You are reading a single comment by @NotThamesWater and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
Rooting is not necessary (strictly speaking) or sufficient to de-google a phone.
The stock Android ecosystem is so intrinsically tied to google (and, for that reason, haemorrhages data to google), you need a ROM that has no google play services & framework.
MicroG have customised a LineageOS ROM (itself a stripped down AOSP ROM), that allows you to run Google dependent apps without using Google itself.
You are restricted as to which phone you can use though, and rooting LineageOS for MicroG is challenging.
Going google free is finicky, and you can often run into unforeseen annoyances. I rage retired a phone recently because of it...
NotThamesWater
Android still, a Pixel.
I thought it couldn't be anything else... I was too heavily into Google. But for a couple of years now I've been replacing apps with links to web pages (i.e. even Deliveroo on my mobile is a link to a web page), and I've changed my default browser to Firefox, and I run NoScript with that, and then have NextDNS as my Private DNS. It's suprising how few apps one really genuinely needs.
I can't consider Apple as they only allow Safari. I do feel open to a rooted Android now.
The last Google things I have are the phone, and the Google Nest things. I could live with keeping the accounts on the smart home hardware, it's dumbed down by my lack of other stuff and microphones are off by default (I use my phone).
The phone doesn't feel as critical as it once was in this equation.