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Becoming a tech subduer will require trying new things, reconsidering your options and figuring out what works for you. If you’re looking for immediate new things to try, here’s a short list.
Most1 of these are open source products.
Note to iOS users: some of these suggestions are not available for your devices, I’m sorry. Please know that Apple work exceptionally hard to restrict your devices and stunt your freedom (this is marketed as making things “streamlined” and “user friendly”).
Browsers
User-friendly, focused on user privacy.
- Mozilla Firefox
- Brave
- Tor (Very private. Overkill for most people, but worth mentioning.)
Browser Extensions
- Unhook1 - Modify YouTube to remove its distractions. Easy toggles for switching on/off recommended videos, comments, trending page etc.
- uBlock Origin - User-friendly content blocker. Works quietly and efficiently in the background to give you a much less silent-abuse-ridden browsing experience.
VPN
- Mullvad. Open source. Very private payment options. Not promoted by YouTubers. Green flag upon green flag.
Apps
- Signal - Private messaging app.
- Organic Maps2 - Maps app. Privacy focused. Does not track your location.
- F-droid - An app store exclusively for free and open source apps.3
- NewPipe - Watch YouTube videos with no ads and many extra features (e.g. download videos, play audio with device locked)
Operating Systems
- Linux Mint - A user-friendly, privacy respecting operating system for your computer.
- GrapheneOS - A user-friendly, privacy respecting operating system for your android phone.
- TrueNAS - An operating system for those who want their own server for managing their own files
Other
- VLC - Open source media player
- Syncthing - Open source file synchronisation software
- Mailfence1 - Encrypted email service
- Open Office - An alternative, open source, office suite. For creating documents, presentations etc. By the way, it can read and write to all your favourite file types.
>> Next: SUBDUE
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Warning!: Closed-sourced software. I owe you an explanation as to why I’ve suggested these. Unhook: Mozilla Firefox have marked this add on as “Recommended”, meaning that it is deemed safe according to their assessments (for what it’s worth); additionally, the extension only requires access to my YouTube data, as opposed to all my web browser data (which would be too much for a closed source product). Mailfence: I just wanted an email alternative to Gmail/Outlook etc. I don’t use email for much really. (If you don’t know closed-sourced software is, click here) ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Pretty good app but sometimes it has struggled finding particular locations that I have searched for. Just being honest. But still check it out. ↩︎
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Don’t go installing just anything, obviously. But have a browse. Many privacy and autonomy focused apps are released on F-droid. ↩︎