Independent Data Clouds
Set your calendars and contacts free
Illustration von Florian Biege
Your calendar is so much more than a list of appointments. When you manage your appointments and contacts on major U.S. tech platforms such as Apple, Google, or Microsoft, you’re feeding these corporations details about your daily life – and the contact information of your family and friends! So if you want to take back control of your appointments and contact information, you’ve come to the right place.
Because of open standards (“CalDAV” and “CardDAV” are formats that are understood by almost all calendars and address books) you are not bound to a single provider. Your freed appointments and dates run smoothly on Linux (switch recipe Windows to Linux), Windows, macOS, Android or iOS.
Different ways to cook
Our digital switch recipes provide an easy, simple way to give Big Tech the push, but there are other options available. We have tried to make it easy by focusing on a single approach and a small number of options, but there are other alternatives that are just as good. After all, what we mean by ‘good’, ‘not so good’ and ‘bad’ is open to debate: DI.DAY is about easy ways to give Big Tech the push (without getting into purism or being preachy). Our decisions are based on advice from our advisory panel.
An overview of the alternatives is available on the next page:
Ingredients
1 pinch of trust in open-source applications
for more transparency and control of your address book and your calendar
1 new “home” for your data
with a provider that protects your data better
Your existing calendar and contact files
as exports in .ics- and .vcf-format from Google, Apple, or Microsoft
1 program to use calendar and contacts
DAVx5, for example, on your phone, Thunderbird on your desktop computer – a handy “bridge” for syncing contacts and calendars across devices
Preparation
1 Choose the right foundation
Choose an option that fits your lifestyle:
Many European providers offer privacy-friendly (GDPR-compliant) data clouds for your calendars and address books, some even with a moving service: You can choose freely, for example Mailbox.org, Posteo, Proton, Disroot or Tuta (on the phone Tuta can only be used with the Tuta app because of the encryption technology). If you are already a customer of the provider’s email services, consider using it for contacts and calendars as well.
(Advanced users may use their own data cloud for their calendar – Nextcloud offers their own calendar modules. Here’s the switch recipe.)
2 Remove from the oven (Export your data)
Log in to your old provider (Google/iCloud/Outlook) and export your calendar as a file (the file name usually ends in “.ics”) as well as the contacts as vCard (“.vcf”).
The process is always very similar: Open the relevant calendar/contacts section in the web interface or program, then download a file via Settings/More/Export.
Example Google:
- Go to calendar.google.com on your PC and sign in.
- Tap the gear icon in the top right corner → click Settings.
- Select “Import & Export” on the left.
- Click export in the “Export” section.
- A ZIP-file will be downloaded that includes a single or several .ics-files.
- Individual calendars as an alternative: Select the calendar in the left column, go to calendar settings, and click “Export this calendar”.
Contacts as .vcf (Google Contacts)
- Go to calendar.google.com and sign in with your Google account.
- Select a contact list or “All Contacts” on the left, if necessary, tick the checkboxes to select specific contacts if required.
- Select “More / … → Export” from the menu.
- Select “vCard” (for Android or iOS) as the export format.
- Start downloading the contacts.vcf file.
Whether they’re calendar files or contacts, they’ll end up in your “Downloads” folder.
3 Into the oven (Import your data)
Upload the downloaded files to your new provider. Your appointments and contacts are now integrated into a system that does not collect data.
4 Adjustment phase
Set aside some time for preparation so that you can get used to the new environment.
5 Adding flavour
Synchronisation across several devices, such as your cell phone, uses open standards.
For Android phones, you can download the app „DAVx5“ – with additional charges via Google Play, free of charge in the alternative app store F-Droid. DAVx5 is the convenient “bridge” for syncing contacts and calendars across devices (detailed instructions for DAVx5). Install the app, add your new provider’s account – and your contacts and calendars will appear on your phone.
You can now see your appointments in your calendar app – we recommend Etar, for example, to replace the Google app.
For Apple phones (iOS), you don’t need an app. In iOS, you can set up the account with the new calendar provider at “Mail/Accounts → Add Account → Other → CalDAV/CardDAV”.
On the computer (Linux, Windows, Apple), you can either manage calendars and contacts in the browser of your choice (see browser recipe) or use a program such as Thunderbird
Dessert
Mike Kuketz also wrote a detailed switch recipe in his blog. Mailbox.org describes the switch for new customers in detail and the Universität Köln explains DAVx5.
Why it’s all worth it: Open standards such as CALDAV are platform-independent and future-proof because they aren’t controlled by a single corporation. You no longer have to worry whether a specific company will still exist in ten years to access your life plans.
Enjoy your meal! You have just taken a big step towards a more independent digital existence.
Once you #DIDit – share our post about the digital switch and inspire others to take control of their own digital lives!
Topping
The first choice for being completely independent is your own cloud such as Nextcloud. In addition to a full-featured calendar or address book, it offers so much more: a home for your files, documents, and even video calls and conferences. Nextcloud is easy to run on your own server or a rented one. You’ll find all the details – and further options – in our switch recipe.
