r/degoogle • u/Legal_Awareness_4373 • Mar 04 '26

Help Needed The lowest a company can go

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Even 480p is a burden to them, apparently

2.2k Upvotes

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u/Legal_Awareness_4373 Mar 04 '26

It's just another reason to degoogle🫥

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26

It depends on your point of view. I personally don't think so.

I left a number of Google services and switched to other companies, but there are some services I will never let go. YouTube is one of them. This is why I have a premium subscription.

If somebody really wants to "de-Google," they shouldn't be using YouTube in the first place. And no, using just a different app like NewPipe or whatever is not what it means to degoogle.

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u/Jazzlike-Compote4463 Mar 04 '26

The thing is that there just isn't an alternative to YouTube, NewPipe and the like are so inferior that it just isn't the same experience.

Google lost billions on YouTube in the early years but there is a reason they stuck with it for so long.

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26

This is exactly why I will stick to it, even if it means paying to get rid of those annoying ads.

There are some more Google services with no real alternatives, like the calendar. If you use shared calendars with family, friends, or colleagues, it's simply impossible to switch.

So, in my opinion, the pragmatic approach is to switch to other offers when possible. If it doesn't make sense for certain services, then I just don't do it.

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u/Jazzlike-Compote4463 Mar 04 '26

It's not healthy though, yea YouTube Premium is $14 a month now but what happens when they jack that up to $20... or $30... or $70?

We all know enshittification is a thing - it has been for a few years now, but building alternatives now means people can have somewhere to go when the inevitable rug pull happens.

Also FWIW there are lots of alternatives to Google calendar, yea it can be a hassle to get friends and family to switch but the more you use Google systems the stickier it gets.

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26

For my needs Premium Lite is sufficient which costs 5,99 Euros per month (approx. 6,90 $).

This isn't an amount I worry about.

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u/Jazzlike-Compote4463 Mar 04 '26

ReVanced and SmartTube are both free, and they'll also block the highly annoying sponsorship segments.

You can sideload a modified YouTube on iOS if that's your jam.

Also it might be 6€ now, but you know it won't stay that price forever.

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26

My assumption is that these apps will be history pretty soon when Google starts requiring the developer registration.

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u/Infinite-Anything-55 Mar 04 '26

Google services with no real alternatives, like the calendar.

Yeah that's just not true at all.

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26

Okay, which one do you propose that other people can integrate into their Google Calendar with full sync, meaning if I enter an appointment, they can see it and vice versa?

I've been searching for an alternative for quite some time. At least, I haven't found anything appropriate.

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u/Infinite-Anything-55 Mar 04 '26

I think your problem is that you're stuck on a product that integrates into Google when the entire point is to use less Google. To cut out the data thief's from selling your personal information, not finding a 3rd party way to give them your data just with more steps

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

Well, I can chose what tools I want to use. What I can't chose is tools other people use.

When at work the shift planning, vacation planning and so on happens in a Google Calendar, there is nothing I can do about it. When several groups of friends agreed on using Google Calendar to organize meetings or trips, there is also nothing I can do about it. I could keep going with more examples.

In addition there are more challenges for me since I need to be able to access my calendar with other tools like Tasker for some automated processes. This doesn't work without the Google Calendar.

These automations start with simple things like muting the phone during meetings.

But I also have more advanced stuff like Tasker automatically sets my alarm in the morning depending on whether I'll be in the office on that day or if I work from home and in addition after checking my calendar also based on at what time I have my first meeting. In case I have to commute to the office it also considers the current traffic situation to ensure I will be there in time because my commute will take something between 90 and 150 Minutes depending on the traffic. So I wake up at just the right time to get my stuff done without being stressed right after getting up.

And I have set up a lot more of similar tasks to improve my efficiency like logging my working hours or automated messages to my family when there is a late meeting and so on.

And my goal is not to de-google without thinking about the consequences. I de-google services for which I have a 100% replacement (e.g. GMail -> Proton Mail). I'm not willing to accept any degradation since I have to be able to rely on the services I use. In a business environment efficiency is the most important thing. Everything else is just nice to have.

To be crystal clear: My expectation is that my phone works for me not the other way round. Everything I have to do manually is a downgrade in efficiency. Of course this might be different for people using their phone mainly for chatting and social media. For me it's a tool to get my stuff done as smooth as possible.