I tried to de-Google my life, but there were 4 Google services I just couldn't replace

In theory, it sounds like it should be easy to get away from Google. There are alternative phones, different email services, a dozen cloud photo apps, and more video sites than I can count. Despite the variety of options, I still can't completely get away from Google no matter how hard I try. These are the services that keep pulling me back.

Gmail

There are many alternatives, but I keep coming back to Gmail

People often think moving away from Gmail will give them fewer ads, better privacy and complete control over their mail. The idea sounds simple, but I've found the reality to be a pretty mixed bag.

A fantastic spam filter and a trusted name

Gmail's spam filter is one of its biggest strengths. Google has spent the last few decades learning what junk looks like, and no other provider has access to Google's massive index of legitimate content. When I tried migrating to alternative services, I almost immediately noticed that there was significantly more spam making it to my inbox than when I was on Gmail.

It also comes with b uilt-in sorting and filters that work quite well for the most part. I rarely have to adjust where emails go.

Worse yet, I've sometimes run into issues even using other email providers to sign up for things. On more than one occasion, my Proton mail account couldn't be used at all—an issue I wasn't able to resolve.

I've tried to get away from Gmail on a handful of occasions, but the features and reliability make it incredibly difficult to break away.

Google Search

Even a questionable AI can't bring Google Search down

Algorithmic feeds are more important now than they ever have been, but search is still my preferred way to discover content on the internet. Despite some bumps in the road with AI-generated summaries, Google's search still stands head and shoulders above the competition. There is a reason why "Google" has practically become a verb meaning "to search the internet."

When I need to find information about a niche error code or a specific hardware fix, Google's search consistently delivers the most helpful results. Alternatives like DuckDuckGo bring privacy-friendly experiences with fewer ads, but I've always found that I spend more time searching and less time learning when I use them.

Google's extra tools also seem to be better than the competitors', at least for now. If you've ever tweaked a query with site:reddit.com or used quotes to constrain your search, you'll find that Google still offers the most reliable specificity. That reliability makes it the first search engine I reach for when I actually need to find information.

Other engines are improving steadily, but Google still can't be beaten.

Google Photos

AI features that can't be beaten

Google Photos comes fully integrated with many (if not most) Android Phones, and it also has a convenient web interface if you need to access it from your desktop.

I've tried to replace it a few times over the years, but for the most part, I've reluctantly come back. The major snag is ease of use. Whatever its other problems might be, Google Photos offers a convenient interface and very good AI tools.

It automatically sorts your photos by location and the contents of the photo. If you need to dig up a picture you took 10 years ago, you can just use plain language to search for it rather than scroll through tens of thousands of photos.

Alternatives are catching up, but they're not there yet. Immich and PhotoPrism give you privacy and offline options, but they require some effort to get setup and running reliably. They also have AI tools like Google Photos, but you need to ensure that whatever device you're hosting them on has hardware that is up to the job, and even then, the AI models can't match what Google offers.

The rise of smarter, smaller, and lighter AI models will probably eventually give self-hosted alternatives a better chance at directly competing with Google Photos, but for now, I can't let it go.

YouTube

The body of content is irreplaceable

YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the internet and has held that position for years. As a result, it has become more than a video sharing website. It is a cultural hub and video library spanning several decades.

Regardless of what you're looking for, you can usually find a trove of videos covering that exact topic. It doesn't matter if you want to watch someone tear down a guitar, repair a dishwasher, or listen to a graduate-level talk on differential geometry. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, and most of it can't be found elsewhere.

YouTube's dominance doesn't come from its feature set—Instagram, TikTok, and others have feeds and social features that are just as good. YouTube's real strength, and the thing that makes it irreplaceable, is the enormous library of content created by its users. That isn't something anyone will be able to replace for a very long time, if ever.

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Google isn't going anywhere

However much I might want to deGoogle my life, there are just certain things that don't have good replacements. Until that changes, the trade-off between privacy and quality continues to keep me in Google's ecosystem.