Congratulations!

I de-googled a few years ago but rushed through the process and went to the whole Proton ecosystem. Your plan sounds great. This is my setup:

• BROWSER/SEARCH: I have both Firefox browsers, Startpage, Brave and DuckDuckGo (which is my default browser and use their Email Protection ).

• You can customize your browsers and add more search engines like Mojeek, Ecosia, Disroot , etc.

• YouTube ALTERNATIVE: Peertube is a good alternative to YT. They also have an app for iPhone.

• DuckDuckGo has Duck Player that will open in a new window without the ads! So, yes. If you prefer to stay with YouTube, use DuckDuckGo browser and enable the Duck Player in Settings.

• STORAGE: I use Ente Photo Storage for iOS. Currently, their Forever Free account is 10 GB (which you already use).

• Filen is also an option (downloaded it 2 weeks ago but haven’t used it yet); their free account is 10 GB and boasts Zero knowledge technology.

• I also use Proton Drive. It was glitchy at first but they’ve fixed and improved it. That’s another reason why I recommend using more than one of anything (backup your backup). Try their products first so you can decide if you want to subscribe to the whole ecosystem or just part of it.

• You can connect external storage devices to iPhone, depending on the model.

• Consider an EHD (if you haven’t already) in addition to cloud services. They’re great for storing photos, videos and music.

• Box and Dropbox are what I use for non-confidential files (recipes, ebooks, mp3s, blank forms, no PII, photos of not-people).

• iDrive is another backup service that has an iOS app.

• iCloud! Perfect if you’re just starting out with Apple or have one device. Pay attention to your storage! Make sure you have enough room for iOS updates.

• MAIL: I’ve heard many positive feedback from my friends about Posteo and Mailbox.org. Tuta, Proton and Mailfence are also good alternatives.

• Disroot emails are stored unencrypted in their servers so you’ll have to do that yourself .

PRIVACY (not sure what you mean but consider these:

• VPN! Mullvad, Proton (or both) Why? You need a back up VPN just in case there’s a glitch or a website is blocking certain VPN servers.
• Ghostery if you plan on using Safari. Safari has Profiles so you can create one for school, work, etc.
• AdGuard app is another option for use with Safari.
• Bitwarden or Proton Pass if you plan to use a password manager (which is highly recommended). Passwords is another Apple stock app which works well with Safari.
• Ente has 2FA but I’ve never used it before
• TURN OFF LOCATION unless you’re using Maps to go somewhere. You can turn it on/off as needed and add a location to your photos later. Unnecessarily running location services can drain your battery faster.
• As long as you don’t use google anymore and download their apps, you’ll be fine. Don’t forget to delete your accounts.
• At your earliest convenience, please read Apple Support’s iCloud data security overview regarding E2EE. Disregard if you’re in the UK.

OTHER:

• Before downloading an app, scroll down to the App Privacy and see what information they hoard from your phone. You can decide for yourself if it’s worth it.

• I love the stock apps (biased opinion), they’re easy to use and work well together.

• Most of the products I’ve recommended above are cross-platform in case you want to go back to android or if you’re in a cross-platform household.

• If you have a choice, use an app instead of a browser because it’s a better experience, sometimes it’s faster and some apps are available for use offline.

• @Corduroy_Pillows_Making_Headlines started a de-google group, the original post has a link to a PDF file with a schedule and recommendation on how to migrate your data. You might find it useful to your transition. Good luck!

https://lemmy.myserv.one/post/19040195