this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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DeGoogle Yourself
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If you're expecting anything remotely like an Android experience on Apple's devices, you're going to have a horrible time. Anything even vaguely resembling your own file system, or non-Apple browsing engine, or alternative app store is basically nonexistent. And the way Apple squeezes indie developers means you've got less choice between decent apps even if you look on their store.
Among other missing apps, you get no Syncthing, no Firefox, no Tor Browser, nothing remotely like F-Droid or Obtainium...
... And as far as I can tell, there's no such thing as an alternative to the Apple App Store (which mandates an identity and a signin), which isn't also run by Apple...
Firefox and Tor browser exist (on the App Store) though they might both run on the safari “engine”, I’m not too sure. AltStore is technically an App Store alternative, though it is extremely limited and kind of a pain. File management is available with the default Files app.
Firefox exists in name as a thin wrapper over the Apple iOS WebKit engine. I personally don't think that counts, although it's arguable I guess.
There is no Tor Browser for iOS. There is an alternative, but it is notably hacky and flawed, due to iOS itself. The app also originally cost money in an attempt to recoup Apple's developer licensing costs, before becoming free in 2017.
(IMO, this paints a picture of antagonism between Apple vs its users having nice things in general.)
AltStore (classic) is something I've tried, but it's incredibly janky and painfully limited and, last I checked, kinda costs money every month. ?AltStore PAL operates only in Europe and at the express allowance of Apple itself.)
Again the antagonism of Apple against the iOS user rears its ugly head:
And the file system with Apple iOS is not something I have a lot of experience with, but my expectations are below sea level...
I’ve never actually gotten the App Store “Tor browser” working tbh. I also don’t bother with Firefox because it doesn’t feel meaningfully different. I get by with privacy, malware, and advertisement blocking from my router while using SearXNG. It’s definitely not the best for privacy, but honestly, just getting rid of google maps from my life has been such a pain in the ass it’s hard to delve further.
OpenStreetMaps has had decent Android clients, I can't speak to the state of iOS ones though. If you can pinpoint your destination before departing to it, that'd probably serve you best...
But Google Maps has been hard for me to abandon too
I just use mapquest. It's not the best, but it's a step in the right direction, I guess.