Gmail

I didn’t anticipate perfection, however I hoped I may construct a contemporary, and personal, workflow that did 90% of what I used to do. What I ended up with was a fragmented, friction-filled expertise that price me some huge cash and worthwhile time.

I went with Fastmail to interchange Gmail. It is a quick and clear electronic mail service from Australia. It’s personal, it handles electronic mail in addition to Gmail, and it comes with a collection of instruments included within the annual $50 price. I ended up falling in love with Fastmail, and it has utterly changed all different emails in my life. I want I may say the identical for Sync. It is a Canadian cloud storage service with robust encryption and no monitoring. It felt good ethically, however virtually, I discovered it sluggish and clunky. File uploads from my Android took endlessly to look on my PC, and the cellular app appears to be like dated.

I swapped out YouTube Music for my very own MP3 and FLAC information, saved regionally on my cellphone. It felt good to return to the outdated iPod days, and VLC has a strong music participant that may deal with just about any music file. I personal hundreds of tracks from the outdated days, and it felt liberating to cease renting my music from Massive Tech. My swap to Kobo was related, though now I used to be shopping for my ebooks from Indigo, Canada’s greatest bookstore, as an alternative of Amazon.

Obsidian turned my substitute for Preserve and Docs, and it was not enjoyable. Obsidian is highly effective on desktop, however sluggish on cellular. I by no means preferred the way it appeared or felt. Whereas it obtained the job executed, there was at all times one thing lacking. I attempted the plugins, learn the boards, and watched the movies, however ultimately, I ended up by no means utilizing it. ToDoist, alternatively, has at all times been a pleasure to make use of, and I’ll proceed utilizing it till the day they take my Android from my fingers.

I ended up falling in love with Firefox. Then, its house owners determined to vary the phrases and declared possession over every little thing I did within the app. I shopped round for a substitute and settled on Vivaldi, albeit reluctantly. Chromium nonetheless has Google’s fingers throughout it, in spite of everything.

The most important failure was messaging. I experimented with Component, a decentralized, encrypted platform constructed with the Matrix protocol. It appeared like an excellent thought, however setting it up is a ache. Finally, getting anybody else to make use of it’s inconceivable. Good luck explaining decentralized protocols to my mother. She’s high-quality with Messenger.

All the pieces felt disjointed and not using a unified ecosystem. Notifications have been delayed, or didn’t arrive in any respect. I’d create a activity in ToDoist however it wouldn’t present up in my Fastmail calendar. Saving a file from Fastmail to Sync meant first manually downloading the file, then re-uploading it. No drag-and-drop, no auto-sync. Even copying a hyperlink from Obsidian into an electronic mail felt like extra work than it ought to be.

The monetary price alone proved to be complicated. I subbed to ToDoist, Fastmail, Obsidian sync, and Sync.com. None have been outrageous on their very own, however each added up. I used to be nonetheless paying lots, and for a messier expertise.

That stated, I did achieve some privateness and was capable of assist firms I believed in. However that easy, invisible infrastructure that makes instruments really feel like extensions of my mind was lacking, and it wasn’t any cheaper.

Massive tech will get one factor undeniably proper: integration. For all its flaws, every little thing simply works. You don’t typically discover how easily information sync throughout gadgets, emails hyperlink on to calendars, and messages move to their recipient. Duties seem on calendars whereas attachments can save on to Google Drive or OneNote. This comfort is invisible till it’s gone.

There’s additionally a type of cognitive aid that comes from utilizing an ecosystem designed to carry your complete digital life. You don’t must juggle instruments or rewire your mind each time you turn duties. Google, Apple, and Microsoft have spent years constructing programs that anticipate what you’ll want subsequent. It’s an expertise most indie apps simply can’t match.

I’m not strolling away from every little thing. Fastmail is staying, as is ToDoist. These are two strong apps value each penny. I’m sticking with Vivaldi for now, utilizing Ecosia as my search engine. I’m additionally sticking with native music information, and even arrange a Plex server to stream movies and music from my PC to my Apple TV 4K. It simply works. I’ll hold Kobo, for now. I ditched every little thing else and went crawling again to Google. Preserve is fantastic, and Google Drive has no equal.

What I’ve discovered is there isn’t a such factor as a clear break when going indie. I do know Proton is constructing its personal ecosystem, with a easy single price. I could attempt it subsequent. Within the meantime, it’s onerous to beat how good the large tech ecosystems makes every little thing really feel.