Kevin Boone

November 2025

Running the Google Pixel Camera app on a robustly de-Googled cellphone

Is it possible? Would you want to do it?

Categories: degoogling

Two years without Google, et al. -- has it been worth it?

What's changed in the last two years? Would I do it again, knowing what I know now? TL;DR - yes.

Categories: degoogling

How to get a dark background on the K-9/Thunderbird e-mail widget for Android

Getting a proper dark theme for the e-mail home screen widget is worth spending hours building the app from source. No, really it is.

Categories: degoogling

Comparing Android alternatives: Lineage OS, ∕e∕OS, and Graphene OS

How are these alternative smartphone firmwares similar and different?

Categories: degoogling

Custom ROM versus extensive package removal, for de-Googling a Samsung cellphone

Which is the easier way to get to a phone you can feel safe using, without your personal data being sent to goodness-knows-where?

Categories: degoogling

The 2nd-generation Nokia 105: a smarter dumb phone

The terminal stage of de-Googling is to go back to using a 90s-style dumb phone. Devices like the Nokia 105 aren't as old-fashioned as you might think, but can they substitute for a smartphone in day-to-day use?

Categories: degoogling

Is it worth rooting an Android phone in 2025?

The costs and benefits of this somewhat controversial procedure.

Categories: degoogling

No more Lineage OS on Samsung cellphones

It looks like the end for Lineage OS on Samsung handsets, at least in the UK. Here's why.

Categories: degoogling