Hi all,
I'm currently trying to "degooglize", in particular as Google is turning Android to another closed system (no more side-loading).
I've had my "contacts" (no that many) over the years on Google mail/contact because it was so easy. Now I'm trying to find a replacement that would let me manage them on the desktop and use them on the phone.
Most suggested solution use webdav, but software syncing with webdav are usually thunderbird or KAdressBook (from KDE).
TDE's KAdressBook does not seem to offer that. Anyone can suggest a - simple - solution?
Thierry
On Saturday 07 March 2026 02:11:45 Thierry de Coulon via tde-users wrote:
Hi all,
I'm currently trying to "degooglize", in particular as Google is turning Android to another closed system (no more side-loading).
I've had my "contacts" (no that many) over the years on Google mail/contact because it was so easy. Now I'm trying to find a replacement that would let me manage them on the desktop and use them on the phone.
Most suggested solution use webdav, but software syncing with webdav are usually thunderbird or KAdressBook (from KDE).
TDE's KAdressBook does not seem to offer that. Anyone can suggest a - simple - solution?
Thierry
Myself, I tend to avoid all the easy, convenient "solutions", as they are usually just more of the same things that I am trying to avoid; thus, I have never actually synced anything. Instead I copy my contacts to a file, copy that to my laptop, desktop, flash drive, etc. But this may not be much help.
As for your phone, I suggest that you check out F-droid and similar sites online. (If you search for F-droid, you will find the others, too.)
Make sure to read farther down the page where they list permissions required, etc. Some have undesirable features, such as taking over your internet connection, etc. However, many apps require no permissions at all, but just work.
Thus far, I like TDE because it doesn't interfere with my phone or other devices; it doesn't actually connect to my phone when I try. My phone or other devices show up, but I cannot actually connect.
On Saturday 07 March 2026 15:37:30 William Morder wrote:
Myself,(...) I copy my contacts to a file, copy that to my laptop, desktop,
flash drive, etc. But this may not be much help.
Yes, that's the solution I try tp avoid :)
As for your phone, I suggest that you check out F-droid and similar sites online. (If you search for F-droid, you will find the others, too.)
I'm test-driving a solution based on Fruux (contacts on Fruux, apps syncing with it. Unfortunately it's dificult at the time to keep completely out of Google.
On Saturday 07 March 2026 09:49:09 Thierry de Coulon via tde-users wrote:
On Saturday 07 March 2026 15:37:30 William Morder wrote:
Myself,(...) I copy my contacts to a file, copy that to my laptop, desktop,
flash drive, etc. But this may not be much help.
Yes, that's the solution I try tp avoid :)
As for your phone, I suggest that you check out F-droid and similar sites online. (If you search for F-droid, you will find the others, too.)
I'm test-driving a solution based on Fruux (contacts on Fruux, apps syncing with it. Unfortunately it's dificult at the time to keep completely out of Google.
The one I use on my phone is called Simple-Contacts; no real problems so far, just the usual learning curve for stuff that works, that does what you want.
More of their apps. (I use maybe half a dozen of these.) https://www.simplemobiletools.com https://simplemobiletools.com/simplecontacts/
Here is the developers' page (I believe); https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Contacts/releases
And this is a clone, I think, of their original F-droid page: https://webdev4.gitlab.io/fdroid-website/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.c...
I don't know if they have taken the app out of F-droid. I just did a quick search and couldn't find it. In any case, their apps have been generally the least trouble, and are simple, as they claim in their name, and just work.
Bill
On Saturday 07 of March 2026 22:23:07 William Morder via tde-users wrote:
On Saturday 07 March 2026 09:49:09 Thierry de Coulon via tde-users wrote:
On Saturday 07 March 2026 15:37:30 William Morder wrote:
Myself,(...) I copy my contacts to a file, copy that to my laptop, desktop,
flash drive, etc. But this may not be much help.
Yes, that's the solution I try tp avoid :)
As for your phone, I suggest that you check out F-droid and similar sites online. (If you search for F-droid, you will find the others, too.)
I'm test-driving a solution based on Fruux (contacts on Fruux, apps syncing with it. Unfortunately it's dificult at the time to keep completely out of Google.
The one I use on my phone is called Simple-Contacts; no real problems so far, just the usual learning curve for stuff that works, that does what you want.
More of their apps. (I use maybe half a dozen of these.) https://www.simplemobiletools.com https://simplemobiletools.com/simplecontacts/
Here is the developers' page (I believe); https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Contacts/releases
And this is a clone, I think, of their original F-droid page: https://webdev4.gitlab.io/fdroid-website/en/packages/com.simplemobiletoo ls.contacts.pro/
I don't know if they have taken the app out of F-droid. I just did a quick search and couldn't find it. In any case, their apps have been generally the least trouble, and are simple, as they claim in their name, and just work.
Bill ____________________________________________________
SimpleMobileTools has been sold and is no longer being developed as an ad-free open source applications. I definitely do not recommend using it. Check out the successor - Fossify:
Cheers Slávek --
On Sunday 08 March 2026 04:02:25 Slávek Banko via tde-users wrote:
As for your phone, I suggest that you check out F-droid and similar sites online. (If you search for F-droid, you will find the others, too.)
I'm test-driving a solution based on Fruux (contacts on Fruux, apps syncing with it. Unfortunately it's dificult at the time to keep completely out of Google.
The one I use on my phone is called Simple-Contacts; no real problems so far, just the usual learning curve for stuff that works, that does what you want.
More of their apps. (I use maybe half a dozen of these.) https://www.simplemobiletools.com https://simplemobiletools.com/simplecontacts/
Here is the developers' page (I believe); https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Contacts/releases
And this is a clone, I think, of their original F-droid page: https://webdev4.gitlab.io/fdroid-website/en/packages/com.simplemobiletoo ls.contacts.pro/
I don't know if they have taken the app out of F-droid. I just did a quick search and couldn't find it. In any case, their apps have been generally the least trouble, and are simple, as they claim in their name, and just work.
Bill ____________________________________________________
SimpleMobileTools has been sold and is no longer being developed as an ad-free open source applications. I definitely do not recommend using it. Check out the successor - Fossify:
Cheers Slvek
Thanks for the tip!
Confession: I am still using one of the old apks (from maybe last year sometime?), so I haven't dealt with that issue ... yet.
I will definitely check out some more up-to-date and secure alternatives.
Bill
said Thierry de Coulon via tde-users:
| I'm currently trying to "degooglize", in particular as Google is turning | Android to another closed system (no more side-loading).
The solution, imho, is getting a Google Pixel phone -- really -- and flashing GrapheneOS onto it. I'm running a 6a, but on or right after Black Friday I'll switch to a 10a, which has satellite capability and gets cheap at that time. (Also running GrapheneOS on my Pixel tablet.)
Then I'd poke around FDroid to see if there's a secure addressbook. There might even be something on the Aurora Store, though you'd have to watch the permissions.
Last week GrapheneOS cut a deal with Motorola (now a Lenovo thing) for GrapheneOS as the stock OS on its phones in the future.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/motorola-to-preinstall-grapheneos-on-2027-phon...
If you use the Proton stuff, most of which has free versions, you can readily d/l and use. https://protonapps.com/ keeps you from having to use any app repository. I see -- just discovered, in fact -- that there's now a native ProtonMail app for Linux. It's basically a webapp, but it's a secure one. So now there are native Proton apps for every OS, meaning that you could have access to all your contacts everywhere. Combined with ProtonPass password manager you could handle pretty much all you want.
fwiw, I've been pushing the privacy thing a lot lately. When I found out the extent to which my "smart" TV was spying, I took away its internet privileges and am now using it as a very big monitor and an audio handler/switcher, and put together a little Raspberry Pi rig running IPTVnator and free .m3u lists. Get more than I got from paid services, over VPN, for free and also privately.
Just two days ago I called the phone company and told them that their services would no longer be needed. There is no cellular service here and the internet choices are few, but . . .
The Starlink dish really *is* giving me 200mbps. Cleaneast internet I've ever had and has been reliable over the last couple of weeks of wildly varied weather, from snowstorms to blinding rain, without a hiccup. Ah, but a phone?
Mint Mobile offers unlimited voice and texting plus 5 gigs of data for $15/month. (Additionally, there is no data limit when you use it over wifi.) It is extremely clear and deliable over wifi, which is to say Starlink. And with Proton stuff it is as secure as we mortals can make it.
But there's more. I got a gadget called Cell2jack that replaces the wall jack for plugging in landline phones. It connects to the cellular phone by Bluetooth. It's fairly cheap and using it the Pixel phone rings and otherwise works with every phone in the house (I have it plugged in to a 20-year-old Panasonic base station with four handsets). One phone number. And I have the Starlink, which so far has used a maximum of 35 watts, plugged to a good, lead-acid battery powered, UPS, so unlike the phone company that dies at every power glitch, I have phone and internet even when the weather is awful (radio just announced a tornado watch here; a tornado could, I suppose, blow the dish away, but the power going out in an associated thunderstorm is more likely, thank God).
So good alternatives are out there.
And sorry I strayed so far off topic.
Thierry de Coulon via tde-users wrote:
I'm currently trying to "degooglize", in particular as Google is turning Android to another closed system (no more side-loading).
I have been using Nokia and later Jollas (Nokia spin off, after they sold out to MS) SailfishOS and updated BLuetooth Buteo plugin, but last year I had enough of the finish idiots that were not able to deliver a stable system. So end of last year I switched to FairPhone 5 with Murennas /e/OS (which is google free). I installed NextCloud and used the murennas Dav Template. Since then everything is working just fine. The only issue is, that to sync contacts and calendars, I have to be online, but today it is not a big issue, because since 3-4 years I am already paying for mobile internet.
I have been researching before this move for about 5y. There are also other alternatives, that might be a bit cheaper, but I decided to invest in FF5, because I can use it much longer. The best alternative I had was a Volla phone (about 200$/€ cheaper). The Sailfish is usable also with NextCloud, but it has child illnesses, which are getting less, but still make the phone not really reliable 100% of the time.
Oh, BTW TDE works just fine with NextCloud. I found out that NextCloud does not like port other than 80/443.
BR
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deloptes -
dep -
Slávek Banko -
Thierry de Coulon -
William Morder