I’ve tolerated Google for some of their free services as they do give you control over your data with the option to delete it, opt out, or have it self delete after 90 days. And some of their services like Gmail, Google Voice, Google Photos, Google Music, and Google Maps with navigation are very good. Moreover, they even sent me a free Google Nest Mini back when they were dumping stock for a product refresh, and I do find it useful in my radio shack though mainly as a Bluetooth speaker or cast destination (wouldn’t put one in other parts of the house). And you can opt out of a lot of data tracking, sending voice files Nest had trouble with to developers, going through Digital Wellbeing and disabling the app tracking….but can you really be sure that Google is respecting your wishes or will continue to in the future? And we’re reaching a point where our government is violating laws and our constitution with an appetite for taking away even more of our freedoms, and the large tech companies have shown their willingness to collaborate with this effort by using their power to sensor voices and promote propaganda to be used against those who haven’t developed their own critical thinking skills. Throw in that there is a movement against the Bible and the foundation of morality that has helped our civil society flourish over the centuries, and people being arrested for posting or publicly saying Bible verses won’t just be something happening over in Europe or Scandinavia.
So as I look to wean myself off of Google’s tracking, an important item to look at is the Google Android Keyboard app, Gboard. We’ll take a look at what permissions this requires in Android:
That’s a lot of permissions for a keyboard application and quite frankly it’s excessive.
Enter in AnySoftKeyboard which is an opensource project to give you a good alternative that has no data capability and a much reduced permission list. Most of the permissions have to do with reading contacts which you don’t have to allow, but there is no data capability and no sending of information you type to any central servers.
I’ve only been using it for a short time, but so far I’m preferring it to Google’s Gboard. Some reviewers said they found it just as good after tweaking some settings.
You can install AnySoftKeyboard from the Google Play Store or from F-Droid. Once installed go into the Config menu of Android->System->Languages & Input->On-screen Keyboard->Manage on-screen keyboards to deselect Gboard and enable AnySoftKeyboard. Then go to your Apps menu to force stop and disable Gboard as I wasn’t able to uninstall mine.
So if you’re using Google’s Gboard, it might just be time to disable it and switch to an opensource keyboard that will respect your privacy and not feed the beast Google with more data. Also have a look in Digital Wellbeing in the config menu and turn off a lot of the app tracking as well as disabling the Google Health app. Consequently, the development of Linux smartphones have accelerated, so it won’t be long before we can dump Android for a phone OS that will give us a lot more control over our privacy with actual operating system choices.