Finding the right software alternatives

I recently found myself needing to swap out some of the software services I've been using for a long time. While most of these services have served me well, it's time for a change. The world is evolving, and I've started to feel a growing concern. I am utterly dependent on these software services, and if any provider were to discontinue support, it would pose a significant challenge for me. I've never felt the need for an excessive amount of privacy or data encryption—nor do I now—but I need my data to be stored in places where I can trust the providers.

I won't delve into political aspects, but the underlying issue is that I seek alternatives within the EU whenever possible. Additionally, I approached this transition with a pragmatic mindset. I was willing to switch to an EU-based alternative if it met my needs without isolating me from friends and family.

My spouse also needed to transition to these new services, as we share calendars and other data. This requirement set some specific criteria for the services we could choose, ensuring that she wouldn’t have to undergo major changes.

Identifying the services

A significant part of this transition involved identifying the software services that play a crucial role in my daily life. Until now, I had never fully acknowledged their importance.

Here is the list of services I identified, that I was willing to replace:

• Google Mail (Gmail)
• Google Calendar
• Google Contacts
• Google Chrome
• Google Chat
• Google Search
• iCloud
• 1Password
• X/Twitter
• Notion

Sadly, the only service I didn't initially find problematic was 1Password. However, I was genuinely relieved to discover that I could continue using it, as moving away from 1Password would have been a huge pain. It was clear, that this search for other possibilities was a wild ride. But I didn't really think I had a choice.

Finding the alternatives

Without getting into the details, I spent an extremtly large amount investigating the alternatives. I wanted all my choices to work with the built in syncronization in iOS, which limited me to IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV in some of the services.

This is the alternatives I found:

• Google Mail (Gmail) → one.com (Webmail + IMAP) 🇸🇪
• Google Calendar → one.com (CalDAV) 🇸🇪
• Google Contacts → Self-hosted Baïkal instance (CardDAV) 🇩🇰
• Google Chrome → Vivaldi 🇳🇴
• Google Chat → Signal (non-profit organisation) 🇺🇸
• Google Search → Qwant 🇫🇷
• X/Twitter → mastodon.social 🇩🇪
• Notion → Obsidian 🇨🇦

It has been eye opening, how much data I've placed at companies without questioning it at all. The one I am most happy about is definitely Vivaldi. It is genuily a better browser than Chrome!

Conclusion

This process has been an immense undertaking, and I am exhausted. At times, it felt like I had no real choice in the matter—like something was forced upon me.

That said, I’m genuinely pleased with most of the decisions I made. Starting fresh with new services has been a surprisingly positive experience, and migrating my data was easier than expected, with no data loss along the way.

However, there are a few services where I feel the transition has been more of a downgrade:

Qwant

Qwant is far from being a match for Google Search. The search results are noticeably less accurate and often require more effort to find what I’m looking for. Sometimes, it takes an extra minute, and in certain cases, I still resort to using Google. There are moments when the results feel completely off, and Google reliably provides the answers I need.

Despite these shortcomings, I believe in Qwant’s mission. Ecosia and Qwant are doing something right, and I’m optimistic that 2025 will be a breakthrough year for them. Supporting a European search engine that prioritizes privacy and sustainability feels like the right choice, even if it means sacrificing some convenience for now.

Mastodon

Mastodon is a fantastic platform with a clever concept of distributed servers, but it can also be quite confusing. I decided to use the default mastodon.social server, as it is legally based in Germany and therefore within the EU. While the iosdev.space server might have been a better fit for me, it is not EU-based, which made it less ideal.

The biggest challenge with Mastodon is that many people haven’t moved away from X/Twitter yet. While there are several tools and services attempting to bridge the gap between X and Mastodon, many of them are unreliable or frequently break.

Despite these challenges, I’ve decided to stick with Mastodon. Most of the people and companies I want to follow are already there, and I believe in the platform’s potential to grow as more users make the switch.

Baïkal

I needed a way to sync my contacts in iOS and macOS, as I had been using Google Contacts for years. Moving away from it was a challenge, and while iCloud seemed liek the easiest option, it wasn't ideal.

To sync with iOS and macOS it had to be a CardDAV solution, but these turned out to be surprisingly rare or extremely expensive. After spending several hours researching CardDAV services and alternatives I was on the verge of giving up. Finally, I landed on one last option: Self-hosting.

I really tried to avoid self-hosting as an alternative, as it is too fragile. If the power goes out in my basement, the service will no longer work. However, in this case, it was managable. The CardDAV protocol is designed to download the data and keep a local copy on devices, sync regularly. This meant that even if my server was temporarily unavailable, my contacts would still be accessible on my phone.

So I went with it! Don't get me started on the configuration and making macOS sync with it. That is an entire blog post on its own...