Disabling Google: Can do? How?

[RayKemble]

I'd want to remove Google –– both my Google Account and Gmail –– from my MacBook Pro (OS Monterey). Can I do that without losing functionality? And if I can, how? I've tried accessing my Google Account (set up years ago) to turn off everything. I get stopped trying to pass through Google's two-factor verification. I'm able to manage the first: receiving a code via email (my university email, not Gmail), but I'm stopped in my tracks when I try to pass through the second verification: receiving a text. I don't text or have a phone that can receive texts. I've tried talking to Google Help, but trying to reach Google Help is a lost cause (going round and round in circles). Tell me, am I stuck? Am I doomed to have Google's presence on my Mac forever and ever?

 

[Sawday]

Maybe I'm missing something but neither your Google account nor Gmail account actually reside on your computer. You need to 'Choose' to run them... so don't.

 

[RayKemble]

Maybe I'm missing something but neither your Google account nor Gmail account actually reside on your computer. You need to 'Choose' to run them... so don't.

Ah, now that's interesting! I don't recall ever "choosing" to add Google, but then again, I've been a Mac user since way, way back. I suppose I may have chosen to add Google in the early days, but I don't remember. Can you tell me where Google is located on my Mac? And can I access it (maybe through System Preferences) to disable it? Thanks! ––Ray

 

[ferrarr]

Provide some info about your macOS version? Without knowing where you are at, there is only guessing.

 

[pm-r]

'd want to remove Google –– both my Google Account and Gmail –– from my MacBook Pro (OS Monterey). Can I do that without losing functionality? And if I can, how?

As mentioned, you can simply just stop using the Google applications and if needed you can just trash them like any other unwanted application, and the web search will quickly show you how but dragging the application to the trash can will certainly do it.
But before you rush off and delete your access to your Gmail, have you let all your contacts know that you will be changing email and provide them with the new email address before you start trashing and deleting anything.




- Patrick
=======

 

[Rod]

Sawday is correct, you don't have to close your Google account in order to remove all Google products (software) from your computer but finding all their associated files may be a difficult job.

 

[pm-r]

in order to remove all Google products (software) from your computer but finding all their associated files may be a difficult job.

Any of the MacOS application cleaners like the AppCleaner.app utility and similar products can simplify the process and using Find Any File.app can certainly find and destroy any other strikling bits, but they OP might want to double check they don't have some archived emails they want to keep and make sure they don't get deleted or trashed. ;-)



- Patrick
=======

 

[Rod]

Just a couple of questions from a 73 year old who has pretty much de-googled my macs already.
Why do you want to de-google?
How have you managed without a phone that sends/receives SMS messages because thats what Google are referring to when they talk about sending a text?
One Time Passwords (OTPs) via SMS are, like it or not, a popular and common method of identity verification for so many things, how have you managed without that?

Oh, and to answer your question about functionality, no, you wont loose any functionality except where that function is provided by a Google product eg, Google Translate, Google Maps, ect.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

De-Googling your computer is a topic that has come up countless times on other discussion fora. See:

How to Remove Google From Your Life (And Why That’s Nearly Impossible)
https://www.howtogeek.com/348792/how-to-remove-google-from-your-life/

[3 Effective Methods] How to Completely Uninstall Google on Mac?
https://www.macube.com/how-to/uninstall-google-on-mac.html
(DO NOT download or buy any cleaner apps this site recommends!)

How to uninstall Chrome from Mac: A step-by-step guide
https://macpaw.com/how-to/remove-chrome-from-mac
(DO NOT download or buy any cleaner apps this site recommends!)

I recommend using these free apps and services instead of Google's equivalents. Not only are they all vasty more secure, I think that they are all serious superior to Google's equivalents.:

SearX instead of Google search
https://searx.be
(I keep Searx bookmarked and pinned at the far left in my browser's Favorites bar.)
Before using SearX for the first time, go into the Preferences in the upper right of the page and set the Web sites that you want it to scrape:
Preferences --> Engines tab --> General tab
MAKE SURE THAT YOU CLICK THE SAVE BUTTON at the bottom of the General page so that you don't have to set this up each time you use Searx!
Don't set more than a maximum of three search engines to scrape, or things will get noticeably slow. I usually set it to scrape Google, Bing, and Wikipedia.

Brave instead of Chrome:
https://brave.com
(Still based on the Chromium codebase, like Chrome, but all of Google's spyware is stripped out.)

Tutanota (accessed via Apple's Mail) instead of Gmail:
http://tutanota.com
(Extremely secure encrypted e-mail. They have a generous free tier. Apple's Mail is much maligned by many, but is actually a brilliant e-mail program.)

 

[Rod]

Well I'm glad the first link says nearly impossible but as I have a Google email address as my Primary and I might add first ever email address, it is pretty hard to completely remove their presence. It is incidentally my Apple ID as well. Back when I first started using Macs Apple didn't have an email service. Personal data privacy wasn't even thought of back then. Yes, I've thought about phasing it out. It would mean replacing it on so many old account ID's and yes, I know it's been "pwned" in various data breaches, I'd have been surprised if it hadn't, it's 20 years old.

I have rather pathetically accepted that Google already knows pretty much everything about me but;
I don't use gMail for new account ID's.
I have removed all Google apps on Mac.
I don't use Google Maps, Google Authenticator, Google docs, search engine or online services but, I do have an Android MiBox for our TV in Indonesia so I have to use the Google Play Store for software, which means my Google account remains active and linked to one of my credit cards.

So the best I have achieved is to limit the amount of "new" information Google has about me but try to avoid links to explanatory YouTube videos and you begin to appreciate how insidiously ingrained Google is in this digital world but, I don't usually have to login to view clips and my VPN hides my IP so there's that but completely isolating my activity, almost impossible.

Even on these forums people still say, "Have you tried Googling it?" it has become synonymous like Bic for ball point pens was, or "Wellies", or Xeroxing or Duck tape, ect, ect.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...
I have rather pathetically accepted that Google already knows pretty much everything about me...

Would you like to be really shocked? These sites will tell you how much Google actually knows about you:

https://medium.com/@dougblackjr/what-does-google-know-about-me-1cf7a04e07a0

https://medium.com/productivity-in-...-you-what-google-knows-about-you-f39b8af9decc

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-does-google-know-about-me-search-history-delete-2019-10

 

[Rod]

No more than I expected really but it's a lot. May be a bit of a surprise to some though.