9mo ago

What privacy friendly app/service/stuff makes your life simpler?

I am trying to re-adjust how much effort I want to put into privacy concerns. Too much stuff I'm using isn't working properly or using a lot of my mental resources that I need elsewhere.

For (a bad) example: I recently performed a half-switch from my self-hosted Nextcloud instance to ProtonDrive, in the hope that it would spare me the stress to maintain my private Nextcloud. Unfortunately, it doesn't, as basic functionality like cross-device-sync is not possible (there isn't even a client app for Linux, as of yet).

This brings me to the question: have you found any services/apps/stuff that significantly eases your life while still being privacy friendly? I know, this is a broad question, but I think this is for the best as this thread then maybe even has use for other users.

75 comments

I’ve found Syncthing a better way to handle file sync than NextCloud. Much more set and forget and not a single point of failure. It also syncs a notes directory in flat .md format, so anything can edit them, in a simple directory hierarchy.
- SyncThing is great for encrypted, serverless, bidirectional sync, preferably with small folders... But unfortunately really eats up a lot of battery.
  I'm still waiting for some company to figure out E2EE syncing with the quality of Google Drive (mobile and desktop integration built in). Proton is close, but they fumble reliable integration.
  
  I've used it for years, across multiple devices, syncing 100gb. My average daily sync is probably 20gb.
  It's been surprisingly good on battery - currently using 0.9% average. It's never been a significant battery hog for me.
  I currently have 28 sync jobs (folders) on my phone, ranging from a few MB to 20gb, from a few files to 1200 files. Most only sync over wifi, but my DCIM folder (one of the larger ones) is over any connection.
  Apps like Foldersync are much heavier on battery for me. Resilio is terrible for me (and it's also a memory hog because I have some large folders).
  Maybe you have a stuck file that's causing it to hang. May be worth pausing all but one job, see if that affects battery. Then work though them.
  Also, check out Syncthing-Fork, it has finer controls over individual sync jobs. For example, I let photos sync over any connection and on battery, but my media (music/video) only on wifi and while charging.
  
  I'll have to defer to your experience; I've set it up on a PC, a NAS and a phone. The phone was connected to an ethernet-equipped dock at the time of setup so the sync was quick and painless.
  I don't see a hit on battery life on a Fairphone 4 running /e/OS after initial sync has completed.
  
  I haven't had battery usage issues with it for years! Just checked now and it's below 0.4% - it doesn't even show up in the main app list in the battery settings.
- Syncthing is brilliant, although for me it has had a heck of a learning curve to keep straight. Might just be me though.
  
  It does have a bit of a learning curve, you have to think about what you're trying to do.
- My biggest issue with Syncthing is that it becomes unusable for large amounts of data due to the lack of selective sync (ignore lists are cumbersome as hell) and lack of virtual file system support. I have about 8TB of data on my NAS that I want to access remotely and it is not feasible to have duplicate copies of that much data on all of my devices.
  
  You could simply sync select subdirectories.
  
  Agreed.
  Resilio sync works better. But the “sync identity” thing is broken, and configuring it declaratively is hard.
  But 100% agree. Would love a virtual file system solution. Ideally one which you can use to fill available disk space and ensure you always have a minimum number of copies.

NewPipe is a killer app I would say, with nearly Youtube Red level functionality in something that's free and OSS. A bit afield from privacy, but you do get to access youtube stuff without logging in.
- From what I understand, NewPipe has been abandoned and someone else forked it to Tubular which includes SponsorBlock.
  
  From what I understand, NewPipe has been abandoned...
  That's completely incorrect. From NewPipe's Github:
  We are planning to rewrite large chunks of the codebase, to bring about a new, modern and stable NewPipe. Please do not open pull requests for new features now, only bugfix PRs will be accepted.
  ...and someone else forked it to Tubular which includes SponsorBlock.
  polymorphicshade "stopped" development on their fork of NewPipe, which included SponsorBlock (because NewPipe did not want to include it) and started working on their rewrite of their own fork and/or NewPipe, which is now Tubular.
  
  Newpipe is definitely not abandoned. :) But always nice to learn of an alternative

Bitwarden, Aegis (2FA app for Android), Syncthing are probably the most impactful

Ntfy - no more google reading notifications
Jellyfin - media served without questionable Plex account
Arch - on so many levels allows me a private computing experience
Posteo - simple but efficient email service
Resilio sync - cloudless syncing
- NTFY looks intriguing.
  If I'm reading the description properly, it uses an HTTP server as the middleman for the notifications?
  Pretty ~~neat~~ nifty idea. (Yea, had to come back and edit because I missed a great opportunity).
  
  It's based on unifiedpush standard https://unifiedpush.org/. So a central notification middleman like google firebase for all your apps (that support it). There's messengers like mercurygram, fluffychat, Molly that support it and you can also send notifications yourself via a simple curl command.

The most impactful are probably browser (Firefox), adblocker (uBlock Origin), DNS over https (Mullvad), and password manager (Bitwarden), because these are used every single day.

Bitwarden, PiHole, Proton Pass/VPN/Drive, BlueWallet to name a few

https://rethinkdns.com/ the android app is also an excellent firewall with logging. I use a custom config on my router. I can't say enough good things about this.
https://simplex.chat/ Android/ iOS/ macOS/ Linux/ Windows getting people to switch is a pita though.
- I look forward to SimpleX development - it's already come a long way.
  It's unfortunately heavy on ram for me.

Freetube on PC has really changed it up for me. Vencord over Discord is another I've not seen mentioned yet, basically strips out the telemetry and sandboxes the application.
- Pair Libre redirect with Freetube and that's been my worry free YouTube experience during all of this anti adblocker business.
  
  Oh yeah totally forgot to mention that! An absolute must if you have freetube indeed 🙌

If I am being completely honest, there are very few. Convenience is consistently the #1 trade-off when I make privacy-based decisions about which applications and services to use.
An exception I can think of are ad and tracker blockers like uBlock Origin, iodé, etc - I cannot imagine life without them Any time I borrow the phone or computer of someone who doesn't have an equivalent of these installed I am just blown away by how many ads they are confronted with while performing even the simplest tasks. And not just harmless ones, but ads that directly waste their time. I genuinely don't understand how people can live like that unless they just don't know there is an alternative.
I guess another one I can think of is the Aurora Store. The UI is so much cleaner than the Google Play Store's, important settings and features aren't hidden and it has some additional features like Exodus Report that I think are genuinely useful. It's so superior as an application that I actually prefer using it even on devices where the Play Store is installed and working.

Two I use a lot daily are KeePass 2 in various versions, computer as well as tablet. I used KeePass "original" 1 for years, but moved to 2/XC/DX. Occasionally also used for storing notes and not just passwords.
My notetaker, all hands down, though. Joplin, with encryption activated, the file stored for syncing on my privacy oriented community's encrypted NextCloud. I am an avid notetaker, both digital and analogue, and Joplin really fits my needs.
OK, third, honourable mention: Veracrypt

NextDNS - I use it on my router and all mobile devices.
- Is NextDNS really a good privacy tool? I use it myself because it's convenient, but I always assumed that they would collect data about me since it's a free service
  
  I pay for mine, not sure how it differs from the free version but you can turn logging off, or if you have logging on you can specific how long to store logs and what jurisdiction to keep them in (I keep mine for a few months in Switzerland). You of course have to place some trust in NextDNS the company that they are actually doing what they claim to do as far as respecting user privacy but I trust them more than Google and Cloudflare, which is what I was using previously.
  
  You can turn off logging in settings

uBlock Origin saves time and resources
This is a classic one, but with Mullvad VPN I can pretend to be in any country. When combined with Tailscale, it becomes really OP. With Tailscale, I have a secure, flat network, which allows me to access all my devices from anywhere. Things like LocalSend, KDE connect or other apps that normally require all devices to be in a LAN also work over Tailscale.
A DNS filter doesn't just help with protecting your privacy, you can also use it to block/restrict distracting websites that you spend too much time on. NextDNS for example lets me restrict social media websites to only work on certain times of the day.
Private frontends like Invidious and Piped for YouTube, Redlib for Reddit, SafeTwitch for Twitch (RIP Nitter, Libreddit and Teddit)
LibRedirect automatically redirects sites like YouTube, Twitch, Reddit and many more to privacy frontends
Alternative desktop/mobile clients for YouTube and Twitch. For YouTube, FreeTube on desktop, LibreTube/Tubular on Android, Yattee with this guide on iOS, Xtra for Twitch on Android. These all block ads or any other annoyances.
GrapheneOS makes my life easier in many ways, but I specifically want to mention this one. Since GrapheneOS uses per-connection MAC address randomization by default, I can simply reconnect to a wifi network that wants to restrict my usage. This is so useful on trains/airplanes.
UnifiedPush/ntfy allows me to send notifications from my server to my phone. For example it notifies me if one of my self-hosted services goes down (through Uptime Kuma), but I can also use this for Signal notifications through the Molly client for Signal (which also improves security and adds a few other cool things).

Mobile Fennec (or pick your poison for any Firefox fork) has made browsing overall much better. Between ad blocking, Enhanced Tracking Protection and a paywall-bypassing extension, browsing is overall less tedious than a comparable Chromelike.
- Which paywall-bypassing addon would you recommend?
  
  Bypass Paywalls Clean is the one I use.

I am finally really happy with my privacy setup, I am not feeling like there's anything more I need (or want) to do at the moment...
NextDNS on PC and phone
Linux on PC - I do have a drive with Windows (AtlasOS with no Microsoft login) on it for dire emergencies (Rust and Destiny 2)
Mullvad VPN
Degoogled phone with LineageOS
Non-self-hosted Nextcloud
Browsing: FireDragon and Mullvad Browser on PC and Mull on phone
FreeTube for YouTube
- @politicalcustard @lens17 If you're open to advice or ideas, I highly recommend setting up a VPN in your router. That makes sure all devices in your home are protected at all times, and avoid the matrix protocol for all purposes, as it's by Amdocs under the guise of New Vector and The Element Foundation.
  
  It's a more complex setup to have vpn active on your router though. It's not noob proof, because you'll get blocked from websites like Netflix. I have an openwrt based router that allows be to use device based vpn policies, which is more efficient and effective
  
  That's a good idea about the VPN on the router but it's just my computer and phone that connect to the internet and I maintain a non-"smart" home. It would be nice for guests though. That's interesting about Matrix, I didn't know about that. Sadly, for the moment it will be something I have to live with; I'm in a few groups that use Matrix, but it's good to know though, thanks.

Nextcloud all the way. I especially love the calendar, contacts and notes integrations besides the file sync, and it's extensibility in general. Such a powerful tool.
- I love my Nextcloud instance, too. Zero problems in the past 4 years. I don’t run many extensions on it, though. The mobile app works great as well.
  Trillium plus its sync server in a VM is my goto for notes. Mobile isn’t a problem (I usually drops everything into my notes app, then expand on it when I’m in front of a full keyboard at home).
  Not sure how I could get through my day without either of these two.
- Have you gotten any recipe integrations to work with nextcloud? Can't find a satisfactory apk to enter and edit recipes correctly, kinda turning me off to the entire nextcloud thing.
  
  I just use a bunch of markdown files for that. Guess you could also use Notes and its category feature.

NC isnt perfect imo but its like having an open source car or house. Its not emergency ready like no downtime, no bugs, no issues but it will do 95% uptime if configured correctly and its is insanely versatile. I cant imagine any other app being this versatile. You can check my setup if you want.
- What's NC? Got a link?
  
  Nextcloud, yes. It is insane. Its a full cloud experience. Documents, bookmarks, pictures, whiteboards and more.

Monero. No more fighting with banks locking me out of my accounts or blocking my transactions.
- i wonder why this happens. are you from somewhere where this is common or were your transactions shady? i only got my bank block one transaction for me and that was because i didn't know i had to 'activate' the ability to send money to accounts in the eu
  
  Likely its because of all the other privacy tools that I use. Banks don't like it when they can't track you. Every time they think I have a new device. They interpret "oh shit we can't track this person between sessions" as "its suspicious! Lock the account!" ...even though I use the correct username & password on the very first try. Smh
  Ultimately this is the result of Machine Leaning algorithms, but terrible ones because they never learn that they false positive 100% of the time on my account.
  Anyway, this is never an issue with monero. The transactions can't be blocked. It literally works every time. And I hold the keys, so I don't have to worry about loosing my money because my bank gets hacked (or someone calls them with the knowledge of my mother's maiden name and the last 4 street addresses I had, and uses this public information to reset my password and steal my money)
- Monero ftw! Limitless Peace
  
  I don't understand. How does this bring you peace? Can you pay groceries with monero?

Pi-hole and Simplewall, everything except my phone is running Ethernet

e/os on the phone was a game changer but mostly just accepting that digital privacy is not going to work if you cannot take a step back from tech and accept that the transaction is your data in exchange for access to new shiny toys you don't need that will never belong to you no matter what they cost.

Niether are open source, but the full versions of AdGuard for each platform, Adguard Public DNS and DuckDuckGo.

Vaultwarden, linkding, Snikket, Miniflux, and some more.

Revanced Manager

DNSCrypt has been working pretty well for me.
- I never heard of it, but reading their website I find it kind of strange that 2/3 testimonials are from online casino websites...
  
  That is not the DNSCrypt official website.
  Official site: https://dnscrypt.info/
  Official repo: https://github.com/DNSCrypt/dnscrypt-proxy

KitchenOwl, an Android app to organize recipes, ingredients and shopping lists, it's FOSS and available on f-droid.

As a paranoid I've started writing my own note taking app, and I'm very happy knowing what it doesn't do.

Apple
It seems to get derided a lot here, but none of your data is harvested and tied to you or sold. It’s aggregated and anonymised if it’s sent off device, and I stopped using Proton drive when you could finally encrypt iCloud storage. I even use their email as default now since it’s not reading my messages and selling my info like outlook started doing.
- I was considering to switch to apple for this reason, but I've read that in terms of privacy, there's no significant difference between a Pixel Android with Stock OS and an iPhone. This made me hesitant. I really just want things to go smooth and hasslefree without being spied on and coerced... Do you, by chance, have any reading material on the privacy of apple services I could read up on?
  
  Apple really doesn’t advertise. The data never leaves apple. Everyone else sells your information.
  “Apple… is the most privacy-conscious firm out there. Apple only stores the information that is necessary to maintain users’ accounts. This is because their website is not… reliant on advertising revenue. “
  Source: https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/25/apple-collect-less-data-than-other-companies/

75 comments