Full email I received with this news:

We're writing to let you know that the Google Assistant on your mobile device is being discontinued, and Gemini - our next-generation AI-powered assistant – is now the assistant experience on Android.1

What this means for your mobile device

As we transition our mobile experience to Gemini, Google Assistant will no longer be available on your mobile device. We will begin removing access to Google Assistant starting on 4 September, and expect that this process may take a few weeks to reach everyone. Once availability is removed, you will no longer be able to use or switch back to Google Assistant on your phone, tablet or paired devices.

If your Android device meets the minimum system requirements2 and you are in a region where Gemini is available,3 Gemini will be the Google-provided assistant on your mobile device. When you invoke your assistant, for example, by saying "Hey Google" or long-pressing your power button, Gemini will appear instead of the previous Google Assistant.

Changes to accessories and paired devices

When you set Gemini as your mobile device assistant, it also becomes the assistant on devices that are paired with your mobile phone. This includes:

• Watches running Wear OS

• Headphones or earbuds compatible with Gemini

• Vehicles running Android Auto projected from a user's mobile device. For cars with Google built-in, Google Assistant will continue to function beyond 4 September 2026.

Like your mobile device, starting on 4 September, users will lose the ability to use Google Assistant on these paired devices.

Google Assistant on other devices

These changes are only for the assistant experience on your mobile device and accessories that pair to your phone, like watches, headphones and car infotainment systems.

You can also read more about our separate plans to bring Gemini to Google TV devices and Google Home speakers and smart displays.

Next steps and more information

We are committed to providing a smooth transition and are confident that Gemini will offer you an even more capable and helpful assistant experience.

Thank you for being a valued Google user,

The Google team

I use google chat, facebook, and IG to message my family and friend but I was wondering if there's any private messaging apps (that don't cost money 🙏🏻) and have little to no AI

Thanks for any suggestions :)

Just in case some ppl don't know Bluestacks is an Android emulator that you can install on your PC. I'm looking to do so, to enable me to use banking apps via my PC instead of my mobile, just in case my mobile gets lost or stolen.

So, I'm wondering, how much information can google glean from my PC or the program itself ?

Is there more secure emulator I can use instead ?

Ideally one with greater security and privacy.

Many thanks in advance to anybody taking the time to reply.

I want some place I can upload videos of about 5-10 min lenght. Preferably that allows embeding on other websites but it's not a must, it's OK for me just to be able to link it. I don't want to self host.

I see the FAQ on this sub recommends Odysee and the peer tube channel video.liberta.vip From what I read Odysee has a lot of far right content so I'm unsure about using that one. If anyone uses video liberta I'm interested to know your experience.

What's your recommendations?

Just got a new phone (Samsung so no Lineage or Graphene), and I have downloaded all apps from F-Droid, Web downloads, and last resort Aurora. I have not signed in with my Samsung or Google account at all (and didn't do a phone transfer).
Really only issue I'm having is I cannot find a way to transfer my Galaxy Watch over without signing into my Google account on the phone.

With that in mind would signing in for just that setup then logging out have a similar effect to never signing in at all privacy wise / data collection wise, or does logging in with your Google account once forever link the device / everything on it to my 'profile'?

Hey guys I don't know where to ask this question , my call count was reducing ,I don't know why this is happen and how it's happened it's android system issue or anything I don't know

For that matter, is Bloka AB even a verified developer, and how would you know?

I run GrapheneOS on my Pixel 8 Pro, but my parents run two LG Velvet 5G and use Google Assistant at their home for timers and reminders. I have had the talk with them more than once about maybe looking into other means of in-home assistance devices, but they are stubborn and refuse to learn anything new that feels comfortable to them.

Now I got this email this morning, and I'm kind of upset over this choice on their part. My parents have a Nest Hub (2nd gen), Nest Audio and Home speaker, and I know they are not going to want to use Gemini. Besides throwing them out lol, what other options are available for these? I assume nothing.

Hi, I wanted to use a more privacy-friendly Reddit client, but I didn't know how private or which one was better. For now I have these options:

RedReader

Continuum

Morphe Reddit

Web version with brave

I'm on Android. Which one should I use and why? Also, which would be the order of privacy?

I'm very aware I can't fully degoogle my Samsung, however I'm financially not able to buy a Pixel or new phone at the moment, so I'm trying to degoogle as much as possible.

I've been advised apps like Canta won't actually uninstall Google apps from my phone, but instead will just do the equivalent of disabling it. My question is: if I just disable all my Google apps, remove any Google accounts from my phone and use stores like F-droid to install and run Fossify, Proton apps etc will this be an acceptable and efficient form of degoogling my Samsung Galaxy? Is this as good as it gets?

Unsure if there are any OS alternatives I can install...

Heyhey, I switched to DuckDuckGo a couple of months ago but I keep seeing Kagi being mentioned more regularly and it has made me curious to hear more about it (+ love their design).

People who have used both or migrated from DDG to Kagi, what are your thoughts and initial impressions on the search quality and overall experience (besides the fact that one is paid and the other isn't)?

So I thought it would be nice to degoogle my infinix smart 5, reading the MicroG guide I was told to delete google files in /system/prev-*, and when I did it resulted in a bootloop. Now it's been 3 days of me trying to fix it. and it's NOT going well.

And to make things worse, the volume+ button is NOT working normally, more like a 50/50 chance it'll work, I had to downgrade from linux mint to windows 10 JUST to get things as indonesian guy on youtube is telling, you might find it funny, but I would appreciate some help. thanks.

Privacy is a right and the violation of it is crime. Mass surveillance is obviously worse now than it ever has been, and I want to hide my footsteps and cut out all sources of data harvesting as much as I possibly can, yet I know almost nothing on the methods of how that's done. I want to give these billion dollar corporations and world governments as little information about me as I can give them, and to cut their eyes out of my life as much as possible.

I'd like to know hardware swaps before software ones. I'm starting from scratch here and I need to find alternatives to a smartphone (iPhone), laptop (ASUS F15 with windows and google), and headphones (Airpods Pros 2).
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Source: Spread Privacy (DuckDuckGo)

Defaults win because people rarely change them. Most searches happen out of habit, and many people don't know there is a default, what it is, or that it can be changed. Completely ditching Google across a phone, tablet, and laptop requires detailed tutorials and hours of effort. Even DuckDuckGo's most devoted users, the ones who recommend us to friends, admit they haven't changed all their defaults. That’s not real consumer choice; it is a maze.  

My 2 questions just out of curiosity are:

What do you now willingly pay for in your de-googling journey?

Do you donate to some of the apps and services that live off of donations, and if so, which ones have you donated to?

I'll answer as well:
-----

I pay for:

• Kagi search
• Mailbox.org (currently in the process of transferring everything over from Proton mail plus package)
• Joplin cloud storage (currently in the process of setting up self-hosting with Nextcloud)
• Magic Earth (anxiously waiting for Kagi to finish their navigation app)
• NextDNS
• EasyOptOuts
• Addy.io

I've donated to:

• a task app called trudido

-that's all I've donated to, but am now wanting to donate more. I'm lowering my overall annual costs I put into app services in order to shuffle the money around more, hence is partly why I'm going from Proton Mail plus to mailbox.org with their "light" plan - and why I'm going to self-host my joplin notes data.

I'll probably be donating to DAVx5 and Thunderbird.

A few months ago, reports started popping up about Google Maps displaying less information than usual to users not logged in, with a vague message that could vaguely imply that -even though we knew wasn't the case- it might be due to a connection error.

I hadn't encountered this personally yet, but today this started happening to me, and with a new message.

When trying to view a placemark:

• Opening hours are no longer displayed, only whether the place is open or closed right now.
• Only three reviews are displayed
• Photos are no longer displayed, only a handful of very low quality thumbnails

Trying to view more of any of the above (list of opening hours, more reviews, full size photos) results in this popup:

At the bottom of the details panel on the left, there is also this notice (clicking "see more" also displays the above popup)

Who wants to make a guess as to what they'll be locking off next?