New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?
101 by ByteWelder | 48 comments on Hacker News.
Due to the controversy around Apple's CSAM backdoor plans, it seems like quite a few people are wondering what kind of alternatives are available. Let's share them! My choices: - Desktop: Manjaro Gnome, because it feels like macOS. It even does the 3 finger swipe up to see all your apps with Apple's Touchpad. My wireless Apple Keyboard also works fine. Screenshot: https://ift.tt/3mbajmH To install it on my older MacBook Pro from 2014, but I had to use Android internet tethering to install the WiFi driver. To install it on my super new desktop, I had to use an ISO with a newer Kernel (5.13) due to the Radeon 6700 XT graphics card. I got that one from https://ift.tt/3xYrgTJ instead of the Manjaro main website. - Phone: I considered a Pixel with CalyxOS, but ended up buying a OnePlus 8T with microG variant of LineageOS from https://ift.tt/2hA9b9Z Alternatively a Pixel phone would also run this version of LineageOS. MicroG (https://microg.org/) re-implements some parts of Google Play Services, while safeguarding your privacy, like push notifications. It also has some other Google-specific features re-implemented. I have over 40 apps and only found 1 that didn't work so far (which is Uber Eats, because they seem to require Google Advertisement ID). I pushed a modified Google Camera app to it (from https://ift.tt/2G9ZON5), so my camera is better supported. I think only 3 out of 4 cameras are working, but I don't care. - Watch: Amazfit GTR 2e with the official app. Alternatively it should work with Gadgetbridge if you don't want to use the offical app ("Zepp"). Amazfit GTR 2 is a better option if you want it to have WiFi and want to store music on it. Alternatives I considered: OnePlus Watch and Fossil Hybrid. Apple features that I gave up: - Apple Carplay: Because I don't want to use the Google ecosystem, Android Auto is not an alternative. I'll use my car's own GPS system, or I'll end up using my phone's offline maps. - Apple Pay: My bank luckily has a contactless payment app for my phone, but I won't be making payments with my watch anymore.