OTHER GREAT SERVICES

Opera browser is based on the same browser engine that Google's browser. It works fast and has nice GUI. It won't report to Google that where you visit, has integrated ad block and it will have also nice integrated proxy (that they call VPN) for enhanced privacy protection. So use Opera, or good old Firefox, with some extensions, like Adblock, to keep some waste out.

Brave is a web browser that is build on top of google's browser engine, but which doesn't send information to Google. Brave is founded by the former CEO of Mozilla. Brave has implemented few novel features like un-tracking ads, tipping, Tor tab and IPFS connectivity. Code is also available from the git.

The Duckduckgo search engine has already been around for some years, and growing every year. It uses mainly Microsoft’s Bing search engine on the background, but it masks you from it, and won’t track your searches either. They also do a great job by donating money to some privacy/security related open source projects every year.

StartPage might have a bit strange name for a search engine, but it is an excellent service. Basically it will just let you to use Google’s search engine, but without telling to google that who made that search. Company is based in the Europe/Netherlands and has been awarded with European Privacy Seal from it’s sister service ixquick (, which is similar to DuckDuckGo). They have been in steady growth for years too.

Qwant is another search engine (brand new and based in Europe/France!) that doesn’t track your searches either. It is fully new and not yet on par with Google, but does a decent job on basic searches. You should check it out.

Jitsi is a free and open source video conference to replace Teams/Skype, Zoom and Google meet. No ads and great quality. End-to-end encryption. Screen sharing and chats. We have been using it already almost 10 years! Check it out.

uBlock Origin is a browser plugin that is available for several browsers. uBlock origin will block more harmful content than just ads and is thus better then below recommended ad-blocker. It is also fully open source and can be modified and customized as needed.

Privacy Badger is a browser plugin from EFF that will try prevent automatically (no need for you to configure anything) different kinds of third party tracking and profiling of your web surfing. Preventing third party tracking means preventing sites that you don’t visit to track you on other sites.

Adblock Plus is a browser plugin to block ads (Banners, Video ads, and pop-ups) on the webpages, and with ads also possible malware. Adblock Plus is the most downloaded browser extension. It is also OpenSource project.

Telegram is a secure and popular messenger app. Like WhatsApp, but your messages are not scanned for commercial use, or by the US government. It is also free (and half open source), so switch to that! Telegram is operated by a German non-profit company.

Signal is another instant message app. It has a strong encryption from end-to-end enabled by default and the people behind it seems to be steering it to right direction although they don't play so nicely with FOSS community at the moment. Currently Signal has less than on tenth of the user base compared to Telegram.

Open Street map is a great alternative to Google Maps, if you want to find a location or get directions. It doesn’t contain satellite images and all the other bells and whistles that Google has, but in some cases it is more accurate. And it won’t track you. It is supported by OpenStreetMap Foundation, a UK-registered not-for-profit organization. Check it out!

Bitwarden is password management and storage application / service. It will crypt your keys already in your device (and not only in their service). It is also fully open source so you can run your own instance of it if you like. If you prefer not, then they offer limited service for free.

Nextcloud is your own data storage. Own your data, and share it like you want. Calendars, contacts, galleries, music files, movies, etc. Host it for free by yourself, or get it as a service. Some providers offer small packages for free and bigger packages with low price (like e.g. theGood.cloud, OwnDrive, or hosting.de).

Framasoft is a not-for-profit educational organization from France. They have ad free, registration free and privacy friendly copies from many popular smaller apps, like Framadate to replace popular Doodle for scheduling meeting times. Take a look to all of their apps.