When you buy an iPhone or an Android phone, you'll not only get the underlying operating system, but also the apps that form part of a specific ecosystem. So, for example, you'll find Google Drive, Google Play, and various other Google apps that are not actually part of the core Android build.

Google Lens tends to get catalogued as a way to figure out how to identify plants or translate a menu while traveling. That's true, but it can do a lot more than that. You don't need to wonder about stuff or run vague Google searches to figure it out; Google Lens is basically Google search on your phone.

When I first tried out Google Drive, it changed everything. Being able to share files and collaborate on documents with others so easily was a complete game-changer, and it made us all so much more productive.

Unless you own a Google Pixel phone with the built-in Now Playing feature, you have to use Shazam to recognize songs playing around you, right? Well, actually, no. Many Android phones have access to Google's built-in Song Search feature, which is almost as good as Now Playing and Shazam.

Google has a reputation for shutting down some of its most useful and well-loved apps. Over the years, countless users have watched services that became part of their daily routines suddenly get pushed aside. It’s a running joke at this point: just when a Google app or service finally gets some momentum, Google is ready to pull the plug.

It can be painful to change password managers on your phone, not to mention insecure — you might have to download files that expose your passwords in plain text, and recreate all your passkeys. Google now claims to have fixed this with a new "transfer experience" that helps you switch password managers on Android, including passkeys.

Google Keep is convenient, but convenience came with a cost many people would want to stop paying: my notes living in Google's cloud, tied to my account, scanned by whatever systems Google runs behind the scenes. Switching to Obsidian changed how I think about my own notes entirely.

Third-party apps get most of the scrutiny when it comes to permission creep, but Google's own apps are often the bigger offenders. Here's a look at three permissions Google's ecosystem quietly holds onto well past the point they're needed.

I love the simplicity and automation of my Google Account storage and how I can save valuable photos, videos, screenshots, PC/device files, and my Android phone data with little effort, but I don't like how easily and quickly it fills up, especially with default settings. I was frustrated, so I decided to take control of what Google syncs to regain valuable space. Google Account storage has definitely changed over the last decade, like Google Photos' Image Saver media becoming part of your storage space (June 1, 2021) and Drive separating from Photos (July 2019) because it was "supposedly" confusing to consumers.