Wow - that looks like a very solid option!! I’m very interested… this may be my next phone! Thank you so much!

Ah gotcha. I appreciate your insight - I’ll definitely be looking into this further.

Is there a reason to choose Graphene vs Lineage (or any others I may not know about)?

Groups I follow are on BlueSky – happy to check out Mastodon as well though.

Vast majority of my friends are communicating via Signal. So far the best option looks to be to use/install a version of android that cuts out the google stuff. F-droid for apps to avoid $ from play store while also avoiding $ from ads.

If enough people do this, it will certainly make a dent exactly where they don’t want it to. I may be wrong, but I do believe it’s possible to reach critical mass. With that said, it also helps my conscience at the same time. I won’t comment on the other part other than it’s already been figured out and demonstrated. Best I’m willing to do personally is voting with my wallet.

I’m using f-droid now. A quick search shows Google makes money via play store and having some of their apps as default (to sell ads) – so maybe that will still work for me. I’ll dig in further. Thank you!

Are there any that will allow me to still text with my friends and family on Signal?

Nailed it - I’ll consider a 3rd party vote on equal-footing once we have ranked/ranked choice voting in place. Right now, I think there’s a higher probability for one of the two parties to consider this so in other words… it’s going to be a while…

I’m glad people like you exist. I’ve cut down spending through COVID and have been mostly in bunker mode living well below my means and paying off my mortgage. I don’t owe anything to anyone outside of land tax and some utilities. I’m late to the game removing Amazon from the picture, but my last order has already been made. What sucks is I thought after a few years of hunkering down things would finally get better and I’d be in a great position to move forward. I hope more and more people join this effort. I see this as being AS important as the 2nd amendment. The right to bare arms is useless if you have to fight an entity with most of the money, major parts of the supply chain, and all the intel.

Just last night I was going through all my subscribe and save items and finding alternatives. I stored them in a spreadsheet (LibreOffice). My last order is already in motion and once delivered that’s it. Amazon is gone.

Other changes I’ve made or am in the process of making:

• FB + IG -> PixelFed
• Reddit -> Lemmy (lemm.ee)
• X -> BlueSky
• Tesla hasn’t been on my wish list for a while -> Rivian or another alternative… wish I could say Xiaomi
• YouTube -> PeerTube, LibreTube, piped.video, invidious

Where I’m stuck and looking for help: What do I do for my next phone? Android and Apple are both at the table supporting this mess. Linux alternatives seem like huge downgrades at the moment… any advice?