Me too. I sleep with my phone on airplane mode typically and I have woken up and checked the time and seen the camera indicator on for no reason. It’s quite disconcerting.

I use noai.duckduckgo.com I used startpage for a while but I kept having captcha pop ups when I’d use a vpn and I got sick of it. While I really wish DDG didn’t push AI as much as they do, it’s at least nice that they offer a completely AI free version too, I guess. There’s definite give and take with all of the search engines.

It’d be a shame if the cameras all ended up smashed!

I’ll be taking this journey some time soon as well. Never had an android in my life but I very badly want Graphene. I already downloaded and have been trying out SimpleX as a messenger and have reached out to a few friends about using it when I ditch my iphone and they thankfully are open to it. Right now my only set back is saving up for a secondhand pixel while also trying to save for multiple other things that are a higher priority in the midst of things becoming more expensive. But thanks for this post. Glad to see another iphone user make the jump and hear what your experience has been.

For me, yeah, it sucks knowing if you send an email to a gmail user then your message is in google still. But, I take comfort in knowing I’m not signing into or using google myself. Just be aware your emails aren’t protected at all. I agree with the other commenter - use whatever is convenient. Emails are never a very private communication form, either way. I also use proton but have been a bit conflicted since they continue pushing AI integration and I’m not pleased knowing my money is helping fund that for them.

Kind of like how a lot of the same people who were screaming and going crazy about the Patriot Act 20 years ago are the same ones who want to defend Flock cameras.