New phone without Google or Apple strings

Those are pretty much your two choices, OP. Apple is slightly better than Google.

Are you one of those people who thinks the govt is tracking them, OP? Are you a "targeted" person?

R2 No.

What's the intrusive part of Apple, OP?

My opinion, FWIW, is that you just need to find the right settings on your iPhone to turn all that shit off. It can be done. Google it.

I have an Android and have for several years. I'm unclear what you mean about "Google intrusion" as that hasn't been my experience at all.

And if you don't want any of the Google apps, it's easy enough to disable them through Settings.

You had your chance, OP. And look what happened.

Fuck you.

Androids let you sideload apps. Apple forces you to use the phone the way they think you should. Why anyone would want Apple telling you what to do is beyond me.

Jitterbug

r9 wins

Androids let you sideload apps - inviting all sorts of security risks, exploits, etc. Apple forces the ecosystem to deflect/protect you, as they should. Why anyone would want Android's free-for-all is beyond me.

[QUOTE] Jitterbug

The Jitterbug is an Android phone.

There are Androids you can buy that have had the Google stuff stripped out. Or you can take a stock phone and have someone else do it. I believe the most popular alternative OS is Lineage.

I don't find Apple that intrusive. Not sure what OP is talking about.

I would advise not using your Google account to sign in to everything. I prefer just making separate accounts for everything. But I am minimalistic in my apps.

I sign out of Google and Amazon, etc., as often as possible.

I've seen special phones you can get. Haven't tried them. With Android you can often replace Google apps with alternatives

Graphene OS. You can buy phones (ironically, Google Pixels) that have Graphene OS installed on eBay and Swappa. They are completely de-Googled.

[quote] My opinion, FWIW, is that you just need to find the right settings on your iPhone to turn all that shit off. It can be done. Google it.

DuckDuckGo it instead, I say.

By the way, OP, here’s a list of five alternative phones to Apple, Google and Samsung, which I found thanks to duckduckgo. It’s from 2022, iinm, so you might want to see what else is out there now.

Food for thought guys. Whsts annoys me is everytime visit a website I get a Google popup prompting me to sign in. I've disabled much of the tracking but want to break free. Appreciate the advice.

You just have to ignore those Google popups. DON'T sign in. For what? So they can track you?

Also, IME, the DuckDuckGo search engine wasn't as good as the Google search engine.

Carry a rotary phone with you at all times, OP.

(And dial it with a pencil.)

I'm very happy with my Samsung note / ultra. And it even comes with a pencil!

[Quote] Apple forces you to use the phone the way they think you should. Why anyone would want Apple telling you what to do is beyond me.

Apple is a closed system. It’s virtually virus and spyware free. This is why I opt to use it. It’s a trade off I’m wiling to make.

You can also turn off notifications, get rid of a lot of the preloaded apps, etc.