Sounds like it. It happens with other Google services too. Someone could share a GDoc to your non-Gmail email, but if that non-Gmail email isn’t a Google account, then you won’t be able to access the doc/comments/whatever else (depending on the doc permissions, of course).

I suppose “harm” can be subjective in this context, and there are already some good replies here.

One more thing to add to the list that I’d consider harmful in creating a Gmail account is all of the privacy issues that come with having a Gmail account.

Out of respect for my recipients and myself, I wouldn’t want all of our emails being read.

We can go down the rabbit hole of “Email is inherently insecure anyways,” but that’s a separate discussion.

Nice to see this as a standard, thanks. Edited to reflect this.

You prolly could too, if only you bathed in the waters of Lake Minnetonka…

Don’t worry, it’s not complicated at all. A little inconvenient maybe, but that’s always the trade-off when it comes to privacy and security.

Here are the two most convenient ways that I can think of on each OS.

iOS: Bookmark the frontend URL. When you get sent a link, pop open the page and paste the TikTok URL.

Android: Get Firefox and set it as your default browser. Install the LibRedirect add-on (browser extension). Whenever you get sent a URL, just tap it and it’ll automatically get redirected to the privacy-friendly frontend.

Most of my friends know better than to send me TikTok links. But for the few who still do, I use this open source frontend called ProxiTok.

To get TikTok links to redirect automatically on click, use the LibRedirect extension.

Synology Photos. I’ve heard Immich is quite good too.

Who doesn’t like an underdog? 😤