Dear reader,
Turns out that maintaining an up-to-date privacy tools list is more work than I was expecting, so instead of continuing with that, my plan is to begin a yearly tradition of sharing my current privacy setup with you. I got inspiration from other blogs that had shared the apps they were using, but I wanted to focus solely on privacy-related tools. I have written detailed explanations for all of my choices to hopefully make the list more useful and interesting to you. To find more tools, I recommend checking out the recommendations by Privacy Guides and Techlore.
Browsers
Mac: Vivaldi
Since January, I have been using Vivaldi as my main browser on my Mac and have grown to like it a lot. It’s rarely mentioned in privacy circles because it isn’t fully open source and its privacy protections aren't on par with browsers like Brave or Firefox. Some people may also want to avoid it because they don’t want to support the Chromium monopoly. These are all valid concerns that I’m also thinking about, but in the end, I see Vivaldi as a solid browser with many powerful features built-in that you can't find elsewhere.
Some aspects that have impressed me about Vivaldi are their stance against AI hype and the interview their CEO did with Techlore. What I have also been hearing and seeing myself, the people who work at Vivaldi seem like genuinely good people. This is an aspect you can't take for granted these days. After using Vivaldi for only a month, going back to something like Firefox has proven to be quite difficult. Some things I would lose include workspaces, tab stacks, tile tabs, and progressive web apps, to name just a few features.
In recent months, I have also been thinking a lot about digital sovereignty, which has definitely affected my decision as I want to prefer software that is developed close to me in Europe. This means that privacy isn't the only thing that matters these days when I decide which tools I want to use.
Extensions
I have installed three extensions that all serve a clear role in my browser. Keeping the number of extensions minimal is still something I recommend, since they can make you stand out and increase your attack surface. Some of them can even be malicious.
AdGuard
AdGuard works great even with the Manifest V3 restrictions on ad blocking. There is also research to back this up. Vivaldi also has its own content blocker, but it has never worked that well in my use. You can find my reasons for using AdGuard over uBlock Origin Lite in the section about Safari.
Proton Pass
I consider the benefits regarding convenience, passkey autofill, and partial phishing protection worth it to install the Proton Pass browser extension, even if there may be some inherent security issues related to browser extensions.
SponsorBlock
While I don’t consider SponsorBlock essential, it makes watching YouTube a much more pleasant experience. Sponsor segments have also gotten long. I remember seeing some that were around 5 minutes, which is pretty absurd.
While I understand why many content creators use sponsors, I have only bought something once because of that, and even then it ended up being a mistake because at the time I didn’t know the VPN industry that well.
Speaking of VPNs, I don’t want to hear a single VPN ad from content creators who don’t know the topic well. Once I was watching one of these ads, the creator showed a picture highlighting the speed difference between a VPN connection and one without it. The speeds were about the same, but the one without VPN had much better latency, but the creator obviously hadn’t understood that. So, I use SponsorBlock.
iPhone and iPad: Safari
On iOS, all browsers use WebKit underneath because of Apple’s platform limitations, and alternatives to Safari don’t offer enough attractive features for me to switch. Because most browsers don’t support extensions on iOS, they need to use their own content blocking solutions that vary in quality. In my experience, only Brave and Safari are good enough, and with Safari, you need to install an extension to achieve the same level. Lately, I have gone back and forth between AdGuard and uBlock Origin Lite, but currently use AdGuard because it has been more reliable, while also giving the ability to add custom filter lists. But you can’t really go wrong with either.
Calendar
Proton Calendar
Proton Calendar has been my favorite privacy-respecting calendar for many years now. With the free plan, I can use three calendars, while Tuta limits the number to one. Proton has also finally published the source code for its calendar apps on mobile to match its marketing.
Proton Mail
Proton Mail is the privacy-respecting email provider I chose when I switched from big tech, and while I have occasionally tried to use Tuta, Proton’s user experience is just too good to give up at this point. I even prefer Proton’s UI and UX over big players like Gmail or Outlook, and it honestly isn’t even close. My only issue is that Proton still forces you to add TOTP if you want to secure your account with security keys.
Files
Proton Drive
The Proton Pass family subscription includes 50 GB of shared storage, so I have been using that for my files. While Proton Drive has its issues, such as nonexistent Linux support, my experience has actually been pretty solid. But I’m not using Linux or trying to store my photos and videos there either.
Firewall
Little Snitch
Different firewall apps are powerful, and I’m still probably not taking advantage of all the power Little Snitch gives me. Lulu is another option, and has the benefit of being free and open source, but Little Snitch has always felt much easier to use.
Messenger
Signal + iMessage
Signal is great, and it is my preferred messenger. You can read this article I wrote last year, which dives deeper into this topic and why I don’t use WhatsApp anymore.
I’m also using iMessage for conversations I haven’t been able to move to Signal. While this is not ideal, I much prefer it over WhatsApp or plain SMS.
Notes and reminders
Cryptee
My move from Notesnook to Cryptee is one of the biggest changes I have made at the start of this year. While I still consider Notesnook a great product, I have really been enjoying my time with Cryptee again. While I think its export options could be better, they exist. I love Cryptee’s minimalist design, which makes writing feel calm and enjoyable. The ability to link notes to each other is my favorite feature. Besides the writing experience, I also prefer Cryptee’s simpler folder organization and its European home.
Regarding reminders, I have struggled to find a suitable replacement for Things 3 since I stopped using it some years ago. When I used Notesnook, I took advantage of its reminders functionality, but it always felt pretty bare-bones.
I have recently tried simplifying my setup by mostly using a simple task list inside a note to achieve a lot calmer to-do experience. This has worked well for my needs.
I used to use Lunatask for its excellent habit tracker. Yet, after I stopped tracking my habits, I felt less stressed about completing them and, shockingly; I am better able to keep up with them.
Password manager and 2FA
Proton Pass and security keys
I used to be a big Bitwarden fan, but these days I think Proton Pass is even better. Proton’s apps feel more polished and offer an integrated alias solution that doesn’t cost extra. I also respect Proton’s stance against VC funding, which is an ongoing issue with both Bitwarden and 1Password. If you’re interested in this topic, I also wrote an article last year giving my thoughts on the current direction of 1Password.
For 2FA, I’m using Proton Pass to manage my TOTP codes. I know that this makes it technically not 2FA, but I don’t really care. I consider TOTP a legacy option anyway that we should replace with options with built-in phishing resistance. So, I always opt-in to passkeys or security keys if they are available. I have three security keys: two YubiKeys and a single Token2 security key.
Photos
iCloud Photos with Advanced Data Protection
After moving back to iPhone from Android, I could also take advantage of our family’s shared iCloud storage, which allows me to save money when I don’t need to pay for Ente anymore. While this makes me more reliant on Apple’s ecosystem, my positive experience with Ente has made me confident that I can always return if I ever need to.
RSS
Artemis
My last article about RSS mentioned that I use Miniflux. Few days after publishing it, I came across an interesting take on RSS, where the author argues how the current design of RSS apps makes us feel guilty of unread entries, when we could also have alternative designs that give us the content, but remove the urgency from the experience. A person I follow through RSS responded and mentioned Artemis, a calm RSS reader, as one of the potential solutions to the problem that the other article had identified.
I have been testing it for around a week now, and I'm impressed. The creator's philosophy resonates with me, and using Artemis has truly made managing my RSS feeds feel calmer. I’m planning to publish a blog post soon to discuss my experience in depth and share some limitations you need to consider if you want to use Artemis.
Search engine
Startpage + DuckDuckGo
Startpage is a private search engine that I have been using for a long time. Most of the time, the results are what I’m expecting, and I don’t need to consult other search engines. Sometimes I use DuckDuckGo as well, especially on my iPhone and iPad since Safari doesn’t let you choose Startpage as the default search engine. There are bangs, but it can get annoying to add !s at the end of every search. Luckily, DuckDuckGo isn’t quite that bad, although Startpage has it beat regarding search results.
I have also been testing out Kagi, and while the results are great, I don’t think they are significantly better than Startpage to justify paying the premium it requires.
VPN
Mullvad + Proton VPN
I’m a big Mullvad fan and consider it the market leader of private VPN providers, but switched to Proton VPN last year after getting a great deal on Black Friday. However, Proton’s Mac app has been unreliable, and the kill switch is not robust enough, so I switched back to Mullvad on Mac and iPhone. Because Proton VPN supports streaming, it has still been my preferred option on iPad.
Closing words
Getting this list together took a lot of time and energy, and my habit of trying new software regularly to see if something works better than what I’m currently using didn’t make it any easier. Even when I was writing this, some things changed. It will be interesting to see how things will look at the start of next year. 🌔