Save the data - degoogling.

Continuing a bit with the degoogling of my phone. See the first part here if you missed that. It's about setting up CalyxOS. Here is part two, about Google MFA. Don't miss it.

One thing to keep in mind is, when you disconnect your phone from Google, you disconnect your phone from Google's data. This includes Drive, Docs, and... contacts. Contacts with phone numbers.

What I did to prevent typing in all 400+ contacts again:

First: export your google contacts. I used this page for reference.

It comes down to:

1. Go to Google Contacts.
2. Select one of the following:
   • A single contact: Check the box next to the contact name.
   • Multiple contacts: Check the boxes next to all the contacts you want to export.
   • All contacts: Check the box next to any contact and in the top left, click Selection Actions All. (Sounds like the smartest option here.)
3. At the top right, click More actions  Export.
4. To back up your contacts, select Google CSV.
5. To save your file, click Export and save the file somewhere.

After this: I have a Nextcloud subscription. I went into the dashboard and imported the file there, so I had my contacts saved. I don't know how this is for your situation, but it's certainly something to keep in mind.

With the contacts safely in NextCloud, I opened the DAVx5 app on the phone and linked that to the Nextcloud contact list. You're on your own, figuring out how to proceed with that, but it wasn't difficult. (I didn't make notes.) After that I opened the contacts app on the phone, and they were there after a while. Syncing took a little while, but with many contacts, that was to be expected.

If you have all your pictures synced on a Google Drive, you can leave them there (which isn't really degoogling), or you can look up Google Take Out, and download all your stuff to a computer. This will include your photos. If you don't want to go there, make sure you back up the pictures you don't want to lose. Again: the phone will be wiped empty.