I ditched 9 Google apps for Fossify alternatives; the privacy win came with trade-offs

Published Nov 4, 2026, 6:00 AM EST Akshay Bhalla was the former game guides editor for Screen Rant and the technology editor at MensXP. He has previously written about smartphones, apps, streaming, gadgets, and games for print, digital, and TV media outlets. When he isn’t writing about tech, he can often be found playing JRPGs, listening to music, or playing with his three dogs. You can reach Akshay at bhallanator @ proton dot me. Using any of Google's apps on Android can get fatiguing, especially with all the data collection, bloat, and features I didn't ask for. One of them is injecting Gemini into almost every Google app possible, which can be a privacy concern if you're not sold on AI having access to everything. That's why I switched to Fossify's alternatives to see if I could make the full switch. Replacing Google's main Android apps with Fossify apps was quite easy The transition didn't take too long Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police With Google pushing cloud and AI subscriptions in all of its apps, I got sick of using the default apps and wasn't comfortable with all the telemetry. I trusted these apps with my private data, including images, text messages, calendar, contacts, and other personal information. But when Google started rolling out Gemini integration for Google Photos, Messages, and even the default dialer, I decided to download all of Fossify's apps to see if I could make the switch. I often test open source alternatives to Google's core apps, including privacy-focused browsers like Brave or Aloha. So switching to Fossify's apps was a breeze since I didn't need to transfer anything. I replaced the following Google apps to see how I would fare with the switch: Google Photos Files by Google Phone/Contacts Messages Clock Notes Calendar Music Keyboard Voice Recorder To see if I could live with Fossify's alternatives, I used them for a week to see whether the switch would stick. Since all Fossify apps rely on cloud servers, they were easy to get going because they only needed the necessary permissions. The first thing I noticed was that none of the apps had any telemetry or subscriptions to sell. It was a truly ad-free, bloat-free experience that felt like a breath of fresh air. Beyond the no-tracking benefits, the apps are also highly customizable with widgets and Material You theming. The switch was frictionless, and since I could roll back to default apps when I wanted, I didn't risk losing data. Switching to Fossify alternatives for a week was an eye-opener Not every app needs to be bloaty or have AI Using Fossify apps for a week showed me a world without Google's tracking or AI bloat in some of the most essential apps I use every day. After a week of use, I didn't feel the need for most of Google's apps, except for a few that genuinely made my life easier. For instance, switching to Fossify Gallery showed me that a Gallery app doesn't need to be so bloated. Most of the time, all I need is to see and share images fast, without AI scanning faces or suggesting memories. Fossify Gallery excelled at delivering that, with extremely fast, snappy local browsing that I don't get with Google Photos. It felt more private, like in the good old days, and since I back up images with Syncthing to my NAS (Network Attached Storage), I didn't need Google Photos' automatic backup either. While I missed Google Photos' search feature, the trade-off was worth it. The next app that I decided to keep for daily driving was Fossify's File Manager. It has the same ethos as the gallery app. It is a clean, fast local file manager that lets me clear storage easily. It doesn't have any advanced AI features, but that's what I liked about it. All my important documents stay private because there is no telemetry, and the app doesn't try to sell me cloud storage every chance it gets. The other few apps I used daily and kept were Fossify's phone dialer, contacts, and messages app. For privacy reasons, these apps offered essential features like favorites, call history, blocking, and multi-SIM support. They were lightweight, fast, and did the job. But I appreciated Fossify Messages most. I got annoyed when Google integrated Gemini with the Messages app and made the whole experience subpar and untrustworthy. Since I didn't want AI to keep scanning my private messages, switching to Fossify Messages was necessary. However, Fossify's Messages app doesn't support RCS, which was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I couldn't take advantage of RCS texting, but I also saw a considerable drop in spam messages from businesses. Fossify also has plenty of other apps in beta, such as the keyboard, voice recorder, clock, camera, calculator, and documents. I used these apps as well, and in my experience, some of the apps did an excellent job, such as the voice recorder and clock, while others still needed work. I still have them installed on my phone and use them from time to time, but I haven't fully switched yet. Fossify beta is in active development and gets frequent bug fixes and updates via the Play Store. But one Fossify beta app that I didn't switch to was the Notes app. Not that the app isn't reliable; I prefer using Gemini with Keep because it makes my life easier. It lets me take quick notes, checklists, and other notes using my voice right from my phone's home screen. If you don't need AI for your note-taking app, you can still take notes offline like a basic note taker with Fossify's offering. But the app lacks crucial formatting options, file attachments, and other essential features you'll find in other open source note-taking apps. Since Fossify Notes is still in Beta, the full version might include all the features note-takers need. Other Fossify apps, such as the music player, clock, keyboard, calendar, and calculator, work like the others. Lightweight and fast. I often found myself firing up these apps when I needed them, but since they are still in Beta, I kept them as backup apps on my phone and used them when I remembered. I have to point out the trade-offs, though; switching to Fossify apps comes with caveats that might not be everyone's cup of tea. You will lose access to AI features, backup/sync convenience, and RCS features when switching to Fossify alternatives. If you're a heavy widgets user, you may run into occasional syncing issues, especially with apps still in Beta. Switching to Fossify apps showed me where Google is going wrong In my opinion, Google's insistence on adding AI to every app it makes is not the right path. Some apps like Google Meet, Keep, and Docs have a clear advantage with AI integration, but they have no business scanning my images or local files. Thankfully, free open source alternatives like Fossify's apps make it easy to de-Google my digital footprint, and I highly suggest making the switch if you have the same concerns as me.