This is continuing my series on De-Googling your life. So far in this series, I’ve covered browsers, search engines, and maps. This part is on calendars.
Google and Apple try to push you into using their hardware and software a bundle. They even make it cumbersome if you try to branch out. We need to disentangle ourselves from this centralized use of technology.
The reason we have “Big Tech” is that they’ve gotten us to be dependent on their platforms and apps. Spread yourself around, decenter a single company or product. Use different apps from different places. Fall back in love with the variety pack.
We should not try to find perfection in a single source. We don’t want perfection. The constant push towards perfectionism is part of white, cis, het, colonial capitalist, ableist culture. Let’s let go.
So back to calendars.
Most people don’t consider the privacy and security elements when using their calendars. But think about the current uses of calendars. They’re used for appointments, both work and personal. They often contain your location, what you will be doing, and with whom you are meeting. Within those that you meet, there is often the information on their names, emails, and even addresses. Furthermore, charting the pattern of your appointments can reveal your movement and travel patterns.
Google has all of that information about you.
In addition, Google allows third party data sharing so that other companies and platforms can develop apps on top of the calendar. For instance, Calendly, productivity apps, schedulers, AI chat bots, email programs, to do and reminder apps. All of these tap into and connect to your calendar.
Now, those third party apps and Google have your information.
Google is not a software or hardware company. It is a data company. They want our data over everything. Every single product they build is with this in mind. They’re constantly gathering data about us.
Sometimes it is to serve us tailored ads so that they can make even more money. But it is also to build future products based on this data. And on a deeper level, they’re extracting our behavior and digital identity.
Due to all of the above, one of the biggest must-have features of a secure and private calendar is end-to-end encryption. Google keeps our information encrypted, but not end-to-end encrypted. This means that while our data might be secure against random other parties, it is not secure against Google itself.
With all of this in mind, here are three calendars that I like there in no particular order:
Tuta calendar and Proton calendar (note there are currently cautionary conversations happening around Proton because of posts from its CEO and account endorsing a current pick made by the Trump administration for the Anti-Trust Division of the DOJ made on their social media account), and EteSync, which is a calendar that is integrated with tasks, notes, and contacts.
All three are end-to-end encrypted, open source, and privacy and security first focused.
As always, do your own research. Keep in mind that companies and platforms can and do sometimes get acquired by other companies. The companies behind apps sometimes also change their own beliefs and practices. As with all of my past recommendations in this De-Google series, these are for right now, since tech is always changing.
I generally try to make my recommendations based on who I believe follows my work, and also which platforms and apps I believe will be highly adopted and accessible. More secure options may require additional steps for install or code, for instance.
Finally, don’t forget the trusty analog planner date book. Sometimes offline is better.
I’ll continue building on this series of “De-Googling Your Life.” In the meantime, stay private and secure out there.
Comments are closed.