I think I can agree with that. For me it’s a bit the other way around. My friends aren’t on Discord. But the network effect is kind of hard to overcome. I’d say you can learn about privacy and new (to you) software and protocols by spending two or three evenings of your life. But convincing all your friends so it becomes any fun is considerably harder. I’d just name the actual issue, then. Otherwise people confuse it with Linux or Signal/Matrix/whatever being harder to operate.

Well, the obvious answer to nearly all those broad questions is: “It depends…”

But I mean what “work” and “effort”? I mean using Matrix isn’t exactly hard… You need to install an App, register for an account, think of a password and log in… That’s pretty much the same complexity as with Facebook or Discord?!

Surely issueing big tech companies a blank cheque for your life is easy. And you get free services in return. But I don’t think using privacy respecting services and even Linux to do your office stuff is substancially more difficult than giving away all your data.

Ah, I thought you were asking a general GrapheneOS setup question. I somehow missed the “for now”. Now I get it, you want to know what you can do in the meantime… Well phones come with a load of bloatware. And I don’t think you can get rid of the Google stuff on a normal phone, let alone on a Pixel. Not connecting it to a google account is a start. But it pings Google every few minutes and transfers data anyway. You can go through all the settings and disable all targeted advertising and cloud services. Apart from that I’m afraid there isn’t much you can do. As far as I know the google services run with more privileges as “system-apps”. And unless a phone is rooted, there is nothing that can be done on the device itself to prevent such an app from talking to the internet. Well you could use Wifi only and block everything with the firewall of your router. I don’t now your threat scenario / what you want to protect against… Disabling everything and not having a google account tied to it might be enough. If you absolutely need privacy, disconnect the device from the internet, use it just to call people and use a Linux computer to access the internet… I think you have to compromise.

Install GrapheneOS, don’t install the Google services package. Install as few proprietary apps as possible. Use free and open source apps, for example from the F-Droid repository. Mind that your carrier always knows where you are, because you’re connected to a cell tower nearby. Choose a good carrier and forbid them to use or sell your data. (Or activate airplane mode.)

Also use a suitable browser like Mull. And no social media or “free” services that harvest your data. Instead get a mail provider and instant messenger from companies/projects that respect your privacy.

Ah, okay. Different continent, ~500k people here. More if you count the neighboring cities. I’ve programmed in a few house numbers like 10 years ago. But generally speaking, OSM knows most hiking routes and illegal mountainbike trails in the woods. And it rarely does silly mistakes while routing me in the car. Something it used to do regularly when I started using it. Guess the experience heavily depends on where you live, then.

Open street map data is created by volunteers. Where I live, you can practically put in any address into OsmAnd and it’ll know it. Maybe you live too far out. Or there aren’t enough people contributing in your area. Putting in the house numbers is a tedious task.