Former USAF JAG here (lawyer). I was always a tech geek, undergrad major was in MIS actually, but I didn’t enjoy coding. Always ran Plex on the side, built my own computers, etc. Grew up with my Dad using Linux everywhere (I found this annoying as I just wanted to play games on Windows).

I didn’t enjoy law (surprise!). I was disillusioned with the criminal justice system too. Quit the law in 2020. Then suddenly had quality time by global happenstance to rethink my life path.

I work in IT now. Restarted at the bottom of a new career but I’m in deep nerd territory now - Proxmox servers, Home Assistant, networks with VLANs, OPNsense router, 22U server rack, Linux as my daily driver, etc.

Much happier now.

Yes it only works on Pixel phones. For other devices I recommend looking at DivestOS, CalyxOS, and LineageOS - in that order from best to worst insofar as de-Googling and privacy are concerned.

If you are on iOS, I recommend using the following:

https://ente.io/auth/

It’s open-source and recommended by PrivacyGuides.

I’m on Android, where that’s also an option I believe, but I’m using Aegis.

Bitwarden also came out with an open-source MFA app, though it’s a bit new so I’d recommend waiting to see what folks say about it.

Raivo uses to be a good (and the only decent) choice for iOS but I believe it was acquired by an insidious company.

As a huge fan of Star Wars content from before Disney got involved and poisoned it (notable exceptions of Rogue One, Andor, some of the animated shows, etc.), I utilize warship names from the Expanded Universe (now called “Legends”) - what I like to call True Star Wars.

My main server is Chimaera. My backup server that also performs as an NVR is Lusankya. My separate mostly-NAS server away from my server rack is Admonitor.

I have sci-fi themed names (not all Star Wars - two other franchises represented here, virtual kudos to those who can identify) for the storage pools too (using TrueNAS SCALE on all three servers):

• Chimaera (Main Server)
  • Star-Forge (Apps/VM Pool)
  • Holocron (Data Pool)
• Lusankya (Backup + NVR Server)
  • Shadow-Broker (Apps Pool)
  • Resurrection (Backup Pool)
  • Spynet (NVR Pool)
• Admonitor (NAS Server)
  • Mount-Tantiss (Apps Pool)
  • Datacron (Data Pool)

Instead of LineageOS, see if DivestOS exists for your device. It’s more secure and private than LineageOS, and forked from it.

For your launcher - try Neo Launcher and its companion, Neo Feed.

QKSMS is best for SMS at the moment.

For contacts and phone, try using whatever comes stock with DivestOS. It’s probably the AOSP base of what Google uses for Google Contacts and their Phone app.

I use Google Camera for my Pixel solely because of the processing you can’t get elsewhere that lets me use my phone’s camera to its full potential.

Otherwise try Secure Camera from GrapheneOS team, and/or Open Camera.

The FossifyOrg forks of the Simple Mobile Tools suite is also worth investigating.