I quite like the privacy pack site and it’s posted a lot here without much else. I’ve been degoogling/debigteching for about 2 years really slowly at this point and i’m finally basically there.
I didn’t want to just bang my photo in and run so here’s some words for every section:
tl;dr niice - Long post, skip to the section you’re interested in…
Outlook -> Proton Mail
Been on Proton Unlimted for just over 2 years now, it was one of the first things I moved. Initially found it scary - i’ve been on outlook for 20+ years. I setup an outlook rule to forward to a proton alias. Then everytime I got an email I changed my email to a simplelogin alias or ignored it if it was an old account I don’t want anything to do with.
I am now 100% out of outlook, I still have it linked but I very rarely get a forward.
Google Photos -> Ente Photos
I run a homeserver so I initially tried immich, but there was 3 reasons I ended up on ente vs selfhosting. Ente has been great and worth it if you can get family on your account, takes the sting out for the £10 a month. The reasons I chose paid ente over immich:
-
Ente gives 3xS3 storage backups with compliance lock. I was a bit nervous being in charge of uptime/backups of my families photos, this offloaded it to Ente. Once you add in the same replication the self hosted cost increases a bit.
-
Following on from point 1. Immich doesn’t easily allow you to encrypt the photos at rest across users, or at least not at default. I didn’t want access to my dads photos.
-
One of my favourite use cases of google photos that ente has (and immich doesn’t without scripts) was automatically recognising a face of my daughter on all our families gallerys and moving them to a shared album.
I could get past point 1,2 but adding in 3, it made me just want to offload the hastle.
Google Search -> Kagi
I was on DDG for quite a long time and it was mostly fine but I got sucked into the Kagi hype and initially it seemed wild to pay for search even if it is better (and it is). Adding in the AI tokens, translate and maps i’m happy to keep paying.
I did cancel for a month recently when the translate fiasco happened. But I quickly came crawling back, I benchmarked brave, ddg, SP and kagi. Kagi was consistently top and when it wasn’t it was close. Brave was either incredible or awful.
Chrome -> Brave Origin / LibreWolf
Brave Origin for mobile: I know, chromium bad. The fact is Chromium is more secure on android and integrates better with better battery life and performance. I don’t do loads of browsing here.
Librewolf on desktop: Just been a great firefox fork for me with Ublock. I have a pushover javascript setup so I can still quickly push links between my phone and browser.
WhatsApp -> Signal
Im still 99% whatsapp, but I have 2 contacts on signal, no dice getting them all to switch but i’m trying…
It’s weird because privacy aside, signal is a better messaging app, quicker, better designed and has all the features.
Google Keep -> FUTO Notes
I have been on obsidian, standard notes and now a self hosted FUTO Notes.
I’m not a big note taker, I was originally banging out random quick notes in keep, then spent days perfecting an obsidian setup but getting annoyed with sync and the complexity.
I moved to standard notes on a paid plan, but it’s buggy.
Finally back on FUTO notes, it’s super simple, free and self hosted - Loving it.
Google Drive -> Ente Locker / Proton Drive
Ente locker for my documents. Proton drive for my personal files backup. It works.
Google Passwords -> Bitwarden
Don’t need to discuss this much. I just started using bitwarden years ago when I got serioos about this stuff. My passwords in google were probably password1…
I just moved every site over to bitwarden over time.
Google Auth -> Ente Auth
Great app, good design. I was using authy, then Aegis but I needed something with cloud sync.
My ethos is to split where I can. Emails on proton, passwords on Bitwarden, auth on ente/yubikey. Reduces single point failures.
Outlook Calendar -> Proton Calendar
Proton calendar is a bit shit, but for me just sharing really simple events about my kids to the mrs this works fine. It’s included and private so i’m happy.
Google Contacts -> Fossify Contacts
This one seemed tough and only recently carried it out.
I just did it… No biggie… I do a monthly backup of all my phone apps to my server and I just included contacts in that, works great!
Play Store -> F-Droid / Obtanium
I’m still probably 50% play store just because I can. I try get them from fdroid or obtainoum when I can.
NordVPN -> Proton VPN
I’m mostly wireguarding into my own server, but my arrrrrr dockers route through a netherland VPN.
I do use Proton Stealth at work, as the work network bans VPNs and it gets round it really well!
Google Gemini -> Lumo / Kagi Assistant
I use AI sparingly to just rename things, reorganise things. I don’t really use them as a chat bot. Even though Kagi and Lumo are more private i’m still extremely carefull what data I put in.
Google Home -> Home Assistant
This has been a really long transition too. I manage it recently by finally getting rid of my google doorbell for a Reolink.
I love HA. It’s WAYYY better being local only, and I VPN in if needed. I have thermostats, plugs, lights, PS5, automations, meshcore, my server.
It’s one that seems annoying to do, but just get stuck in…
Google Maps -> CoMaps / Kagi Maps
This has been the hardest and I do still check Waze in a seperate phone profile to check traffic for a long trip. Comaps is my phone and kagi is AMAZING on desktop, does routing and OSM data.
Google Translate -> Kagi Translate
I very rarely translate but kagi is akin to google translate but using an AI model. I think the interface is really slick and it does a great job. I keep it around. I was not happy when it was meant to go paid, I barely use it so was going to lose the very small access I did use it even though I was a paid Kagi Member, but they walked it back.
Google Pay -> Cash
Thought this would be tough, but it’s just easy to use your cards and cash. I do have a handful of loyalty cards stored in the Catima app when needed.
I also have 1 card on my garmin watch for emergencies. It’s quite refreshing to just swipe the card.
Cloudflare DNS -> ControlD DNS
I originally had a pihole setup and it was amazing, however I missed having the same block lists wherever I went with my phone so I moved to NextDNS. It worked amazing.
Then the UK age gated loads of sites (porn, reddit, imgur). So I found ControlD. This allows certain domains to automatically route to another country without a VPN. It works flawlessly routing things allover with complex rules.
Windows -> Linux Mint
Worried about this one and dual booted for ages, but then just got rid. I’ve loved having mint, updates to all apps happen easily, it’s bloat free and just works on my Framework 13.
I have gotten to grips with basic linux no problems.
Android -> GrapheneOS
Best move I ever did, just having control of my pixel phone was a game changer. No more random changes to the OS by adding in a gemini pop up. Can’t remove search bar etc.
Permissions i’m in control.
I do still use sandboxed google play for notifications though… GrapheneOS fix things so quickly too!
YouTube -> NewPipe
Easy swap, exported subs and banged them in! One big thing for me is getting rid of “the algorithm”. So getting no recommendations is amazing. (same reason I love RSS). I curate my own feed!
Microsoft 365 -> Proton Docs
Proton docs is fiiiiine… Im a very light user, small spreadsheets, odd letter and it works fine for that so i’m okay to recommend.
I use office at work with macros and more indepth presentations/spreadsheets it would never manage that…
Gboard -> FUTO Keyboard
Tried heliboard and the autocorrect never worked well for me, FUTO though since 2 updates ago as been incredible, the swipe typing is lovely.
It’s the first keyboard since GBoard that just feels as accurate as gboard for Typing, voice and swiping. Other his 1 or 2 of these but never 3.
Instead of Bitwarden, use Vaultwarden. Self hosted Vaultwarden gives you all the Bitwarden things (including the Auth tool). I will admit I do not know what Bitwarden offers without self hosting Vaultwarden.
I have my passwords encrypted and backed up on a VPS, with many others things.
What’s wrong with Nord? They don’t keep logs. Or do they?
Honestly. In privacy pack they were a move away option. I was with nord and it was fine, just as proton is.
But anecdotally, Nords advertising strategy never sat right with me 2-3 years ago…
Claims around ’no-logs’ audits can be misleading, or at best ambiguous to customers. Audits are a snapshot in time: any VPN service receiving a ’no-logs’ stamp from independent evaluators can update its systems and start collecting sensitive data the following day. We have also seen some VPN providers cite such audits as a marketing tool that creates a false sense of security. For these reasons, we will not commission further no-logs audits.
Source: https://www.ivpn.net/blog/annual-security-audit-scheduled-2026/
That’s an extremely solid list, mate. You can be proud of that. May I ask how long it took you to transition to this state?
In case you’re still willing to adjust one thing or another, here’s some food for thought:
- You’re still running a relatively Proton-heavy loadout. They’re hosting your mail, VPN, docs, calendar and AI services. In case of a breach (attacker gains access to your account) or a company employee / the company itself going rogue, you will have several eggs in that particular basket affected, and a few very sensitive ones at that. Diversification might be an option, e.g. getting a separate mail provider, running your docs and calendar through a (self-hosted?) Nextcloud instance, etc.
- Personally, I’ve never felt comfortable with the idea of my password manager being cloud-accessible, regardless of how tight the security on the other end claims to be. KeepassXC (on Linux) and KeepassDX (on Android/GrapheneOS) work extremely well. They’ve even gained Passkey support recently. Add Syncthing to the mix for cloudless cross-device sync and you’ve got yourself an entirely offline password manager.
- You may want to fix the “FUTO” spelling in those two headlines. ;)
If you’re using Graphene, Vanadium is the way to go instead of Brave Origin. The security is significantly better as it’s made for the OS (and you know how Graphene is with security). Also, no more need to use Brave! If you’re ever using a different Android OS, there’s Titanium, based on Vanadium.
While Vanadium might be security-wise superior, Brave has significantly better anti-fingerprinting measures and robust content filtering (blocking advertising, tracking scripts, etc.). It’s also available across devices with client-side encrypted synchronisation, so for many people it’s the better choice.
Content filtering can be done by the DNS and/or VPN. If you need the browser to do it for you instead, Titanium lets you install extensions that can do that (although the security is worse than Vanadium, it’s better than Brave).
You can’t have good privacy without good security.
I’m using Grapheneos Vanadium is great but has no ad blocking or content filters so I moved to something else.
I use a dns ad blocker which works great but the empty spaces arent removed with vanadium…
Personally I don’t mind the empty spaces if it means better security, but if it’s that important to you Titanium has extension support.
Titanium is probably inferior compared to Vanadium, as it likely lacks the OS integration. The team recommends against using Vanadium outside of GrapheneOS for this reason.
I know, I mentioned this in the original message. They said they didn’t want to use Vanadium because of the inability block ads. I was saying that they insist that they don’t want to use Vanadium, Titanium is the next best option.
Basically Vanadium > Titanium > Brave Origin.
You’d probably be interested in IronFox.
Chromium-based browsers have better sandboxing than Firefox based ones on Android.
I don’t get why brave cultists try to shove brave into these guides. It’s not bad because it’s chromium. Brave is bad because it’s a crypto bro browser run by a right wing chud ceo. If you are running Brave you might as well just use Omarchy. Both are right ring chud run. At least the Omarchy right wing chud isn’t running a crypto bro ad company. Both are just terrible.The fact that this guide suggests buying a $60 license to brave is insanity.
Weird take. Its just the best product on android…
No, you have a terrible take by giving money to a garbage company
Nah. The weird take is promoting paying a right wing chud run, crypro bro ad company $60 USD for a chromium skin browser.
A real non cult, non paid shill, android recommendation would be Vanadium or Titanium.
I hope you’re getting paid (either in the brave bat crypto tokens, or normally) to post this stuff. Cause doing it for free just for cult reasons would be even weirder.
Chill out. Apologies for recommending something you don’t like god forbid.
Blah blah vanadium cultist shill. Ridiculous, take that shit elsewhere.
Its fine to disagree with my choice but that kind of talk is unhelpful, help educate others, share links and your reasoning.
I don’t like anti LGBT+, crypto bro run, ad companies. You got me there.
Every time I see people recommending anti LGBT+, crypto bro run, ad companies I will call it out.
You’re the one defending paying $60 USD to an anti LGBT+, crypto bro run, ad company every time someone says anything negative about it.
Instead of Proton Docs have you tried LibreOffice? Also a light user but they have been really consistent for when I need it.
Any thoughts on Tuta for email and calendar? I wanted to hop on proton but they are associated to the french right and it gave me the ick.
I would recommend not using any software from FUTO. It is not open source, one of its founders is a fascist, and they have thrown money at OSS projects just to have their logos displayed on their pages, without following proper donation procedures. GrapheneOS has also stated on several occasions that FUTO has actively attempted to smear their reputation and harm their infrastructure. I can provide sources for all these points if anyone needs them.
GrapheneOS has also stated on several occasions that FUTO has actively attempted to smear their reputation
Graphene is one to talk. The product is good, but they are notorious for talking shit about anyone who isn’t Graphene. I’d take their claims with a grain of salt.
I could argue that they are hostile towards any project that doesn’t take security seriously enough. Accrescent is a good example of a project that they endorse.
Honestly? I don’t care to some degree. The product is great, source available.
I can’t keep up with every single companies background or project owner, who their founders are friends with, what party they donated to in the past. I evaluate it on the product unless it’s really bad that compromises my privacy.
Based on that logic, you’d be happy to use Omarchy?
