It’s a bit harder to know what information Apple collects and what they do with it because they’re more obscure about it. Unlike Google that immediately sells your information to the lowest bidder to slam ads in your face at every possible opportunity.

The lack of sideloading is indeed a large drawback. I do miss the apps I used to get off F-Droid when I had an Android phone. I’ve mostly replaced them with, well, nothing. I use my phone less and less as apps, and the internet in general, become more foul and toxic places to be.

Not an American, but I ended up with an iPhone simply because the cost difference between it and an Android device via my carrier wasn’t that big. It was also a previous generation model at a steep discount which helped a lot.

I am not a fan of Apple but if a company is going to screw me then at least Apple isn’t so in-my-face about it like Google is. Google’s data harvesting and ads are absolutely atrocious.

I used Blackberry right up until they ditched BB10. Sometimes I wonder if I should just get a feature phone because modern smartphones are awful things.

They’ve needed this for a long time.

My dad has a Samsung (made by HP) printer in his office. It’s a gamble whether it will actually print something and another gamble if said print will actually have toner on it.

And the gamble is not in your favour.

I don’t think I’ve read a single headline or article in recent years where HP wasn’t being called out for being an absolute steaming pile of dog shit.

You couldn’t pay me to use their products. What a rancid company.

In the short term: Yes. Unless the US military decides to remove a sitting president but that is extremely unlikely.

In the long term: Yes, but also no. Fascism is extremely inefficient and expensive and the US is destroying its own economy and pushing away all of its allies and former trade partners. Things will get very rough but it will not last forever. There will be a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done.

Unfortunately this has been a long time coming. The United States has never really been united and it was only a matter of time before another possible civil war loomed on the horizon.

!g literally sends you to google.

!sp does not

Using another search engine just to send yourself back to google defeats the point.

I’m not sure what the hell you are on about.

Overpaying.

Using DDG to route into Google defeats the point of avoiding Google in the first place.

Use !sp instead to route your search through Startpage, which is essentially Google without the Google BS.

Posteo.

Ditching gmail remains one of the best choices I’ve made in years.

Biometrics harvesting under the guise of “convenience”.

Unfortunately it is quite effective. People love this stuff.

Awesome! Thank you. Always appreciate new ways to block AI trash.

And trash in general. That addon will be very handy.

Yes. 110% a turn off. It sounds like you have a lot of issues and baggage you need to sort out and that is a massive red flag to me and I’d imagine it is for most people.

Making others unwilling participants in your personal issues is a sure-fire way to ensure none of your relationships last.