As someone just starting their journey into privacy-focused, open-source software, I’d love to hear what apps the community recommends.
I’m particularly interested in:
- What messaging apps you use instead of WhatsApp/Messenger
- Alternatives to Google services (email, calendar, cloud storage)
- Social media alternatives that respect privacy
- Browsers
- Password managers worth using
- Any other productivity apps you’d recommend me to use
I’m using Apple devices (I know, I know), so apps that work well in this ecosystem would be ideal. Which ones have you found perform exceptionally well?
What was your experience transitioning away from corporate services? Any pitfalls to avoid or strategies that made the switch easier?
password-store is a CLI app to store passwords and even supports OTP.
Whoogle is a meta search (still uses Google search) that takes the bloat off.
Matrix is a decentralized and secure messaging platform.
For email I have a vps (costs less than protonmail) and use Maddy.
There are a few good firefox alternatives, I use waterfox on my phone and floorp on my Linux PC.
Please do not use the same manager for your passwords and OTPs. That defeats the purpose of multi-factor.
Otherwise +1 for the other services. I’m hoping to set up my matrix server soon