I switched to an iPhone after BBOS got killed. After a year, I got a Macbook, and the integration between them seemed flawless.
When I come across privacy suggestions for phones or laptops, it’s mostly DivestOS or GOS suggestions and laptops like Framework, etc.
When we choose different OS for the two devices, there will not be any link between the two for sharing the files, continuing browsing from phone to laptop or vice versa, etc. Instead of installing many apps, is there a middle ground to this?
Is there any Laptop OS and phone that can seamlessly sync for contacts, notes, emails, bookmarks, backup folders, etc, the way an Apple ecosystem does?
PS: Not an Apple fanboy. I’m just curious if I can jump ship or wait longer to find a middle ground.
I never got that far into the Apple ecosystem, and haven’t touched it in a while; but I have had a good experience using KDE Connect with Linux and Android. I have however heard that integration of KDE Connect on windows is less than stellar.
I’ve also heard syncing between Chrome OS and android is pretty seemless. Of course then you’d have to deal with google.
+1, as long as you’re okay with Google, the experience (and security) is great. I use flex on my laptop and everything syncs perfectly with my phone (stock pixel), and all my linux software runs flawlessly through debian on the chromebook. It really is the most polished linux experience that just works (but you still need to be comfortable with linux and the cli, or only need a web browser).
I personally use iCloud with Advanced Data Protection, of course I don’t trust Apple 100% but I think Apple really show they care about their users privacy by developing those features.
If you don’t want to use iCloud, you can still buy an external hard drive and sync your data manually from time to time.
It’s not that I don’t trust Apple. We never know what they do with our data. I have never seen anyone wholeheartedly recommending Apple devices for privacy. They are like a middle ground between privacy and simplicity.
Graphene is a no for me as there are no physical stores of Google for me to take care fo warranties or physical damage to a pixel phone. I can’t go the dumbphone way as I need banking and shopping apps now and then. So, I went with Apple and have the iCloud+ for now.
That gives you a few alternatives for syncing your files, contacts, calendars etc. independently of the OS or hardware.
As for bookmarks and browser tabs, that should work as long as you use the same browser on all devices (e.g. Firefox or Brave) and have sync enabled.
Emails: these are always saved on the server anyway, and accessed via IMAP (any email client) or the mail provider’s app (e.g. for Protonmail).
Notes: have a look at Notesnook or Standard Notes, they sync and have apps for all platforms.
Overall the integration won’t be as tight as with Apple (or Google or MS) but you can still have all your data on all devices, even if you use e.g. Linux and GrapheneOS.
No. But why is that the job of the OS? There are different cloud solutions, sync clients and browsers with sync options, which can be combined to get a similar experience.