.. title: Can we live without Google and co?
.. slug: 2014-12-18-can-we-live-without-google-and-co
.. date: 2014-12-18 16:27:08 UTC+01:00
.. tags: cloud
.. link: 
.. description: 
.. type: text

The tools offered by so-called "cloud services" are useful but most often rely on the capacity to lock you in. Without leaving them completely, is there an alternative?

In a previous post on how to live with open-source cloud services and to not depend on centralized private cloud services (see :doc:`here <2014-12-07-can-we-live-without-google-and-co>`), let's focus on an install on a empty android phone.

.. TEASER_END

I followed these steps:

 1. started up the phone, installed system update, on the prompt to enter a gmail account, I created a new account that will be used for this phone (no e-mail or sync or whatsoever),
 2. uninstalled all bloatware by deactivating play book and al - installed using play store an app to backup restore SMS - then uninstalled it (and checked it does not leave to much mess).
 3. installed firefox, synced my bookmarks and al, and from there, went to the fdroid_ website using duckduckgo (this necessitate to allow the installation of "insecure" applications - it means ones not controlled centrally),
 4. in fdroid_, install owncloud, launch the app and install it.
 5. install k9-mail, I then imported settings from another android device - the file was in the owncloud filesystem. There, I could even read my standard gmail account (you need to generate a code if you use two-step verification),
 6. addressbook: integration works with DAVdroid_ which is available @ fdroid_
 7. calendar: again, owncloud provides a nice solution using a caldav link. on android, you can similarly use DAVdroid_ which is available @ fdroid_ and do the same process as above. Integrates perfectly with the agenda client from google (they are not so evil after all...)
 8. tasks: everything revolves under the http://todotxt.com/ specifications -- all in one, simple todo.txt file, I use the folowing solution: https://blog.portknox.net/2014/11/how-to-manage-todo-txt-with-owncloud/ (that is, by using simpletask_)

As a conclusion, it's quite easy to set up a self-hosted cloud solution to use with android!

.. _fdroid: https://f-droid.org/
.. _DAVdroid: http://davdroid.bitfire.at/what-is-davdroid
.. _simpletask: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=simple+task&fdid=nl.mpcjanssen.simpletask