[cannonedhamster]

I had this same thought when I was heavy into Google/Android. I was running on G Suite, and frankly didn't like the way Google was going. I own my own domain name, run off of Zoho which gives me more features that I use for the same/less money, but the system hasn't been without weirdness. Syncing between all of my different devices doesn't really work right using their ActiveSync option. i.e. my iPhone doesn't sync deleted emails back to the main server and unless I run the sync tool my desktop doesn't either. There are options though, but everything is a privacy/ease of use trade off. Things that give you more privacy and control tend to come with more actions you personally need to take.

Edit: A Plex server is a really easy way to back up photos from multiple devices as it syncs and you can control that entirely in house.