There is a really really simple one (at least for your private life but if your company uses G-Suite, you always have the admin to take care of things you forget):

Do not use Google! It's as simple as that. I have never had a Gmail account until an Android device sort of forced it on me, because I definitely didn't want to link things up to my real email address, so I just signed up for the whole thing. Do I ever use that email address? Definitely not! Why would I?

What happens if I ever loose access to that account? I have to register a new one for my Android device(s). Boohoo.

Some of this obviously requires 'abstinence' and not having the same 'cool toys' as other people. I.e. if I buy lots of fancy apps that I actually rely on for my daily life, then loosing this Google Account will hurt. No longer have a PC and do everything including your banking, gaming etc. with the tablet (i.e. things you really need or things you paid a lot of money for)? Well, welcome to the walled garden where Google practically owns you.

You should keep it all on paper instead, because nothing ever happens to that. ;)

I do think there is substantial room for a kind of "major provider reset" service, similar (at least) to what banks do physically. Lost your account access? You need to GO to a place, be on video, have an ID check done, multiple forms of whatever identification. It costs to do this kind of thing, and as a last resort I'm pretty sure most people would want to pay it, instead of losing account access.

Your argument seems to be "It would be massively inconvenient to lose access to these things so instead I will not have these things."

Yes. Google should have an office in the capital of every state/country and maybe every city of over 1 million people where you can go and get things fixed when you really need to. Charge $50 to cover cost an I would be happy to pay it if needed (although the PR hit for doing that would be high).

I really need to transition more things off of the Google ecosystem.

Yes exactly, I will just not have these things and the more people do that instead of giving in, the more alternatives can survive and thrive. See the other post of using apps that are actually free to install on Google Play, but you sign up for an account that you might also pay money for. Now the thing that you rely on for your life is no longer tied to a specific Google account.

If you loose access to the account for that 'thing', sure you're screwed with regards to that 'thing'. But it's just one of the eggs in your basket.

If you do _everything_ through Google, then Google is your basket full of eggs and if you don't play ball with the basket, it will take away all your eggs.

> Some of this obviously requires 'abstinence' and not having the same 'cool toys' as other people. I.e. if I buy lots of fancy apps that I actually rely on for my daily life, then loosing this Google Account will hurt.

Pleco is a necessity for me, but it's not tied to the Google account. It has its own registration system.

Same goes for WeChat.

The Android Kindle app isn't really a necessity, but it's desirable. It, too, has its own registration system. It's certainly tied to my Amazon account, but not to my Google account.

This is part of why I try to stay away from apps; once you become reliant, you're stuck. It's best if there's a desktop client, (and particularly one that is not bad for privacy, but usually these things work better on a desktop) since it will not keep you tied to a device or ecosystem.

That is absolutely the right way to deal with it. Bravo! Use the apps that have their own accounts, don't require an account etc.

I do the same actually and don't use apps or services that will only allow you to "Login with Facebook", "Login with Google" etc.

Google's screwed over more than a few g suite admins. Caution is advised in all things Google.

Do you have 2FA enabled? I suspect that if you have either an authenticator app or a security key, it will use that instead of random heuristics.

(This isn't a defense of Google's behavior, just a comment on things that are actually within the end user's control.)

I tried to setup 2FA, Google would not let me setup an authenticator app without first giving Google a phone number.

I have a Twilio number I use as my Google recovery number (which is only used for that purpose). In my case, it's because I want to protect against SIM swapping attacks on my real phone number, but it also works for people who don't want to give out their real number.

This doesn't work for services that send SMS 2FA codes and the like from a shortcode (as Twilio does not support receiving those), but Google appears to send from a longcode, so it works there.

It’s phone number -> auth app -> umbikey -> remove phone number. None of my google accounts use my number for 2fa anymore

I wonder if that last step shouldn't be followed by a GDPR notice to stop processing your phone number, if you're in Europe - because I don't imagine they aren't storing your number anyway, after you remove it from auth options.

I don't want 2FA and I have it disabled but they often ask me for more than my password which is like forcing 2FA on me (but what you say may be true).