In my ongoing quest to reduce the amount of tracking that Google does, I've been attempting to divorce myself from using Google services as much as possible.

While this is an admirable goal, it's quite difficult to achieve since most people around me still use a Google account and asking them to change just for me is impractical at best. The next best thing is to stop using Google apps on my phone. Eventually I plan to stop using an Android phone and I don't really feel that iOS (Apple) is much better.

It is relatively easy to access my Google email without using Gmail on a phone (or other platform). The instructions are easy to find and not too difficult to set up, but it does require you to set up "app passwords". Google has announced that it is shutting down simple password access to their services, but this does not include app passwords, which are long passwords they generate for you that you can use to access your account. These passwords can be revoked by you at any time.

Ironically, the app password that Google provides is often quite a bit less secure than the passwords I already set, but there it is.

In addition to using an alternate email client, you can also use an alternate calendar app, as long as it supports syncing using DAV syncing. Presumably, you can use iCal, which is fine for Apple products, but I found that to be limited. Many calendar apps, including desktop ones can synchronize using CalDAV. You can also have your contacts synced using CardDAV.

This useful ability is quite hidden by Google and it's nearly impossible to find any good documentation on how to set it up. I finally was able to get useful information by coming across an article for how to sync your Google data to a Blackberry. I've also determined how to synchronize any special calendars you have set up besides your primary one.

The basic URL to use for your default calendar using a CalDAV client is: https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/<email address>/events The username and password would just be your Google account username and the app password you have set up.

If you have a special calendar, you will need to find the email address for that calendar. Hit the three dot menu next to the calendar and go to calendar settings. Look for "Calendar ID". It will look something like skzbsa5yf050sfnu5rvkhkugzx@group.calendar.google.com.

The URL for the calendar will just use that email address, so will look something like https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/skzbsa5yf050sfnu5rvkhkugzx@group.calendar.google.com/events. The username and password will be your main Google account username and app password.

For Android and Android based phones (like LineageOS or /e/) I use DAVX5, and for a desktop I use Thunderbird. Currently, I have a web based calendar in Nextcloud, but it doesn't appear to support external CalDAV calendars.