Alternatives to Google Products – the Complete List

352 Comments

1. disgruntled web user June 15, 2019

   please don’t recommend medium

   Reply
2. stuzbot June 14, 2019

   Another Google Drive alternative is Jottacloud:

   https://www.jottacloud.com/en

   Private, secure, based in Norway and powered by green energy. Works better as a Drive alternative on desktop than mobile, where the Android version is pretty limited. More through lack of being offered as a storage / backup location by any other Android apps than anything else

   I also note you don’t have a section for messaging apps, as alternatives to Hangouts [or whatever Google’s is called this week!]. For that, I’d suggest trying Wire:

   https://wire.com/en/

   Multi-platfrom, Swiss-based, end to end encrypted. Does messaging, file transfers, VOIP calls, etc

   Also, Keybase:

   https://keybase.io

   Encrypted chat and file-sharing and has recently rolled out the ability to send crypto [XLM = Stellar Lumens] to your contacts, directly from within the app.

   On a slightly different tangent; if your biggest concern is with US companies like Google / Facebook / etc slurping your data, rather than with the data being slurped per se, you might want to take a look at Yandex’s offerings.

   https://yandex.com

   They’re known as the ‘Russian Google’ and have dozens of services that pretty much mirror everything Google has to offer –from DNS to maps to email to browser to cloud drive

   Of course, in this case, your data is likely being slurped by a huge Russian conglomerate, rather than a huge US one. But you may consider that “The Man” in Russia is going to be a lot less likely to be interested in your personal data and online activities than “The Man” in your own country is.

   Reply
3. karen June 5, 2019

   Honestly, im not blind to trusted a vpn even they have big reputation in ranking who best vpn service, vpn is best option if you just want doing some torrenting, some neighbour tell me , vpn will know who you are, who you talking to, the bandwith ur using,,

   [https://matt.traudt.xyz/posts/vpn-tor-not-mRikAa4h.html]

   Reply
4. JSD May 20, 2019

   I love all the good content and the recommendations. Not to diminish the effort but in checking out some of the recommendations that are new to me I found some concerning discrepancies. Like Zoho Docs for a Word/Microsoft Office alternative… Yes, it’s free and provides similar functionality to Office products, except it’s also the same company as Zoho CRM, a Salesforce competitor that specializes in offering services to track email and social media posts in order to direct market and cyberstalk prospective customers. It’s also using a consolidated log-in (at Zoho.eu) to administer all services on one platform- great for log-in simplicity but increasingly doubtful for privacy protections such as those indicated in this guide. This is definitely not a privacy-focused business model in any event, so I’m wary of using any Zoho products given its focus on “visitor tracking… social marketing… artificial intelligence… analytics” noted on the Zoho CRM home page!

   Reply
   • Sven Taylor May 20, 2019

     Hi JSD, good points, thanks for the feedback.

     Reply
   • Joy May 29, 2019

     I think this is a great guide, and very helpful compilation of alternatives for many apps
     I would also encourage any user to do more reading on exactly what makes apps good or bad for privacy, and checking thoroughly on whatever services they are considering.
     As a mobile and web developer, I would suggest a VPN as the first, and most effective, tool for privacy. NordVPN is highly regarded, and I would add ProtonVPN (and ProtonMail), which in my opinion is the best option for privacy, and very easy and usable. They offer a free unlimited plan, or paid plans with additional features like Tor servers, p2p, multiple devices, or more bandwidth or storage. Whatever you choose, you can learn a lot about what privacy features to look for by reading the features they offer, which are explained quite well on their website.
     Equally as important, is to NOT use Google for search OR email. With these relatively easy steps, you can stop Google from collecting a huge amount of very personal information. Think of how much Google knows about you from your email (including body and attachments, as the author points out), and your search and web history. If more people did just these 3 things, it would have an enormous impact on the data mining industry, and force them to rethink their unethical and flagrant exploitation.
     If you are concerned about location tracking, use another map and learn how to turn off Web and App activity in your Google settings (turning off location tracking history does NOT stop Google from collecting it, only from displaying it to you!). Turn off GPS and Wi-Fi auto search in phone settings.
     Unfortunately, Google has done a fantastic job of providing feature-rich, pretty apps to get us hooked, so no matter what you choose, you may have to give up a few minor features, but it is a worthwhile trade once you realize how much you have really given up to use Googles ‘free’ apps.
     I do not recommend rooting, changing operating systems, or F-Droid apps, even for my most tech-savvy friends. As much as I abhor everything Google does, it does not serve anyone to cut off their nose to spite their face by making themselves less secure just to keep their data out of googles greedy hands. You really need a very high level of understanding to implement this setup correctly and keep it secure. If you’re searching for “how to stop Google from collecting my data”, you should cross this option off the list. Having said that, I applaud anyone who is aware of and seeking to learn and do something about privacy and security. It is a very serious issue that too many people choose to ignore.

     Reply
5. SvenNejm May 9, 2019

   Hi, please include SecureSafe.com which is Swiss company and they have ultra secure 2-in-1 password manager and file manager. It is not expensive and affordable!

   Reply
6. Merlyn May 8, 2019

   About LibreOffice on android : no, LibreOffice does not fully exist on Android. There are several “viewers” (including an official LibreOffice viewer which is very buggy .

   Reply
7. Matu May 8, 2019

   Hey,
   Im really thankful for this guide.
   I recently bought an (older) iphone (you dont habe to comment on that :D).
   I didnt knew how hard it would be to find open source apps that respects my privacy in the appstore. Do do have any further recommendations for ios? For instance, Im badly looking for a privacy friendly calender app (caldav). Etar doest seem to be supported anymore as the installations fails everytime i try.

   Bst whishes,
   Matu

   Reply
8. Angela May 7, 2019

   For a replacement to the Google account (contacts and calendar sync) and Google Keep (they now support tasks) you should take a look at EteSync https://www.etesync.com

   They are open source, privacy oriented and end-to-end encrypt all of your data.

   Reply
9. TeCer April 28, 2019

   Thanks for the tips “DeepL”. didn’t know this service and work very well.

   Reply
10. TestoniusRol April 24, 2019

    The Shoebox service will be shutting down on May 22nd. We can’t thank you enough for being a user and for your support.

    What about? Any alternative ?

    Reply
    • millwood May 3, 2019

      there’s a site that provides alternatives:
      [https://alternativeto.net/]

      Reply
11. fractal April 22, 2019

    How about something like GraphiteDocs.com as a Google Alternative?

    Reply
12. Julia April 18, 2019

    Hello,

    As an employee of AT Internet, the only ‘Made in France’ digital analytics company, I very much appreciated the angle of your blog – that Google is not the only option available, and that there are other relevant and reliable solutions on the market, including digital analytics ones. It is important to know that these quality alternatives are out there! So far, AT Internet https://www.atinternet.com/ is not on your list – however, I feel it deserves to be as one of the world leaders in analytics, with a solution that is in full compliance with the GDPR.

    Please get in touch if you would like any more information, and I look forward to hearing from you.

    Kind regards
    Julia

    Reply
    • Hard Sell April 19, 2019

      Hi Julia,
      You’ve stated – AT Internet, the only ‘Made in France’ digital analytics company, a solution that is in full compliance with the GDPR.
      .
      Sven’s stated about his site – restoreprivacy.com does not use any invasive tracking software, such as Google Analytics. Instead, this site uses Matomo (formerly Piwik), which is a free and open source analytics tool that respects the privacy of his visitors. Matomo anonymizes and truncates all visitor IP address (non-identifiable), while also supporting “do not track” browser settings. This protects the privacy of his visitors, while also giving him information to improve the site – such as showing which articles/guides are most popular. (See how Matomo respects your privacy here.)
      https://matomo.org/privacy/
      The site is SSL encrypted and hosted on Pressidium – a security-focused hosting service that does not utilize Cloudflare CDN (explained on the Mission page)
      https://restoreprivacy.com/mission/
      –
      I’m always interested to pickup and learn something new to me which Web analytics surely is – I know nothing!
      So if you would, how does AT Internet stack up to Sven’s solution used at present?
      What about sites using AT Internet outside the GDPR control?
      Does AT Internet ensure the privacy of a sites users and it’s analytics data?
      [When using Matomo, YOU keep control of your data. Your data is stored in your own MySQL database, and logs or report data will never be sent to other servers by Matomo.]
      .
      In March 2011, the Independent Center for Privacy Protection in Germany (ULD) recommended Matomo (Piwik) as privacy-compliant web analytics software.
      In January 2014, the Center for Data Privacy Protection in France (CNIL) recommended Matomo (Piwik) as the only tool that can easily ensure full compliance with privacy regulations.
      In July 2014 the French CNIL recommends Matomo: the only analytics tool that does not require Cookie Consent.
      Matomo (Piwik) privacy compliance is also reflected by the many government agencies who already trust and rely on Matomo (in Europe, Asia, North America, Africa) for providing self-hosted web analytics.
      – If you’d be so kind to respond : ) Greetings

      Reply
      • Hard Sell April 19, 2019

        Interesting as it is – who really knows this?
        Google?
        If Google Analytics is used on a website, Google would not only know all of the IP addresses (and other browser unique identifiers) of visitors to the website (and which pages they looked at on the site), but because most other websites use GA as well (or another Google product).
        Google would also, for example, know the 6 other websites that person visited earlier that day and say the 367 websites he or she looked at in the last month.
        Because more than 60% of all websites on the Internet use GA , Google Adsense or another Google product using tracking beacons – “Only 36.5% of the web is Google-free” – Google is able to build a very accurate picture of most websites visited by any given user.
        .
        Facebook?
        Facebook Social widgets are used on already more than 19% of all websites & blogs (source w3techs). When you visit a website with a Facebook Like button (or any other FB functionality) your browser will send data (and your IP address) to Facebook.
        Recently it was made public that Facebook creates shadow profiles of logged out users. This means that even if you are logged out or not even a Facebook member, they still keep track of the websites and articles your IP address (and other browser unique identifiers) was looking at.
        –
        Why is this profiling for marketing purposes considered a “problem” for some Matomo users?
        Privacy is becoming increasingly important to us as we spend more of our lives ‘connected’ on the internet.
        While Google is providing a multitude of amazing services for free – can we really be very thankful for this?
        While we are at the same time concerned about where and how our private information is being used or us even being profiled.
        Websites like Google and increasingly (Facebook) are able to build an enormous profile of all websites and pages looked at by most nearly all Internet users worldwide, even if you are not Google or Facebook users.
        –
        One of their main goals is to improve the re-marketing of Google Ads and Facebook Ads to Internet users and find the right advertising segments for the right ad.
        But many Internet users and website operators are growing concerned about what could be termed a Global Internet User Activity Database and its moral implications.
        You don’t need to be a Privacy Junkie to be interested in the challenges and moral implications of gathering so much data on the Internet.
        (From the link – https://matomo.org/privacy/ )
        –
        What do data brokers really know about us?
        http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/data-brokers-really-know-us/
        An entire industry has grown around buying all this information about our digital lives, combining it with information collected from websites like Google and Facebook, to produce very detailed information on your daily web habits – now combine this with brick and mortar.
        This is happening at all levels now, from your ISP, OS, installed applications, metro apps, mobile apps, drivers to the websites you may visit and IoT, our Data is collected for harvesting our personal information, interests, habits, etc…
        .
        We should now be at a point of some critical debates about the future of the Internet: the proper cyber role of digital law enforcement, the character of ubiquitous web surveillance, the collection and retention of our entire life’s web data history.
        In how AI algorithms should judge us or price goods higher because some have more monetary means, governments censoring control over the Internet versus global sovereignty on the Internet, the set limitations on power of corporations over our digital data, the ramifications of information capitalism consumerism, and so on.
        -Not that far away is 2020 – to not have these discussions today is our children loss of their privacy, and once enough generations of families have been data profiled it will be like a DNA thread-like chain of genetics used for every future generation of a family members to match up closer to the last generations member captured profile. Do we want this?

        Reply
13. Anita April 17, 2019

    First of all, thank you very much, Sven, for this useful list.
    The difficulty of ditching Google for me is that I really like how I can conveniently find all the Google products in the same place. Especially as a teacher: you can e-mail your students, share a calendar, store all kinds of material, edit a document together and even do quizzes on the same webpage.
    My question is: is there a more secure, private platform where I can do all of it, or at least most of it?
    Thanks in advance

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor April 17, 2019

      Well for email, calendar, contacts, storage, etc., Mailfence is pretty good.

      Reply
14. C April 17, 2019

    Google + .. i think i got a notice my Google plus account was to end,
    as the whole product was being abandoned. I either was tricked or coaxed into Google plus or did it on a whim, never used, no clue what my account or password is.

    Reply
15. Dwayne April 16, 2019

    Cryptee, an excellent alternative to Google Docs and Photos has been submitted at least twice but there seems to be a refusal to add it…hope this isn’t a play to pay list

    Reply
16. Shum April 10, 2019

    Thanks, what a great guide! One of the reasons people stay with some of google stuff even if they tend to be Open Sourcey types is the interactions with other apps and people.. For example, as someone who needs people to use scheduling services to book appointments, I can’t find one that syncs to anything besides Google Calendar, Ical, etc and getting around people having to set up/sign up/adopt another platform or service. Will check out some of these though.

    Reply
17. Ella April 9, 2019

    Missing Internxt’s X Cloud, a new, highly secure cloud storage service. Would be nice to add it

    Reply
18. Omega4 April 7, 2019

    Hi Sven, I am having problems with Google voice and I do not understand how to setup the alternative you listed. That’s talking about JMP – JID. I would like to know any other alternative with a friendly UI that would serve the same purpose. Thanks.

    Reply
19. Andrew V. April 4, 2019

    Hi, is there an alternative to Google Pay (i.e. sending money back and forth between persons)? I already use the service provided by my bank, but I am looking for a third party, open source app or service that allows to send/request money between people like google pay.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • A Card User April 8, 2019

      That’s a very good question. I just got a new Android phone with NFC. I thought I’d link my credit cards and then swipe the phone at the cashier to pay. But it turns out that your only option — unless you have a Samsung or Apple phone — is to link your card using Google Pay. Which means Google will start sweeping up all of your purchasing activity and use it to profile you. Of course this raises not just privacy concerns but antitrust concerns as well, however the regulators seem to be asleep at the switch. Over time mobile payments will dominate commerce, and it’s alarming that Google will have a lock on so much of that data. Where’s the competition?

      Reply
      • Just a guy April 22, 2019

        use cryptocurrency then =)
        bank transaction are also profiled and sent to specific governamental agencies (such as IRS), so unless you want to ditch credit cards alltogether, there is no much of a choice out there than using Google Pay…

        Reply
      • Rich May 3, 2019

        Having Google keep track of my spending is more than enough reason for me to never use NFC payments. In my opinion there’s no need for or any real improvement in convenience from using NFC payments on our phones, except possibly for paying fares on certain transit systems. It’s only one small extra step to pull a credit card out of your wallet and tap that than to pull your phone out of your pocket. NFC can do more than just payments so the tech itself can be very useful in some situations, but the banks have already made it extremely easy to buy things without using NFC.

        Reply
20. Invodio? You mean Invideo?? March 28, 2019

    Couldnt find invodio.us
    [https://Invodio.us], do you mean [https://invideo.io/] ?
    Their website apparently only works with the desktop version of Google chrome. If you look on the border of their webpage youll see it says that.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor March 28, 2019

      Thank you, it should be invidio.us
      This is now fixed in the guide.

      Reply
21. Stephen Mohos March 26, 2019

    Regarding my post about lineage os apps in apkpure, many did not work. Here are a list of lineage apps that worked when i tested them:

    Calculator (Works properly, no issues)

    Calendar (Works properly but it wants me to create an account to store events and shows the Aptoide logo, Aptoide IMHO is worse than Google Play Store when it comes to privacy due to its invasive permissions and containing far more trackers so I did not trust it)

    Clock (Works properly, no issues)

    Gallery (Great for photos viewing pictures, crashes when playing videos for some reason)

    cLock AKA Lock Clock (Works, can display calendar events as well, weather display not available)

    Recorder (Works properly)

    I only tried out the kinds of apps that do not require being system files to use. Of course, all of these apps would probably work in Lineage OS, but I do not see much merit in swapping system files and potentially soft bricking the android installation I have on it so far just to see if everything works. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The issues i came across with the rest of the non system apps were failed installations, crashing immediately when started and the absence of icons for the apps in the app tray. Perhaps there is a workaround for these issues?

    But what about fixing an issue with incompatibilities using Lineage OS system files?

    I also tried installing the Lineage version of Android System Webview as a system file to try to eliminate dependence on Chrome. It worked, I was able to get rid of Chrome and Google Partner Services and the apps that needed those two applications still work.

    Copying the Work Profile Setup APK to a new folder in /system/app and deleting the original Work Profile Setup APK seems to have fixed issues with apps crashing in work profiles in the custom ROM I am using.

    I dare not try to go any deeper into swapping out system files since everything else works. Results can vary depending on the android ROM you are using. Feel free to experiment at your own risk.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor March 27, 2019

      Thanks for the info, Stephen.

      Reply
    • Hard Sell March 29, 2019

      Hi Stephen Mohos,
      Looks like a lot of useful Android information you’ve added here.
      In the future could you add links or site the authors / sources so us noobs can follow these correctly.
      What’s your best working FIREWALL you’ve found helpful in all of this?
      Like any experimentation Root and TWRP for the specific device is important for a roll back in time to FIX things gone afoul…
      : ) Greetings ( :

      Reply
22. Stephen Mohos March 25, 2019

    A thought just occured to me: Since many alternative apps to playstore contain additional ways to track you compared to going to a web site using a browser, why not install a separate browser for the sole purpose of accessing the web based alternatives with cookies disabled and anti tracking extensions?

    Speaking of browsers, I have noticed that when I remove Chrome some apps I needed to use at the time stopped working until I reinstalled Chrome as a system app. After that I noticed that disabling it in the custom firmware I am using also caused the same apps to stop working until I reenabled it again. So, now I have Chrome blocked by a firewall, the apps work this way but Chrome is essentially being used by those apps as a lazy way to display web content. Is there an alternative to keeping Chrome installed for the one or two apps I have to use that actually require it?

    Reply
    • Stephen Mohos March 26, 2019

      I found one solution to not needing chrome, just install the lineage version of android system webview as a system app. How much better than using chrome is this option?

      Reply
23. Stephen Mohos March 25, 2019

    When trying alternatives, to make sure they are private I suggest these 2 apps:

    Classyshark3xodus
    This app scans other apps for code found in known trackers and lists any trackers it finds. You can find it on F-droid.

    APK Permission Remover
    This app lists all permissions that the apk or app you select would have after being installed. You can read the permissions to check for any spyware related functions that are not needed for the app’s operation including permissions you can not change by turning them off in settings and can choose to install/reinstall the app with those permissions removed. If you know what you are doing then it can reduce the data collected by spyware apps you have no choice but to use.

    Regarding google play services, I have noticed that most apps that spam your notifications when it is disabled do not do so when it is uninstalled and I have only found that apps were affected when they required access to google servers to download additional content, games were the most affected by this.

    For games on android, I would suggest an alternative to your phone. There are some android game systems out there that have physical controls that can be mapped to positions on the screen. That way, you get to play android games that use virtual gamepads on teh touch screen less awkwardly and can make sure that the only thing Google sees is your video game choices. Oh, and if you go that route, a firewall and ad blocker are still useful because they would not just reduce tracking but render the annoying ads in the majority of games nonexistent.

    Oh, an alternative to the work profile apps on google playstore is shelter which is found in the f-droid repository. I suggest this because the developer claims that this app is guaranteed not to track you. When using work profiles it is a good idea to back up your data, install TWRP and save a copy of your ROM to the sd micro card for reinstallation before testing because if an android ROM is not set up to use work profiles then issues that may arise are apps in the work profile crashing and a very slight chance of your android ROM being bricked meaning you would have to reinstall it. However, you can install the spyware apps in the work profile with location turned off in the profile and only the stuff needed for the apps to function cloned or installed to it while they have no access to the files and other non system apps on your device. You can also choose for apps to be frozen when in the background which can help to reduce spying.

    Autostarts is an app which can disable apps automatically running at boot and certain events.

    Hacker’s Keyboard is one of many replacements for Gboard, seems a bit basic but if you download a spelling dictionary for it (there are several available, the app is in f-droid but the dictionaries are not) then it does correct most common errors and the only things missing are finding images to post and emoticons. The keys can be set to be a decent size for those who have larger fingers. however, i am sure that there are better options out there.

    If you are using an alternative to playstore then I would suggest installing apktrack from f-droid repository. it checks for and downloads updates for you from either single sources or multiple sources (the default choice checks multiple sources) and then you can choose whether or not to install them. The screen does not refresh what is on it properly so you use it by opening it so setting it to check for updates every 24 hours is not a bad idea. Only thing missing is a feature to install the apps if you are on a rooted device, I wish they would include that.

    I have found Fennec from F-Droid to be a decent alternative to original Firefox. It comes with telemetry disabled except for Health Report which you can choose to disable yourself. Of course, all of the stuff in the browser privacy guide needs to be done, but the current version of firefox contains tracker code for analytic companies adjust and leanplum while fennec does not contain those trackers.

    Oh, and if you read this far here is a bonus suggestion not related to privacy:
    Taskbar from the F-droid repository.
    This app is essentially a start menu and collapsible task bar for your android device. It is always there over other apps once you set it up. You tap it to access a button that lists all apps and hold your finger on any app in that list to get the option to pin it to the task bar. If you grant the app usage access then it will also display the last few apps you have used in the task bar. So why use it? When you have apps you use together or last used apps on the task bar you can leave the task bar open on the screen and switch between apps with a single tap which can make switching between the apps faster than using the recent apps button or going to the home screen to start an app you need while in the middle of a call.

    if you are switching between apps and taking notes, Clip Stack from the F-Droid repository is useful. It basically is a program that keeps a history of clipboard entries and displays a button on the screen either all the time or only while typing (depending on chosen settings) that you can tap to access the clip board history and select which blocks of copied text to paste in the application you are using.

    I am getting off topic so I will just end this post now.

    Reply
24. Stephen Mohos March 25, 2019

    For a replacement for the camera app, opencamera is pretty good, it has a decent amount of of features.

    Flite TTS Engine is an alternative to Google Text-To-Speech Engine.

    Reply
    • ANDREW GROSSET May 25, 2019

      I just use 2 layers of duck tape over my camera…..

      Reply
25. Concern Visitor March 20, 2019

    Sven using Matomo instead of Google Analytics is great, but why are you using Google Search Console? Can you explain the reason behind this decision? I’m not judging you, I’m just confused.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor March 20, 2019

      Yes the reasoning is quite straightforward: the overwhelming majority of this site’s traffic comes from Google search. If there is some kind of error or problem with the way Google indexes the site, it could be devastating from a traffic perspective, therefore it is a necessity. I have not seen anything about Google Search Console presenting any privacy issues for visitors as it is strictly for search indexing purposes, unlike Google Analytics, which I will never use.

      Reply
26. Agnel Vishal March 16, 2019

    Sarchy [http://sarchy.condense.press/] is also a good search engine. It is free and open source. More details about Sarchy at [http://www.precisement.org/blog/Sarchy-A-New-Hope-in-Search.html]

    Reply
    • Hard Sell March 29, 2019

      Hi Agnel Vishal,
      The links should be with the HTTPS – – for a secure connection to the sites.
      https://sarchy.condense.press/
      https://www.precisement.org/blog/Sarchy-A-New-Hope-in-Search.html
      I’ve also added mention of ‘SARCHY’ to the ‘Best Private Search Engines’ comments for readers with content from Sarchy A New Hope in Search link.
      –
      Google gives everything for away free today free email, search, maps, cloud storage, etc.
      In the future, when Google will have killed off all the competitors, they’ll have a means to where they can charge anything…
      That’s in monetary value compared to the personal data they’ve already mined of yours, and they’ll know how much you can pay too.
      –
      For now the logic and algorithms used in Google Search shapes the world. Google proudly says they invest in open source software, but, have they open sourced any tiny part of Google search?
      Why give away the farm… Their income of you the users.
      – Such a critical application is managed by few engineers at Google’s headquarters. This is very BAD for everybody in the world.
      No doubt they are super smart, but are they smarter than the rest of the world put together?
      If Google was fully open source, (as the internet is open to all), it would encourage true diversity of all the worlds ideas and people.
      Cheers for your attempt to correct one of the wrongs that affects the world.

      Reply
27. Hard Sell February 21, 2019

    Consumers Have Grown Increasingly Wary Of Major Tech Companies And Their Commitment To Consumer Privacy.
    The latest, Nest the company that makes smart appliances like connected thermostats, and others like home security products is being folded back into Google. Nest has been a separate company under the Alphabet umbrella since 2015, this is the first time that one of Alphabet’s so-called Other Bets companies has been folded back into Google.
    –
    Google admits error over hidden microphone – product specifications for the Nest Guard, available since 2017, had made no mention of the listening device. “If I owned one of these things and found out that the world’s biggest advertising company hid a microphone in my home for a year, I’d be livid.” Would you be too?
    –
    In the past, this brings to mind one of Google’s many previous privacy controversies, such as the 2010 incident in which the company acknowledged that its fleet of Street View cars “accidentally” collected personal data transmitted over consumers unsecured WiFi networks, including emails.
    THIS IS the kind of thing that makes me worried of any smart home devices, let alone any from the major tech companies…
    https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47303077
    https://www.businessinsider.com/nest-microphone-was-never-supposed-to-be-a-secret-2019-2?r=US&IR=T

    Reply
28. markw707 February 13, 2019

    Try http://www.currnews.com/ as an alternative to Google News. It’s an unbiased news aggregator in a similar format.

    Reply
    • Erik February 27, 2019

      What a PoS! No news listed for today, only 2-3 stories listed per day.
      “Unbiased” crap is still crap.

      Reply
29. max February 6, 2019

    another gmail alternative: protonmail.com , Secure Swiss webmail
    ProtonMail is an end-to-end encrypted email service founded in 2014 at the CERN research facility

    Reply
30. John February 6, 2019

    Waze:
    Google acquired Waze Mobile in 2013.

    Waze invented and initiated the connected citizens program (CCP), a free data sharing program used by over 200 governments, departments of transportation and municipalities for traffic analysis, road planning, and emergency workforce dispatching. Waze both contributes to government data and also collects government data to use.

    Concerns have been expressed that the app located on smartphones can be used to monitor movements by identifiable individuals.

    Not good alternative to Google maps =)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waze

    Reply
31. John February 6, 2019

    Google Maps alternative:

    Here WeGo – share data with Facebook (Norton Antivirus mobile told it)
    Maps.Me – part of Russian company Mail.ru Group and share data with them, srry but you better use Google then russian maps.me

    Reply
    • Stephen Mohos March 25, 2019

      While Here WeGo does collect location data, their privacy policy states that they assign an identifying number to you instead of using your personal information. Here WeGo can also download the maps, be set to offline mode and be blocked from the internet by a firewall, you only lose the features involved with traffic as a result. You can also clear thye data and cache to delete the maps and location data before allowing it internet access long enough to download updated versions of the maps. Here WeGo also has better data regarding addresses and POIs than OpenStreetMap.

      Having said that, I have a question. OSMAnd seems to be an ok supplement to map programs since it has access to various additional maps like hiking trails, nautical routes, etc. but does it have any known issues regarding privacy?

      Reply
      • Stephen Mohos March 26, 2019

        APK Mirror has downloads for the apps in Lineage OS. The Lineage OS apps can be substitutes for Google apps and APKMirror can be one web based alternative to google playstore. APKMirror is run by the same people behind androidpolice.com
        https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/lineageos/

        Reply
      • Stephen Mohos April 13, 2019

        I take back what I said about Here WeGo.

        After setting Here WeGo to work offline and blocking it with AFWall+ I installed Net Monitor from F-Droid and found through this app that Here WeGo was establishing connections to various ipv4 and ipv6 addresses. Turns out all of those connections were to facebook servers.

        Either AFWall+ was allowing Facebook through the firewall (unlikely) or Here WeGo was using any trick its developers knew about to bypass the firewall.

        So, I installed AdAway and used its logging feature to find and block any DNS queries from Here WeGo. It seems to work but since Here WeGo is programmed with knowledge of multiple Facebook telemetry servers I had to check logging in AdAway and keep choosing to block the DNS queries that came up (had to restart the phone each time to make sure blocking took full effect) until they stopped coming up. A week later there were more dns.queries from Here WeGo detected by AdAway and internet connections detected by Net Monitor from Here WeGo.

        I ask that the maintainers of this web site delete any previous replies I made suggesting use of Here WeGo and its viability as a Google alternative be reevaluated.

        Reply
        • Stephen Mohos April 13, 2019

          Oh, right…I forgot to mention, AdAway does not seem to log or block IPV6 queries and some other security software and firewalls do not support IPV6 security so setting the internet connections to IPV4 only in Access Point Names can be beneficial in blocking spyware apps.
32. Prasad Pilla February 2, 2019

    You like Google+ communities? Gonna miss it? Here’s an alternative, tribyo.com – Tribyo.

    Tribyo is an interest based social network. Come join to connect with like minded people.

    Reply
33. dkeynn14 January 29, 2019

    Hi Sven,

    I like the options given. I’m very interested in moving away from Google, or at least splitting up some of tools I use between several different companies so I don’t have a unified online presence at least.

    Having options is great, but I’d be interested in knowing, at current, which ones do you use and find particularly helpful?

    Reply
34. RuiP January 25, 2019

    How about Vivaldi Mail (free/2gb storage)? Would you recommend it?

    Great article.

    Reply
    • Hard Sell January 29, 2019

      Hi RuiP,
      This email service is a part of the services for the community of Vivaldi Browser (Vivaldi Technologies). Joining the community gives you also an email address.
      I personally don’t want the weight of it’s browser (private or not) to have any capabilities in linking my Vivaldi account to sync the Vivaldi browser data, access of emails, forums and blog publishing tools together. Nor the search, contacts, calendar, folders management of the email account tied to it’s browser.
      Would be interesting to see the TOS and Privacy Polices for just an email offering – if I was interested…
      You can send and receive encrypted emails but nothing I’ve seen of my quick look about your emails, attachments, their metadata all being encrypted at rest of everything in your mail/Vivalda account.
      All those things prevent my interests : )
      https://help.vivaldi.com/article/vivaldi-net-and-its-webmail/

      Reply
35. Luiz January 24, 2019

    How to install LineageOS with a focus on privacy protection? Could you tell me an easy-to-understand tutorial for a regular user?

    Reply
    • Hard Sell January 29, 2019

      Hi Luiz,
      You need to look for the answers on a dedicated source, dedicated form. In your device specific topics given there – a good one is-
      https://forum.xda-developers.com
      You’d probably need to Root your device and go as barebones in apps as possible but, still functioning as for your needs. More than likely finding your specific device’s section will have everything in one place on XDA’s site for you – per device may be vast or sparse.
      –
      As far as I know the LinageOS in an optional custom OS that allows you in dropping all-most everything Google and it’s interacting with your phone or certain apps on it. Use F-Droid for any apps you’d need – https://f-droid.org/en/
      So with LOS I’d not flashed any g-apps what so ever, then the play store and it’s services running in the background is not a privacy concern to you I consider real.
      Root and g-apps zips are all optional add-ins to the LOS custom firmware when first flashing it to your device.
      Root I’d deem necessary to fulfilling root access on your device to aid with your privacy strict policy by a deep root level search and files inspecting and in removal of other apps that are google dependent in one way or another – then of google parts that remain. Or a dedicated app that freezes other apps if you can’t remove some.
      –
      You could also look for a custom rom that’s actively maintained for
      your specific device that’s based off the LineageOS firmware, to have more options and community behind it, or a better looking OS UI and features than the LineageOS itself offers. Remembering any such LOS based custom Roms has the same options to add root or g-apps for it – if not already baked in.
      As well a custom recovery like TWRP – that with your backups of points in time can save your a_s as you experiment with the device.
      Hope it helps : )

      Reply
      • Remi February 17, 2019

        If you install LineageOS without Gapps, lots of your apps won’t work because they rely on Google services.
        So you must go further and install microG services, likely a faked Google services. But microG itself requires signature spoofing, which is’nt packed with LineageOS.
        Hard is the way to privacy…

        Reply
        • Hard Sell February 21, 2019

          Hi Remi,
          That’s one of the reasons why I’ve suggested to Luiz in getting with the XDA developers forum of his device section in it’s specific threads – if LOS is covered.
          More than likely his or anyone’s Privacy Strict Policy will require of the barebones in apps as possible on the device. YOU DO UNDERSTAND THIS !
          I’m on a custom LOS rom for one of my devices and have no g-app / microG crud installed – suites me fine.
          STRICT PRIVACY means not having a boot load of useless privacy invasive apps installed as well…
          – – Then I explained the concept of why ROOT was needed for a files inspection and in removal of other apps that are google dependent, or in using an app that can freeze other apps if you can’t remove some.
          –
          You CAN use a custom rom without G-apps/microG but, you will probably miss something – as you’ve said some apps won’t work. https://lineageos.org/
          It’s All About A Users Privacy Wanted : )
          In particular, you won’t have the following for apps:
          – Network localization services, which means that you can only use the GPS for the positioning.
          – Google Cloud Messaging, so you won’t receive any push notification for any app that relies on it.
          – The Maps API, which means that any app that uses Google Maps through the Maps API will probably crash.
          –
          This is Not About Privacy – but the functioning of certain apps. // Those apps shouldn’t be installed or be removed… For your Privacy’s sake : : :
          MicroG and signature spoofing support:
          An open source implementation of Google Play Services called microG. MicroG – a free-as-in-freedom re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries.
          Play Services are very expensive in terms of resources, they drain lots of battery and they use lots of space, while microG requires much less resources.
          – MicroG requires a patch called “signature spoofing”, which allows the microG’s apps to spoof themselves as Google Apps.
          – – The signature spoofing could be an unsafe feature if the user blindly gives any permission to any app, as this permission can’t be obtained automatically by the apps.
          https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_GmsCore/wiki/Implementation-Status
          https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/index-list-custom-roms-offering-t3557047/post71042083#post71042083
          https://shadow53.com/android/no-gapps/setup-guide/microg
          * With Android you can’t go halfas_ed on your PRIVACY Model…
36. Petr January 19, 2019

    Hello guys, I am working on Google Contacts alternative called Contact Cache. In fact, it will be more than just a simple contact manager. The main difference is that Contact Cache uses client-side encryption, so that we all can sleep better and not worry about other people seeing our private data 🙂 It is just in the beginning, so not everything is polished, but feel free to check it out at https://contactcache.com.

    Reply
    • aswq January 23, 2019

      If i change phones, would I be able to access and download my contacts online, or download your programme without google play?

      Reply
      • Petr January 26, 2019

        Hi there! The app works in the web browser in the moment and all data are synced with the server, so changing phones is not a problem, plus you can access your contacts on the desktop too.

        I want to improve the interoperability on the phone with existing contact apps you might be using, but for now you can always export & import via vCard.

        In the future it will be possible to install Contact Cache on the phone as well, so that you can access it via home screen/app list as with other apps.

        Reply
37. alex January 17, 2019

    Some alternatives are better because they’re not Google. Nothing more.

    “…based in Germany” –> how does this fact make it more private or better in any way?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor January 17, 2019

      Germany is a favorable privacy jurisdiction as compared to the United States, UK, etc. See the 5/9/14 Eyes surveillance article for more details.

      Reply
38. jodq January 10, 2019

    1. Is there an alternative to Google Drive to backup Whatsapp messages?
    2. What alternative to a Google account would you suggest for backing up and syncing phone contacts if I change my Android phone? I would need access to Google Play before downloading new apps.

    Reply
39. Carsten January 6, 2019

    I am going to leave google either…
    and this is a very nice article…
    but i’m missing a very imporant thing,
    is there a good alternative for bidirectional-synching the contacts available?
    a lot better thing would be connecting to my own postgresql database…

    Reply
    • Vic January 15, 2019

      Hi, Carsten

      Fruux worked for me. It synced my contacts, calendar and task lists with Android and Evolution.

      Reply
    • Mr. Opuki March 20, 2019

      There are serveral good options:
      – Synology Calendar & Adressbook (in case you own a Synology NAS)
      – NextCloud has AddOns for both
      – Baikal Server has Card- & CalDAV services

      Reply
40. AlexduCens January 4, 2019

    Hi Sven, great article!
    An good Android alternative is /e/ which solely focused on privacy. It is supported by the e.foundation (htttps://e.foundation) and founded by Gaël Duval who brought to market Mandriva Linux. No Google Apps, default apps based on open source bricks that covers most of my needs (email, surfing the web, calendar, etc…). App repository to be added very soon with trackers analysis. It is still in beta but V1 is expected very soon. Looks promising and has already a good community of users.

    Reply
41. James January 2, 2019

    Great list, thanks a lot!

    Just to add a few:
    End-to-end encrypted contact / calendar for Android: EteSync
    Local calendar on the phone (or really all the others on that page too): https://www.schuermann.eu/android/
    Google doesn’t really offer a password manager, but I guess some people use google keep for that or maybe OAuth, so worth a mention: https://bitwarden.com/

    Reply
42. rebel December 30, 2018

    You have a alternativ for Youtube in you’re List forgotten.
    Peertube is this name and it works with Tha ActivityProtokol and can work with Mastodon and Pixelfed (a Picture Hostage Service) together.

    Reply
43. John L. December 21, 2018

    Hi, my name is John Lewis and I was an active user on Google+.

    Yes, there is a very large number of Google+ (Google Plus) users. I created a community called Google+ Mass Migration with the hopes of helping people find alternatives. In a recent survey, there were two front-runners, MeWe and Diaspora.

    This is the link to the community: https://plus.google.com/communities/112164273001338979772

    All are welcome to come, the community is highly moderated, and there is a ton of user-generated content (including wikis, comparison charts, forwarding directories) that can be used to help people transition off of Google+.

    Thanks.

    Reply
44. Hard Sell December 13, 2018

    Hi Sven,
    What about PureOS as a Google Chrome book OS, even a Windows OS replacement? Android to as it on the Librem 5 phone.
    I discovered this distro while reading information about Purism’s Librem 5 phone – that’s available Pre-Order now and delivery in April 2019.
    PureOS comes with the best free/libre privacy and security software and apps for privacy out of the box. Privacy, security, and freedom by design.
    PureOS is a GNU/Linux live CDs based on Debian’s Testing repository. It is a desktop distribution that can be used as live media (CD or USB) or as full-featured operating systems installed on a hard disk. PureOS uses free and open source software exclusively and is endorsed by the Free Software Foundation.
    https://pureos.net/download/

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor December 13, 2018

      Yes, PureOS is a great option.

      Reply
45. Nin December 13, 2018

    hello. If I leave gmail, people who have my gmail will no longer be able to get ahold of me unless I send them my new email? correct? And I have to send out my new address from my new email? how do I transfer my contacts do I have to do it one by one?
    can you recomend a good vpn service?
    thanks so much love this very grateful
    Nin

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor December 13, 2018

      Hello, you could setup an auto reply in Gmail or perhaps forwarding to your new address, but that gives Gmail your new address as well.  The steps for importing contacts depends on what email service you go with. Mailfence makes migration from Gmail very quick and easy – see this guide.
      Regarding VPNs, ExpressVPN is currently my top recommendation. It is fast, secure, and very user-friendly. You can get 3 months free with this coupon (applied on checkout page under the 12-month plan).

      Reply
46. Jason December 7, 2018

    aCalendar is actually just an app, not a calendar service. It syncs with Google Calendar. I don’t know if there is a standalone option, but even if there is, you won’t be able to access your calendar via desktop.

    More Google Keep alternatives: Evernote, Simplenote.

    Reply
    • RobV December 14, 2018

      You can create an offline calendar for aCalendar (and the standard Android Calendar as well) which doesn´t sync with Google – see : [https://schuermann.eu/android]

      Reply
47. Hard Sell December 2, 2018

    Hello Sven my privacy friend and advice giving advocate.
    Regarding Gmail , wanted to move away a year ago – now I’m in the actual process of a move out and to close it but, I’ve noticed something happening.
    Seems while I’m just starting my move away – Gmail still knows where I’ve moved to as any accounts that’s had this Gmail address registered to it sends me a message in (Gmail) like as either of these two below…
    –
    Dear xxxxx,
    Thank you for submitting your change of email address request.
    Change of email address request was made from:
    IP Address: xx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    ISP Host: xx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    Click on the link to confirm this change.
    ~
    OR
    ~
    Hi XXXX,
    There’s been an update to your account.
    The email associated with your xxxxxx account has been changed.
    Previous email: xxxx@xxxxxx.com
    New email: xxxx@xxxx123.com
    If you did not make these changes, please contact our Help Center immediately.
    –
    1) Sven any advice as to keeping Gmail from knowing all these accounts new email home?
    I suppose all spying free email providers (not just Gmail) would get the same mail sent there as well – in a notice of the email address being changed. Alarming is my real name is used (not masked to Gmail) as these moved accounts have a payment method registered in them as well.
    – ONLY THING, I can think of is to do some kind of wash-n-rinse.
    I have a Posteo email account I’m letting go beginning the New Year.
    So as in a WASH, move all the accounts with this Gmail addresses now over to my Posteo’s mail account.
    Next of a Rinse, is to move all these accounts addresses to my Tutanota email account from the Posteo’s mail account, and that I will soon close.
    (After and if needed, click on the link sent by any account’s change in my Posteo mail – that I’ve made this change, as a form of verification of that change). Check with a login there of that account.
    Then after all is ok, delete all mail in this Posteo account and close it out.
    2) Would this be the best way around Gmail knowing where my accounts mail has moved too, any advice or insights I’ve not considered to this is very welcome?
    3) Wondering if Chat or a Phone Call could work possibly for changing an email associated to online accounts and not get an email response to Gmail?
    Thank you, kind Sir

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor December 3, 2018

      Hi Hard Sell, it looks like you’ve given this some thought. Your “wash-n-rinse” idea sounds good, to be honest.

      Reply
48. Paul December 2, 2018

    Great article Sven, just a comment, start mail does not provide free service, only a free 7 days trial period. Best regards,

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor December 2, 2018

      Thanks Paul, I just fixed that.

      Reply
49. Craig Stadler November 30, 2018

    Sven, also consider video search https://www.peteyvid.com/

    Reply
    • Carol Bertilson January 13, 2019

      Sadly, it uses google adsense! I was notified immediately upon searching that my adblocker had to unblock before I could see the results!

      Reply
      • Craig Stadler April 26, 2019

        This has been removed and resolved. No more google ads or anti adblock code.

        Reply
50. yoshi November 29, 2018

    Google Places API new prices are insane.
    Any affordable alternative with equivalent data quality?

    Reply
51. BoonE7 November 29, 2018

    Just discovered your site by way of this article. Thank you for shining a light in the darkness for all of us unwilling data cows. In my search for a more private browser, I recently chose Epic but I noticed that you didn’t seem to consider it a worthy alternative. I am curious to know why.

    Also, one of the issues I have encountered since taking steps to make my online experience more surveillance-free is problems buying things online. It seems quite a lot of sites don’t function well for people safeguarding their privacy. Is this just a necessary trade-off such that those who are serious about privacy have to forego some online shopping opportunities – or is there a work-around to deal with this?
    Thanks again for this great resource.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor November 29, 2018

      Hi, check out my secure browser guide and the section titled “Browser privacy and compartmentalization” for an answer to your question.

      Reply
      • BoonE7 December 15, 2018

        Hello Sven,
        I just finished reading your secure browser guide and Epic is not one of the browsers mentioned. There is some discussion in comments as someone else had the same question I did. However your answer to that person was not particularly informative. Another commenter also found it odd that, given the detailed answers you give about most other browsers, you don’t seem have an opinion about Epic. I would really like to know if I’ve made a huge mistake choosing Epic or if the risks are on par with other browsers you have covered in that guide. It is likely that I am not the only one of your readers with this question. Please reconsider providing a more detailed response about Epic.

        Reply
52. Raederle An November 14, 2018

    I have been impressed with Wire messaging, by Swiss GmbH, as a replacement for Google Hangouts.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor November 14, 2018

      Yep, Wire is awesome.

      Reply
53. roger crane November 8, 2018

    Great article and thanks! Today, google sent me an email with a photo which has not been online. Just taken recently here at the house. Suggested that I use it in a creative way with others (which they also had). The only thing I can assume is that they have gotten into my computer–not just monitored online stuff. This is bizarre. Or someone else is hacking google and using them to spy on me. ? If I hear you right, I must get all totally different aps to escape google? As in, I can’t even watch a u-tube video? Or, google maps without getting invaded? Please say it ain’t so! Thanks.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor November 8, 2018

      “If I hear you right, I must get all totally different aps to escape google? As in, I can’t even watch a u-tube video?”
      Not necessarily, although the less you use Google services the better. You can close your Google accounts, but still access google services anonymously, such as maps and youtube, through a secure browser with a good VPN service.

      Reply
    • Nobody December 8, 2018

      Why google send you email ?

      Reply
    • Carol Bertilson January 13, 2019

      Did you possibly take the photo on your phone, and they accessed it through what is running on your phone?

      Reply
    • Stapes January 16, 2019

      You probably are syncing your photos from your device to Google photos, Google Drive, or The new Google 1. That’s how they probably got it.

      Reply
54. Dev October 31, 2018

    Great list of tool, Sven! I would love to suggest another alternative to a Google product which we are working on- Bit.ai. Bit is a Google Docs alternative which allows users to create rich, dynamic, and awesome looking documents, with built-in tracking and collaboration capabilities! Do check us out 🙂

    Reply
55. GaryN October 20, 2018

    Great resource.
    For several comments, you indicated that you’d updated the list in the article.
    Could you put a “Last Updated” date on each section.
    Then, people like me could compare the date of the comment with the “Last Updated” date to see whether the comment was superceded by newer information.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor October 21, 2018

      Yes, I’m updating the guide periodically and will include update details at the bottom.

      Reply
56. Sonia Karungi October 15, 2018

    Weird how I am reading this article using chrome browser! 😂 😂

    Reply
57. Carol Sitzlar October 14, 2018

    How about an alternative to Google Groups. I am in a relatively small group that left Yahoo Groups for Google Groups (over my strenuous objections). We need something simple and low tech. Thanx!

    Reply
58. Rob October 13, 2018

    I read something about a Google Analytics Alternative that is Privacy Friendly.
    Ticksel. But don’t know of this a good (privacy-friendly) option?

    R.

    Reply
59. Mike October 13, 2018

    Dude, you missed a very important one, the opera browser has a built in web VPN and is way better than any other browser.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor October 15, 2018

      No, Opera is not a good option in terms of privacy. They explicitly state in their privacy policy that they are collecting data and sharing it with third parties. I explained this in the secure browser guide.

      Reply
60. marcantony October 13, 2018

    My Son-in-law always advised me never to be me on Google.So I’m not there.

    Reply
61. Angela October 12, 2018

    An alternative to YouTube was launched recently by Mike Adams “the health ranger” called Real.Video. Check it out and confirm. He’s very much into privacy and freedom of speech.

    Reply
    • Elise January 14, 2019

      Hi, I can’t find Real.Video and would love a good alternative to YouTube. Is this service still working? What’s the URL? Thank you so much.

      Reply
      • Hard Sell March 29, 2019

        I found this – so maybe it’s what you want?
        https://vimeo.com/261380850

        Reply
62. Perry October 11, 2018

    Excellent list! I have an email app that is focused on privacy. I would love it if you can add it to list of gmail alternatives- [https://www.thexyz.com]

    Reply
63. Stewart Daniels October 7, 2018

    This is why I root my devices out of the box.

    Once I found out that my device is never truly ‘Resting’ because Google uses it a 24/ 7 tracking/ data scraping tool, I was thouroghly creeped out enough to learn about my device(s) operating system that hold our most personal secrets.

    Getting a new phone and gutting Googles’ services (Or replacing the entire ROM) is the only way to enjoy the Android experience. Plus, the battery never dies mysteriously as an awesome side effect.

    They won’t miss the 3+ GB of data no longer magically floating away from my phone, as I can hide behind those who are unaware, ambivalent, or ‘Have Nothing to Hide’.

    This article is very well written and concise, and people will STILL refuse to wake up.

    Reply
64. Emily Greene October 5, 2018

    I also had a horrible time with Firefox and had numerous problems with it eating up my laptop memory and going through unnecessary rigmarole to actually use it effectively. It ended up causing more problems than it is worth. For the moment, I’ll stick with Windows (as I currently lack the funds to afford the more expensive Apple based system).

    Reply
65. Emily Greene October 5, 2018

    I have tried to get into Linux and I personally hate it. I would like more of a platform that works like Apple or Windows but without the downsides. I’m still waiting for a viable alternative to YouTube and MINDS is NOT a good social platform because I couldn’t care less about earning bit tokens to raise awareness of my posts – why should anyone need to do such bribery? Also, the platform itself, while still in its infancy, is nowhere near the multi-functional usage as Facebook, unfortunately. It basically is nothing more than a glorified soapbox where actual social interaction does not really occur other than getting likes. Its basically like a less interesting form of Instagram.

    Reply
    • Stapes January 16, 2019

      And nosey Facebook owns Instagram!

      Reply
66. Ploni Ben Ploni October 4, 2018

    Regarding a reasonably secure & privacy “friendly” Mobile OS alternative to stock Android, what would be the better alternative:

    ✓ Copperhead OS (I have a Nexus 6P)
    ✓ Lineage OS for MicroG
    ✓ Official Lineage OS

    What steps can be taken to make an Android device (such as the Nexus 6P) as security and privacy focused as reasonably possible (considering that mobile devices are inherently insecure and invasive)? Are the Nexus and Pixel devices the best for security and privacy if run with either Copperhead OS or Lineage for MicroG? The Librem phone is available yet. I am in need of an immediate solution. Someone posted this on a forum, what do the people here feel about this comment in relation to what I posted above?:

    “The most basic requirement is a phone / OS with full security updates. There are very few Android devices where full security updates are possible, since it requires vendor support. For example, this month’s July security update requires Broadcom WiFi firmware security fixes along with a bunch of other fixes to proprietary components. If you don’t even have security updates fixing published vulnerabilities, it can’t be said that have even a minimal level of security. A third party OS cannot fix a lack of security updates to firmware and the proprietary userspace components. Only a subset of the supported LineageOS devices even have complete updates to the open source code, and you need to consider proprietary components too. Their security patch level field isn’t meaningful since it’s just set to a filler value across all supported devices, misrepresenting them as being patched.

    In addition to that, nearly every third party OS rolls back standard Android security features. CopperheadOS is unique in that it starts from the position of proper production AOSP builds. It adds a lot of privacy / security features, but it’s doing that on top of the existing privacy / security features rather than rolling them back like everything else. Third party Android forks almost always degrade the security of the SELinux policies, disable verified boot and poke holes in other features. Google puts restrictions on what vendors can do in their forks and does some policing, but there’s nothing like that for aftermarket operating systems. Pulling in all of the half baked CAF code is a major security issue itself.”

    Given all of this, what’s the best approach, given the limitations of choices (“lesser of all evils”)?????

    I am very much in need of guidance. I am not a programmer or anything close to any kind of expert. As an ignorant consumer, what steps should I take regarding a mobile OS? I want a reasonable amount of security and privacy.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor October 5, 2018

      I think the best option for mobile privacy would be the Librem 5 phone when it eventually gets released.

      Reply
      • Pål Sund October 13, 2018

        Have a look at Sailfish OS. Previous Nokia staff in Finland

        Reply
    • Hard Sell March 29, 2019

      Hi Ploni Ben Ploni,
      Sounds very much like you understand what you read or want too.
      Maybe you could offer a link(s) so other can grow in the knowledge here and to help others with like questions to yours.
      –
      It’s important to reiterate that Android uses the Linux kernel under the hood. A kernel is the part of an operating system which handles input/output and computer instructions from the application layer, essentially allowing the application software to communicate with the hardware. To make changes to the way Android handles this communication is to make some notable changes to the way the Linux kernel operates.
      – To solve the hardware abstraction layer issue, Android 8.0 Oreo and later version like Android 9.0 Pie formalize the division between hardware subsystems like audio or camera, and their clients on the software side. These new formal divisions specify the interface between a HAL and its users. There are now around 60 formal interfaces for various hardware components, known as HIDLs.
      – The goal of a HIDL is to allow the framework to be replaced without having to rebuild HALs. HALs will be built by vendors or SoC makers and put in a /vendor partition on the device, enabling the framework, in its own partition, to be replaced with an over-the-air update (OTA) without recompiling the HALs. To update devices running earlier versions of Android to Android O, developers can wrap both conventional and legacy HALs in a new HIDL interface too.
      https://www.androidauthority.com/project-treble-818225/
      –
      You cited – “The most basic requirement is a phone / OS with full security updates. There are very few Android devices where full security updates are possible, since it requires vendor support.”
      That I’d agree is true unless there is a Dev. like this one working with a phone from 2015 where they state “Security patch version is irrelevant when you are building from the latest source” – like in their taking this phone that saw the Nougat update as it’s end of cycle OS from the vendor.
      – Their trying to put new life by way of Android 9.0 PIE, then who knows what others can learn by the hard work from this project for older hardware.
      https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=77925410&postcount=16
      “The problems with 15.1 and 16.0 are not exclusive what benefits one will benefit the other this is the same code base with a few extra issues in pie.”
      https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78093284&postcount=53
      Read the whole thread if the time…
      : ) Greetings ( :

      Reply
67. John September 30, 2018

    The hooktube doesn’t work that way any more, please update

    [http://youtube-alternatives.wikia.com/wiki/Hooktube.com]

    HookTube is now effectively just a light-weight version of youtube and useless to the 90% of you primarily concerned with denying Google data and seeing videos blocked by your governments.

    Reply
68. Jai Moon September 24, 2018

    Any alternatives to google sheets? I quickly glanced through the list and Ctrl+F but didn’t find anything.

    Reply
    • Jason October 31, 2018

      Try [https://www.zoho.com/sheet/]

      Reply
69. Haru September 24, 2018

    Are Apple services a good alternative to Google services?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor September 24, 2018

      Apple is be better than Google in terms of respecting user privacy, but there are better alternatives to Apple as well.

      Reply
      • Jonny October 12, 2018

        What hardware would you recommend running the alternative OS’s on? Or is that not necessarily relevant?

        Reply
70. John September 18, 2018

    Is Epic Privacy Browser Good?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor September 19, 2018

      I’d opt for Brave, Waterfox, Firefox, Pale Moon, or perhaps the Tor browser instead.

      Reply
      • las October 17, 2018

        I read recently that Firefox went to the dark side. With everything, trust is the basis and everyone’s trust is now so undermined it is hard to want to invest time on any new site. The only solution to this is true, New Testament Christianity. Without a moral code, you have corruption. And there is no excuse for it as we have been given and for the time being, have access to the most relevant moral code that will ever exist. The reason we see moral decay is that the New Testament is neglected, maybe the most by those who profess Christ but do not know or follow Him. May those who have ears to hear, hear. Please read and ponder the teachings of Jesus Christ for yourself in the New Testament. [https://onefaith.neocities.org/]
        Let no man deceive you.

        Reply
        • feloneouscat December 5, 2018

          Jesus never used a computer. Just sayin’
        • Nobody December 8, 2018

          https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfFriedrichNietzschevol.17-EcceHomo/page/n7
          You should read this and you may have true enlightenment. I really hope that will happen to you.
          Capitalism is the corruption.
          When making money is the only goal it can only lead to unlimited greed.
          As for moral and Christianity, Nietzsche may explain you better what it is than me.
71. Jason B September 17, 2018

    Can I please ask what the privacy issue is with gmx.com?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor September 17, 2018

      It doesn’t look too bad, and is based in Germany.

      Reply
    • Hard Sell March 29, 2019

      Sven’s posted a link in the ‘Best Secure Email Providers’
      dated FEBRUARY 23, 2019 but hasn’t updated this reply yet.
      – GMX seems to be a pretty bad choice when it comes to security.
      See this article form Tutanota:
      https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/gmx-tutanota-comparison/

      Reply
72. Marilyn September 13, 2018

    Awesome article – thank you!
    One question – how does Vivaldi browser rate for privacy? I have had very poor performance with both Firefox and Brave, but Vivaldi is working great.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor September 14, 2018

      Hi Marilyn – there are a few issues with Vivaldi: it is based on Chromium (Google) and it’s propriety (not open source).

      Reply
73. Mateus September 12, 2018

    is outlook a safe alternative to gmail?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor September 12, 2018

      No. Outlook = Microsoft = bad for privacy.

      Reply
74. sam September 9, 2018

    Shoebox uses AI to scan all users images on their servers for data analysis, so no images uploaded to shoebox is private. Its written in their ToS. So isn’t that like ‘google photos’, where google scans all user images with AI while at rest on the google servers?

    Reply
    • sds January 12, 2019

      What Google Photos alternative are you using?

      Reply
75. Antonios September 8, 2018

    I think the Aurora Store project is the direct alternative of the Play Store, which could be installed from Fdroid or the Telegram Channel.
    https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/galaxy-playstore-alternative-t3739733
    For the Translation solutions, I would say dict.cc works great as a dictionary, but the others aren’t that much of a “translator”, I think Microsoft Translator mixed with an off-the-radar Attitude(GMS-free on android and no cookies on PC) could turn out to be a great choice.
    one last thing, I know a lot of people question the security that Vivaldi provides, but undoubtly it’s one of the best “new generation” browsers from functionality side of things and I think it’s worth to be put beside Brave Browser.

    Reply
76. Fabio September 8, 2018

    Do you know feedburner alternative?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor September 8, 2018

      Perhaps Feedblitz.

      Reply
    • Greg November 18, 2018

      Liferea

      Reply
77. HoiAn September 7, 2018

    Hi Sven
    Thanks for useful article
    Please give me a Google Blogger alternative that no listed on the article
    Thank you again

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor September 7, 2018

      WordPress

      Reply
78. supremesyntax September 4, 2018

    There is another Android alternative: https://sailfishos.org

    At the moment just a few devices are officially supported but there are community ports to other devices https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Adaptations/libhybris

    Reply
79. Tree August 27, 2018

    A good Browser to use is Pale Moon at https://www.palemoon.org/. It is based on Firefox and you can add extensions to increase the safety from tracking, like BetterPrivacy, BlueHell Firewall, Cookie Controller, Disconnect, NoScript, Remove It Permanently, and uBlock Origin.

    Reply
    • T- Ozzy September 7, 2018

      I have been online for close to 18 years, my “finger tips”.. are sore..lol but I just never have been able to AFFORD A GOOD ISP. HUGHESNET is putting me in poor house, I’ve been trying to SCRAPE by on my disability.. NOT FUN. I book marked this in hopes.. one day I will be able “to” use these.

      Reply
80. Centrino August 22, 2018

    “The best Google Calendar alternative seems to be Etar, which is open source, simple, and respects your privacy.”
    This is obviously incorrect (did you ever install it to prove what you write ???).
    I just installed it for Android; and :
    – it requires a mandatory access to the (Google) Calendar (!!!) ;
    – it requires access to the Contacts (!) and to the pictures
    Needless to say, it uninstalled right away…

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor August 22, 2018

      Thanks for the feedback – I updated the section a bit to put more of an emphasis on calendars from secure email providers, which is what I like and use. But to answer your question, no, I don’t use Android and did not test Etar on Android.

      Reply
    • Jeff September 2, 2018

      What? Just change the permissions and use the internal calendar. Using Etar for weeks now. Without Google Calendar. Without access to Contacts.

      Reply
81. Verdana August 22, 2018

    Brilliant article. Thank you so much. I see you’ve been working on it and updating it for a long time.

    Have you considered pCloud as an alternative for Google Drive? Any reasons to distrust them? (I can’t find any)

    Also, maybe an idea for a small update under “Other Google alternatives”, a list with Android keyboad/Gboard alternatives (AnySoftKeyboard or Hackers Keyboard found on F-Droid for maybe).

    Cheers and keep up the good work!

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor August 22, 2018

      Hi Verdana, thanks for the feedback, I’ll check those out.

      Reply
      • hamster September 12, 2018

        pCloud looks good. what do you think. it’s based in switzerland.

        Reply
        • Hard Sell March 29, 2019

          I find this from 2015, so you decide.
          Switzerland plans to revise their data retention law BÜPF so that all communication data (post, email, phone, text messages, ip addresses) can be stored for 12 months. The opponents of this law even say that it would allow the monitoring of mobile phones and the installation of trojans on computers, tablets and mobile phones.”
          https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/stop-buepf/
          I don’t know the outcome but that wouldn’t stop another try in this age – if it wasn’t passed before.
82. wlanpu August 19, 2018

    Mycroft AI opensource personal assistant, instead of Google home

    Reply
83. James August 13, 2018

    Hi Sven,

    One thing I liked about Google Image Search was the ability to do the reverse image search (search by photo). Then, when looking for alternatives, I discovered Tineye. (https://tineye.com/) Is it any good, in terms of privacy? Or does it track too?

    Or do you know any other alternatives?

    Reply
84. Elygantthings August 4, 2018

    This list of tools is wonderful. I can rebuild parts of my business with some of the tools. With all the privacy, I wonder how it would effect my business down the road. I believe I’d have to work harder at getting potential customers to my products and services. For personal use, it is a perfect fit. Maybe one day I’ll have two computers. One for business with the crappy mainstream corporations to run my business. And another for personal use to do my research, socializing, and entertainment. Great list. Looking forward to updates. Still looking for your newsletter. I’d love to keep up with your content.

    Reply
85. Loki August 1, 2018

    There is good alternative for youtube
    https://bit.tube/

    Reply
86. someone July 29, 2018

    both deepl and lingue is using google-analytics…
    and dict.cc is using google tagservices. Maybe more of these links should have a second evaluation. Otherwise good list. I was also missing posteo.de.

    The free software foundation is providing some similar lists.

    Reply
87. Conan July 27, 2018

    Hi, maybe you should consider mentioning the /e/ project (formerly “eelo”) at https://e.foundation

    They plan to provide a whole alternative ecosystem (including a ROM forked from LineageOS and various web services) to bring more privacy to “standard” users

    Reply
88. Littl3buddha July 24, 2018

    Alternative to Youtube?

    https://newpipe.schabi.org/

    Reply
89. William July 23, 2018

    ALTERNATIVES OF GOOGLE ADSENSE

    Google Adsense it will happy our heart because of alternatives of Google Adsense is the best way to earn money from websites.

    Reply
90. fred July 16, 2018

    ever heard of de-google-ify internet initiative ?
    https://degooglisons-internet.org/?l=en

    Reply
91. HookTube Dead July 16, 2018

    HookTube is now officially, as the changelog says, a simple lightweight facade for YouTube.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor July 16, 2018

      Disappointing…

      Reply
      • Artur September 7, 2018

        There’s now invidio.us instead. Works even better than HookTube did.

        Reply
    • Richard Allen July 26, 2018

      The Youtube legal team was inevitably going to go after the developer, it was always going to be a matter of time, but the battle isn’t over yet.

      Reply
92. Aitor July 15, 2018

    I’d like to share Syncthing with you as a file synchronizing application that relies on no centralized service and is quite easy to setup while following good security principles. It works across most platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac OS, Android, etc).
    https://syncthing.net/

    I’ve been using it for a while and I’m happy with it.

    Reply
93. Tutanota vs ProtonMail July 5, 2018

    Tutanota vs ProtonMail
    Regarding e-mail clients, I’d say everything boils down to these 2 mail providers.
    The most important point being Encryption at Rest feature, thus all e-mails remaining encrypted on theirs servers.
    Mailfence confirmed that they do not offer that.
    Coming back to PM and Tuta, both encrypt attachements and body of the message, but Tutanota also encrypts Subject lines. In addition, it doesn’t register your IP, whereas PM does, and Tuta costs less.
    Speaking of the jurisdiction, Tutanota is under Germany’s Laws, Protonmail under Switzerland’s. Germany laws prevent retaining e-mail, whereas Switzerland enforces a 1-year data retention. In addition, speaking of the claims that Switzerland has supperior privacy laws, and the fact that datacenters have their servers in underground bunkers, I’d say that’s bogus. First of all, keeping the servers in bunkers doesn’t really matter, considering the data is encrypted. Moreover, Switzerland has a mutual treaty with USA which basically says Whatever data is available to Switzerland courts, is also available to US government
    Not to be biased towards Tutanota, Protonmail does have more features (also has a nice @pm.me domain available =) ). Moreover, their interface is better, they have POP/IMAP available through a bridge they developed if you like to use Clients like Outlook or Thunderbird (available on all major OSes) and PGP integration.
    Summing everything up, they both are solid choices, massively better than probably everything there is out in the world, and the choice comes down to the user’s matter of preferance: Do you want a service which is not very eye-appealing and feature rich, but does it’s job and has great security and privacy, or you are more inclined towards feature richness, with the tradeoff being small privacy flaws.
    PS: e-mail was not developed with privacy in mind, so using a private messenger like Signal is a much better choice relating to privacy.

    Reply
    • Tutanota vs ProtonMail July 5, 2018

      Tutanota has released a beta version of new Android app.
      One more thing to note, Protonmail Android relies on Google Services Framework, whereas Tutanota doesn’t

      Reply
    • las October 20, 2018

      Thank you very much for explaining this. I have a very good feeling, like trust… with Tutanota.

      Reply
      • Tutanota vs ProtonMail November 23, 2018

        @las the only thing that is still missing, is the folder’s unread e-mails count on UI. It’s hard to use when you receive an e-mail, and need to check 10-15 folders to see where it went )))

        Reply
        • Hard Sell March 29, 2019

          01-30-2019 Your encrypted mailbox now shows unread emails per folder.
          https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/release-languages/
          03-24-2019 Encrypted email service Tutanota turns five:
          Details of the changes to present.
          https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/encrypted-email/
          Besides you can do full-texts secure search via a search index created on your device now…
          Your search index is always encrypted and thus, secure – no matter on what device you use it.
          –
          Still with both Tutanota and ProtonMail, aliases can be a pain thing if not using your own domain with either. So both ProtonMail and Tutanota in paid accounts with the usage of your own domain offer’s more in using aliases in their own specific rights. More so that using then their Co. branded domain of them.
          ProtonMail worst yet requires the “+” after your username – – and before the ex:”@domain.com”, yes even with your own domain – similar to method as in Apple Mail, Outlook and Gmail.
          –
          I seen one reader state this “Mailbox.org is a pain to use if you are not experienced. You have to work with the “keys” and at the end you have no idea if you’ve got an encrypted inbox.”
          Then I’ve seen Mailbox.org has recently put 1-million euro’s into it business.
          Mailbox.org for an encrypted mailbox (server) when you’d get non-encrypted mail and want it secured by encryption. It’s possible by your own PGP encryption public key. https://kb.mailbox.org/display/MBOKBEN/The+Encrypted+Mailbox
    • Nobody December 8, 2018

      Data retention in Switzerland is 6month
      https://www.admin.ch/opc/fr/classified-compilation/20122728/index.html

      Reply
94. Xemnris July 4, 2018

    Can you please suggest a sms app alternate to android messages?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor July 5, 2018

      Check out the secure messaging apps section in the privacy tools guide.

      Reply
    • Signal&Silence July 5, 2018

      I think you have 2 choices in this matter which somewhat focus on different things:
      1. Silence – a dedicated SMS/MMS App which encrypts text messages at rest, and also has the ability to send encrypted SMS/MMS messages in case the recipient has this app installed. You can start an encrypted session which will result in key exchange and voile, your phone communications provider won’t have the ability to read your messages.
      2. Signal Messenger – This is actually an open-source messenger app. it encryption algorithm is now used in WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype. However this does not mean that Facebook and Skype could not have tampered with it (the companies are notorious for working with government). Signal however had its trust tested, and Snowden recommends it 😉
      It has the feature to be default SMS app, but it only encrypts the messages database at rest (not hiding it from communications provider).

      Personally, I stopped using Silence only because I have an expense manager app which has automatic SMS parsing feature, which works only with default SMS app.

      Reply
95. Irene July 3, 2018

    Is Vivaldi browser a good alternative to Chrome?
    As a gmail alternative I would prefer to have a free version. Proton etc are providers with a subscription, or very small free storage. What do you think about Inbox.com , yahoo and outlook?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor July 3, 2018

      Well there are a few problems with Vivaldi. First, it’s closed source, so you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. Second, there aren’t many Vivaldi users, so you would stand out and be easier to track.
      With email, I like Tutanota quite a bit, and they give you 1 GB of storage for free. Mailfence is also a good free option. But I also think it’s good to upgrade to premium if you can afford it, because it supports these products. I’d avoid the others you mentioned, especially Yahoo, which gives third parties access to your emails, and anything from Microsoft (Outlook).

      Reply
96. Matomo June 27, 2018

    Hi, I test Matomo today and I don’t know how to actually see current visitors? There is an option to see visitors in last 24h or 30m? But I want to see how many visitors browsing my website right now? If I use Google analytics and I click real time, it shows the number of visitors easily.

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor June 28, 2018

      Under the dashboard there is an option to see “live” I believe.

      Reply
      • Matomo June 30, 2018

        Yes, you can see visits and actions in the last 3 minutes, I really wanted to use Mamoto but seems it does not show all visitors on my website. I browse my site with different browsers and seems it does not count it. No visitors from my country at all. Really Google analytics shows everything but Mamoto does not for some reason, I tested a lot and unfortunatelly I will need to use Google again.

        Reply
97. brian June 27, 2018

    Please someone consider to name an alternative to google captcha service, which is to find on so many sites…. Thank you.

    Reply
98. max June 24, 2018

    My mail is hosted at servermx.com.
    In terms of design it doesn’t spend time and money but in terms of reliability, features, and support it really does it all, give them a shot.

    Reply
99. Shay June 24, 2018

    Whatsapp’s end to end encryption is probably well known but I just sent a 488mB video file to a friend which makes it better than e-mail routes too?

    Reply
100. pmocek June 15, 2018

     Based on the response to my suggestion that Etar-Calendar’s maintainers provide some user documentation, I think it is simply an alternative client for the Google Calendar service. It doesn’t sound like one can point it at some other calendaring server without significant additional effort.

     Reply
101. Rhidian June 15, 2018

     You forgot Firefox Focus 🙂 blocks a whole load of junk by default!

     Reply
     • Stephen Mohos March 25, 2019

       Firefox Focus had a scandal where it was found to be sending data to an analytical company. Does it still do so?

       Reply
102. pmocek June 14, 2018

     You’re missing Fastmail, who provide very standards-based and security-focused e-mail, contacts, and calendaring. I’m a satisfied multi-year customer.

     Reply
     • James May 4, 2019

       How is Fastmail any different from Gmail? If anything they are worse, being an Australian company they can be made to spy on you.

       Reply
103. drrty June 14, 2018

     Dear Sven,

     It should be noted that the default configuration of Mozilla Firefox has moved towards a surveillance platform following the acquisition of Pocket and a shift towards an advertising-based funding model.

     Currently it is necessary to make significant modifications to the default settings through the about:config dialog to avoid dozens of outbound “privacy”-violating connections, many of which are now CloudFlare endpoints:

     https://gist.github.com/haasn/69e19fc2fe0e25f3cff5

     Moreover, “Safe Browsing” is cryptically enabled by default, sharing the user’s activity with Google.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 14, 2018

       Well, this Mozilla engineer says user activity is no longer shared with Google via the “safe browsing” settings. This issue is also discussed more in my Firefox privacy guide.

       Reply
104. Doug Smith June 14, 2018

     You should include Safari in the list of browsers, at least for Mac users. Apple has a long history of privacy controls in Safari that other browsers don’t have or only added much later. For example, I think Safari is still the only major browser to ship with third-party cookies turned off as a default. It has cross-site tracking prevention, configurable default search provider, granular permissions asked for use of the camera, microphone, and location, and optional per-site settings for some of those things. Plus, the upcoming macOS Mojave will include a version of Safari with fingerprinting prevention.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 14, 2018

       Hi Doug, I agree that Apple does some things right in regards to privacy. However, it still has a troubling history of “hoarding” users’ browsing history – even when using private browsing mode. And these are only the cases we know about.

       Reply
       • Tok September 5, 2018

         I think we should judge Apple and other companies for what they are doing, not their history. Apple has improved users privacy a lot. If we dig deep enough i’m sure we could find something on most of the “good” companies you listed.

         Reply
105. Someone June 13, 2018

     Good list. To add a few more:

     Google docs alternative that is free and encrypted:
     https://cryptpad.fr/

     Google play alternative, the most complete that I know. Permits to install older versions of apps:
     http://www.aptoide.com/

     Reply
     • Paul Libbrecht September 26, 2018

       Could you add CryptPad to the alternatives to Google Drive too?
       thanks
       Paul

       Reply
     • Stephen Mohos March 25, 2019

       Aptoide is not a private alternative. It is a good online store to get some apps that were removed from google play store but when scanned for known trackers 13 trackers, 3 of which were from google, were found in the app and APK Permission Remover found multiple permissions that seemed invasive and had nothing to do with the app’s functionality.

       Speaking of which, APK Permission Remover could help with improving privacy because it allows you to select permissions to disable that you can not normally disable in system settings and then compiles an apk with the permissions removed and installs (or reinstalls) it. As long as you do not disable any functions that are required by the app to do its job it works fine in most cases. Of course, sometimes an app will break when the wrong permission is used and either not work right or not install but since it does not work on system apps and you can just download and reinstall any app there is a low risk in using it.

       Reply
       • Stephen Mohos March 26, 2019

         CORRECTION: Lucky Patcher can also perform the same function as APK Permission Remover.

         I also did a check for known trackers, APK Permission Remover has Google Ads and Goodle Doubleclick trackers and Lucky Patcher has Twitter MoPub trackers so there is a tradeoff for privacy if you are disabling unless you keep these two apps behind a firewall.

         Reply
106. DGiiu June 13, 2018

     I found an other website about removing gafam called De-google-ify Internet (https://degooglisons-internet.org/).
     They also provide FOSS alternatives to google products.

     Reply
107. Stephan Feibish June 12, 2018

     I see my website is found by the search engines that don’t use Google search results. Google can also help you not find things.

     Reply
108. kaka June 12, 2018

     Hubic as Google Drive alternative 25 GB on start up to 50GB

     Reply
109. Mads Petersen June 12, 2018

     Dear Sven,

     Thank you for the post. It is an interesting list of products and activities.

     Please also consider Kolab Now (https://kolabnow.com) as an open source/Free software alternative to
     * Gmail
     * Google calendar
     * Google docs

     Kolab Now has 30 days free trial, it has 2GB included in the price and, as mentioned above, it is open source and Free software.

     Sincerely

     Mads

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 12, 2018

       Hi Mads, thanks for sharing that information. A secure email guide is soon forthcoming and it will include Kolab Now.

       Reply
       • Jeronimo Torres June 12, 2018

         I’m current using Kolab and can’t recommend enouth.

         The have calendar, email, contacts, notes, and file keeping for a fair price.

         The only downside is that they still don’t suport 2 way auth. But outside that, still great service.

         Reply
       • Wes June 12, 2018

         Hey Sven, fantastic round-up. Thanks for the thorough research!

         For your email security and privacy article, please consider my new app https://zinc.email/

         The system allows you to send & receive email without sharing your real email address. It can track who leaks your contact info and let’s you *unshare* your email address from anyone.

         Again thanks for the great article. Looking forward to the next one.

         Reply
110. Nebo June 12, 2018

     A nice chrome alternative is missing: Ungoogled Chromium

     “Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration and enhancing privacy, control, and transparency”

     https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium

     Reply
111. Greased Pan June 12, 2018

     There’s an error in the article. Searx is NOT a single site but search aggregation software that anyone can run on their server. There are over 70 user-run servers to choose from (or the two randomizers listed can be used):
     https://github.com/asciimoo/searx/wiki/Searx-instances

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 12, 2018

       Correct, Searx is technically a metasearch engine – just updated the wording.

       Reply
112. Gorkem Cetin June 11, 2018

     Hello Sven, and thanks for building this list.

     I am cofounder of Countly, an open source product analytics platform for web, mobile and desktop. You can download it via Github (https://github.com/countly/countly-server) and run on your own machines, thus you don’t have to share any visitor information with 3rd parties. Countly is also plugin based, runs on Nodejs + MongoDB and has a really slick and intuitive UI.

     You may also build your own Countly on Digital Ocean, using this 1-click installer: https://do.count.ly

     PS: How about turning this list into a Github repo so others can also comment and contribute?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Hi Gorkem – thanks for the info. I’ll have Countly added here soon. Good idea on the Github repo.

       Reply
       • Gorkem Cetin June 12, 2018

         You can also generate it using one of github-awesome-list templates. That will help get picked up by others easily.

         Reply
113. Leo June 11, 2018

     Google Translate replacement: https://www.deepl.com/translator

     Reply
114. James Edens June 11, 2018

     We use https://goaccess.io instead of analytics. It’s real-time and open source, works awesomely.

     Reply
115. Mo June 11, 2018

     For a Google Keep alternative, check out Standard Notes.

     https://standardnotes.org

     Open source, encrypted, and cross platform 🙂

     Reply
     • Jon June 12, 2018

       Seconded, I love this software.

       Reply
116. Lukas June 11, 2018

     Shameless plug: at LINAGORA where I currently work, we are developing OpenPaaS, an open source collaborative platform and alternative to Google Suite and Co. At its core, OpenPaaS is made of an email server, James, and many other open source components (in one package, it offers an alternative to Gmail, to Google Calendar, etc). Do not hesitate to check it out: https://open-paas.org.

     Reply
117. Ken Billings June 11, 2018

     Any suggestions for using an alternative to Google Slide Show Sharing system…

     I have been using it for my alternative news channel called, Digileakcanada.weebly.com

     I can download and archive the slide shows to my own hard drive in case they disappear on line.

     I like the slide format to layout my news research and share with others. Your suggestions would be appreciated.

     Cheers, Ken

     Reply
118. aga June 11, 2018

     If you want to replace notes, this is great: https://standardnotes.org

     Reply
119. J June 11, 2018

     Given you seem to care about performance in your reviews you might wanna consider mentioning and testing WireGuard in your VPN guide.

     Another suggestion I have is mention alternatives to Android such as LineageOS + microG, CopperheadOS, SailfishOS, postmarketOS, etc.

     I see you go on about logging policy; you can only verify such via auditing. Its their word against yours. Its snake oil.

     As a final note I found it very entertaining how you were going on about 14 eyes in the ProtonVPN review. If you require that kind of anonymity, don’t use a VPN; use something like Tor in a VM. VPNs as mentioned here are meant to avoid things such as copyright infringement witch hunts or region locks.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       WireGuard is under heavy development and is not recommended in its current state.

       The Tor browser is an interesting project, but the Tor network comes with many drawbacks including horrible speeds, malicious exit nodes, and the fact that it has been compromised and exploited according to some reports – see here.

       Reply
120. Rune June 11, 2018

     Hi Sven, very interesting article.

     Your contact form seems to be down, is there some other way to contact you privately?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Hi Rune, indeed the form appears to be broken – thanks for the heads up. The contact page has been updated with additional contact details.
       Update: contact form has been fixed.

       Reply
121. Joe June 11, 2018

     Hello everyone!

     Q: Is Apple REALLY safer ?

     Joe

     Reply
122. letsgettogether June 11, 2018

     Why do you mind being the product tho?
     An alternative view would be that it cost us nothing to have google launch worldwide projects.

     Reply
     • Stephen Mohos March 25, 2019

       Using a service while knowing that you are getting a service where some information will be collected and used to maintain the service is a personal choice.

       When the data is taken when you are not using or benefiting from any services, there is no choice.

       Some of us just want to reclaim the freedom to make that choice. Nothing more, nothing less.

       Now, one alternative to analytics that some web sites currently use is using the computers that access them for crypto currency mining for the duration of the time they are accessed. I am surprised this is not mentioned.

       Reply
123. Stephen Paul Weber June 11, 2018

     Alternative to Google Voice: jmp.chat

     Reply
124. Sophie June 11, 2018

     Hello,

     I would add an alternative to google firebase : https://kuzzle.io/ (Google’s mobile platform to develop apps ).

     Many thanks for this article.

     Reply
125. Bob June 11, 2018

     I cunningly outflank Google’s date collection by never doing anything interesting.

     Reply
126. Pieter June 11, 2018

     For OpenStreetMap, you forgot another great app: OsmAnd. Especially on Android, it works great. On iOS, only basic functionality works.

     Reply
127. Berkay Aydin June 11, 2018

     JotForm (https://www.jotform.com) is a good alternative for Google forms. It also allows importing forms from existing ones.

     Reply
128. goodbadlife June 11, 2018

     It all comes down to the efficience/anonymity ratio you want to acheive

     Reply
129. Dave June 11, 2018

     Don’t forget about Sync.com – A Google Drive alternative that includes end to end encryption and privacy protection, and they have a totally free tier.

     Reply
130. Zsolt Ero June 11, 2018

     Hi, I’m running a website, MapHub (https://maphub.net/) which aims to be an alternative to Google My Maps, based on OpenStreetMap data. It does not collect any kind of location data and IP addresses are not stored. If you think it’d fit the list, feel free to include it.

     Reply
131. DavidB June 11, 2018

     I’d like to add airvpn.org to the list of recommended services. Many features similar to IVPN as mentioned in one comment, reliable in the 4 years I’ve been using, EU-based, accepts cryptos, insists on no tracking, many servers around the world, etc. 54€/year.

     Reply
132. Krouaton June 11, 2018

     Don’t forget the famous DNS service 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4 provided by Google.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Great point, Krouaton, Google DNS alternatives will definitely be provided with the next update to this guide (soon).

       Reply
       • Keshas June 11, 2018

         Dns 1.1.1.1

         Reply
         • J June 11, 2018

           Does anyone know a good alternative to Google Keep and Chromecast?

           1.1.1.1 is run by CloudFlare, and 9.9.9.9 by Quad9/IBM.
133. EteSync June 11, 2018

     There’s also EteSync (www.etesync.com) for contact/calendar sync. It’s secure, end-to-end encrypted and open source, so a much better alternative than what suggested there.

     Reply
     • T July 4, 2018

       Looks awesome, thanks!

       Reply
134. Aleks June 11, 2018

     Hi Sven, great article but would be good to mention Google Photos alternatives too. Did you try Yogile? They are based in Europe and do have a transparent Privacy Policy.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Hi Aleks, I haven’t looked into Google Photos alternatives yet, but I will for the next update to this guide.

       Reply
       • Jeff June 11, 2018

         Check out Shoebox (shoeboxapp.com). No ads, reasonable privacy policy, no ownership if your data.

         Reply
     • Stephen Mohos March 25, 2019

       I have found simple gallery to be a decent alternative. Camera Roll is another alternative I was comfortable with.

       Reply
135. Kantoku June 11, 2018

     Hey Sven,

     Have you checked out d.tube (https://d.tube/) instead of youtube? It is awesome because it also works with a new technology called IPFS which makes censoring even harder than on regular internet. I think something like that will be the future for people with a free mind to exchange their ideas.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Hi Kantoku, thanks for the tip, I’ll check it out.

       Reply
136. Mayur June 11, 2018

     Google provides a centralized way to access all its applications. Unfortunately, this will not be achieved if different other sites are used instead. However, I am very optimistic about these alternatives.

     Reply
137. Grtty June 11, 2018

     There are multiples alternatives open source libre solutions of google products made by french “Framasoft” association : https://framasoft.org/

     And for youtube there is peertube : https://joinpeertube.org/en/home/

     Reply
138. Danny June 11, 2018

     Thank you for putting together this list!

     Personally I have been pouring development time into another self-hosted OS alternative to Google Analytics as I feel there is a drastic need for more options in that space.

     OpenWebAnalytics seems like a relic from a previous era. Matomo (formerly Piwik) is great, but not as simple as I think it could be.

     That’s why we’re building Fathom Analytics.

     – Self hosted
     – Open-source (MIT licensed)
     – Opinionated

     We want to keep things as simple as possible while still providing you the information you need about your site, so you can make smarter decisions about your design and content.

     Either way, keep on fighting the good fight!

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Hi Danny, thanks for the heads up about Fathom Analytics – just added it to the guide.

       Reply
139. John June 11, 2018

     How about zoho sven?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       I didn’t include it because it’s based in the US (California to be exact).

       Reply
       • Dirk June 12, 2018

         What about zoho.eu?

         Reply
140. Kieren Johnstone June 11, 2018

     Could I just ask please for a source behind the idea that “Google Chrome is a popular browser, but it’s recording and tracking everything you do”?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Hi Kieren, I just added an image to the Chrome section that illustrates a few of the privacy issues.

       Reply
141. Chris June 11, 2018

     Hi Sven, good list, but it’s leaving out most of their commercial products (e.g. AdWords). As a business it would be great to find a workable alternative that is more privacy friendly – I know it seems a bit of a contradiction, but has anyone looked into responsible advertising?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Hi Chris, good question. I’ll check that out for the next update to this guide.

       Reply
142. Mike D June 11, 2018

     Hey,
     I think it’s worth mentioning Runbox for email and Jottacloud for storage, maybe?
     Thanks.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Hi Mike D, agreed on Runbox – just added it to the list. I’ll check out Jottacloud as well (also based in Norway).

       Reply
143. Miq June 11, 2018

     Also recommend Posteo as an e-mail service provider alternative (I use it personally and it’s great).

     They advertise themselves as privacy conscious, secure and operating sustainably.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       Agreed – that’s another great service. I’ll have a list of secure email providers coming out soon and Posteo will be included.

       Reply
144. trashcanbin10 June 11, 2018

     I’m not willing to pay, what’s the alternative that can offer big storage like Google Drive/Gmail combo?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       I’m not too sure about free cloud storage, but as a general rule…
       “When something is free, you are the product.” -Google

       Reply
     • someone July 29, 2018

       Nextcloud can handle an unlimited amount of data, with a strong focus on security and is fully FOSS and self-hostable without too much effort. Combine with a static ip from ovpn VPN-service, and something like mail-in-a-box, mailcow or similar and you have the email/google drive combo.

       Best option I know of. Also integrates well with things like LibreOffice Online, Etherpad, Email, XMPP, WebRTC (e2e audio-video chat) etc.

       Reply
145. duemon June 11, 2018

     great list, but your still on Android. Do you have a list of alternative mobile os

     Reply
146. Tyn June 11, 2018

     Thanks for this list.
     For Youtube alternative I think it’s important to mention PeerTube
     https://joinpeertube.org/

     It’s a federated peer to peer solution based on free software.
     Not in v1 yet its already used by some conference like the last State Of The Map in France:
     https://peertube.openstreetmap.fr/

     Reply
147. Corentin June 11, 2018

     It’s a very useful article. Thank you.

     There is a French alternative to Google Drive with Cozy : https://cozy.io

     Reply
148. Rudolf Olah June 11, 2018

     You’re missing SpiderOak One which is an alternative to Google Drive. It’s encrypted (though proprietary).

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 11, 2018

       And also based in the US.

       Reply
     • Art June 11, 2018

       Mega.nz too

       Reply
149. BM June 3, 2018

     I want to add one more gmail alternative, invmail.io

     Reply
150. BM June 2, 2018

     Sven, do you know about anything Ecosia.org ?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor June 2, 2018

       Not much, to be honest. From their site:

       Ecosia is a social business run by a small group of dedicated people. We work together to create tools that empower everyone to easily do good by planting trees. We believe our trees have the power to make this world a better place for everyone in it.

       Reply
       • Irwin March 3, 2019

         Ecosia.org page states its search engine is based on Bing. I don’t like that it requests to add to Firefox now, just ignore the warning. It is in the Firefox Add-on list the proper way to add it.
         The controversy is are they just redirecting searches through their website and promoting Ecosia as a Homepage? Doesn’t every search engine do so?
         This Addon requests permission to: “Access your data for sites in the ecosia.org domain” with 300 reviews 83% are 5-stars.

         Reply
151. BM May 29, 2018

     Did you try Shazzle Mail, it’s a free encrypted mail service, they don’t store mails in servers, works like messaging applications.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor May 29, 2018

       Thanks for the tip, BM.

       Reply
       • Hard Sell March 29, 2019

         ShazzleMail has completed its beta testing and will no longer make available ShazzleMail v1.0 for download. ShazzleChat Beta in April 2019.
         New ShazzleMail v2.0 is available sometime in early 2020.
         ShazzleMail Domains is no longer available in beta and will relaunch as v2.0 sometime in early 2020.
         https://shazzlemail.com/#inline
         ShazzleMail is based in Scottsdale, AZ (USA).
         A limited liability company, it was founded in 2006 by serial entrepreneur and poet Clifford Boyle.
         THAT ALWAYS BOTHERED ME, but hey restore privacy is running from the US is it not?
         Then as this states-
         Shazzle never gets a copy of your email so it does not matter where the servers are located. Your email goes directly from your smart phone to your receiver’s smart phone without ever touching Shazzle’s equipment. The only thing Shazzle’s server does is deliver your internet protocol (IP) address to your receiver so the two of you can establish a direct connection (like a Virtual Private Network). You then send an encrypted email that Shazzle never touches.
         –
         You can send messages to anyone. Users inside our network will receive the messages directly as long as they are connected to the Internet. Recipients outside the network will receive a notification e-mail with a link to view the secure and private message in a web browser.
         –
         Our design favors direct delivery rules, where the data is transferred securely and the private key is kept on user’s device. However, it is known that your phone can be hacked and any information stored on your phone can be revealed, so you have to be careful with you belongings. It is important to know that while we are in transition all your emails are well protected, but once someone steals your phone there is not much can be done. We are working on making improvements to secure data at rest on a mobile device by keeping the data encrypted.
         https://shazzlemail.com/faqs/

         Reply
152. Josh May 15, 2018

     I’ve noticed you recommend MAPS.ME, I would strongly disagree.
     Even though their map are based on OpenStreetMap, they collect quite a bit of personal data, as it is stated in their Privacy Policy.
     I would suggest Maps, which downloads the map you need from OpenStreetMap.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor May 16, 2018

       Wow, you are right about MAPS.ME and their privacy policy. I’m updating this guide now…
       Thanks Josh.

       Reply
       • j... June 11, 2018

         Something you might want to mention (or know) is that the “MAPS” link to f-droid is just maps.me without the tracking stuff, provided by the same lovely people. both (f-droid or gplay versions) are based on OSM

         Reply
     • Kamal June 11, 2018

       Better alternative would be OsmAnd https://osmand.net/

       FOSS, Available on F-Droid

       Reply
153. Mary May 6, 2018

     Hello. I’ve been using Mailfence and OpenMailbox for years now and like them both. I’ve just discovered Mail2Tor recently and I like it and it’s easy to setup with no phone number required. I don’t know how much storage it has or how long before they delete inactive accounts. You need to have Tor to use Mail2Tor & can also email non-Tor email providers too.

     http://mail2tor2zyjdctd.onion/

     Reply
154. Richard Allen April 19, 2018

     An alternative SWISS web search provider:

     https://swisscows.com/about

     Not keen on the layout…but…

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor April 20, 2018

       Yep, I’m just about to publish a guide on privacy search engines, which includes Swisscows.

       Reply
       • Pernille tranberg June 26, 2018

         Do remember the Danish search engine FindX.com
         Cool list otherwise

         Reply
155. Tim April 13, 2018

     Hello Sven, brilliant website and one worth putting around! Please remember to tell all who are signing up for a Protonmail account to sign up for the protonmail.ch account and NOT the protonmail.com account, as this could be compromised in the future in the USA.

     Please see Protonmail’s own review on this matter:

     https://protonmail.com/support/knowledge-base/what-is-the-difference-between-protonmail-com-and-protonmail-ch/

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor April 14, 2018

       Hi Tim, thanks for the feedback.

       Reply
156. Jedi April 6, 2018

     Hello…. I was looking for an alternative to Google photos..?? Any suggestions??

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor April 7, 2018

       Hi Jedi, I don’t use any of these services, but there are some alternatives listed here that may be worth considering.

       Reply
157. BM April 4, 2018

     Hi,

     after read your review about Proton VPN I’m more suspicious about Proton mail, all other alternatives from the 14 eye countries, is this important for a mail service?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor April 5, 2018

       Well it might depend on your situation, but I consider many of these providers in Europe to be good. I like Tutanota and Mailfence. And if you really want more privacy, you should just skip email altogether and go with a secure messaging with end-to-end encryption.

       Reply
158. markiteight March 19, 2018

     I’ve been using StartPage for years. I noticed shortly after the name change that the search results became much more limited, and has become progressively worse in more recent months. It’s now so bad that often times a search returns zero results, while google has plenty of valid hits. It’s to the point I deem StartPage useless. I’m curious, is this something ixquick is doing on purpose, or has Goggle figured out a way to limit results queried by 3rd party search engines as a way to force people back into the fold?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor March 19, 2018

       Yes, I have also noticed this with StartPage lately. I have no idea as to why, but searx.me seems to still be working well.

       Reply
       • Liz McIntyre March 19, 2018

         Hi Sven and markiteight,

         Getting no results is highly unusual, so I’m wondering if something is amiss. You should alert the tech team: Support@StartPage.com

         Note that as you scroll to the bottom of a search results page and click to see more search results, additional pages of options will display. So you may see 2 pages available initially, but as you click to new pages, more options should appear if there are more results available.

         Hope this helps!

         Reply
         • Sven Taylor March 19, 2018

           Hi Liz, thanks for the info.
159. Jarrod March 2, 2018

     Hello,

     I am looking at e-mail alternatives and am confused about android integration on many services. It seems most of the secure e-mail services (such as mailfence which I had considered) are intended to be used with activesync which seems counter productive to me to use a secure service but access it through a Microsoft interface. Maybe I am missing something? I was hoping you could weigh in on this.

     Also is the reason companies such as kolab and hushmail not on your recommendations because of their jurisdiction?

     I had tried tutanota already but was a bit disappointed with the very slow speed and limited functions such as a poor search feature.

     Thanks for the help.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor March 3, 2018

       Hi Jarrod, the list is not exhaustive, I just added a few providers that looked good, but I’ll work on a secure email guide in the coming months. I haven’t looked into the activesync issue to be honest. I think if you really want more security and privacy, an encrypted messaging app would be a better option than email. I like Wire and Keybase.

       Reply
       • John Kelheim March 23, 2018

         I use Threma for some years now. Very satisfied.

         Reply
160. James March 1, 2018

     Hey Sven.
     For e-mail services, what about Tutanota or SCRYPTmail?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor March 1, 2018

       Hi James, I like Tutanota, they’re also listed on the privacy tools page.

       Reply
161. Seweryn February 26, 2018

     Hello Sven,
     Thanks for that creating resotreprivacy. Great job!

     I was reading about StartPage, which is now my default web search engine and I found that they also have a secure e-mail service called StartMail https://www.startmail.com
     Maybe You will decide to add this one to Gmail alternatives.

     Regards

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor February 26, 2018

       Thanks Seweryn, I’ll check it out for the next update to this guide.

       Reply
162. muhyidin February 26, 2018

     Hello,

     I’m searchin for an app to sync my contacts, crossplatform (Mac, iOS, Android), any idea ? Thx

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor February 26, 2018

       Not sure, but some email providers also offer ways to secure and sync contacts.

       Reply
       • gcrl April 24, 2018

         Kolab Now might be what @muhyidin is looking for? Not sure, but it is Swiss based, open and free software and it syncs stuff… https://kolabnow.com/

         @Sven Thank you, I like many of your suggestions and you explain things well!

         Reply
     • Kantoku June 11, 2018

       I recommend using Nextcloud which is not just for sharing files but also has an excellent Calendar-App which you can synchronize via CalDav and Contacts-App which you can synchronize with CardDav.

       To sync it with Android you can use DAVDroid which is free.

       Reply
163. John February 17, 2018

     Why is Aptoid listed as a good Playstore alternative? That site requires people to use their app to download stuff, and their app requires access to Camera, Contacts, and Location. There is absolutely no justifiable reason for that kind of app to access those things!

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor February 17, 2018

       Hi John, yep, looks like you are correct. It seems F-Droid is the only decent option from a privacy perspective at this point. I’ve removed Aptoid from the list.

       Reply
     • Dr.S April 10, 2018

       an another email provider, RunBox which has calendar and contacts sync utility.

       Reply
       • Sven Taylor April 10, 2018

         Very cool company.

         Reply
164. James February 11, 2018

     Hello Sven!
     What would be a good Google Calendar alternative?
     Thanks

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor February 11, 2018

       Hi James, here are a few options.

       Reply
       • James February 19, 2018

         Basically it is a choice between:
         1. Etar
         2. aCalendar
         3. Kin (somewhat acceptable privacy policy)
         4. fruux (not a very privacy-friendly privacy policy)

         I initially though mostly of calendar back-ups as with Google Calendar when I asked the question, but on the second though, calendar back-up is not privacy-friendly by design =)

         Reply
         • Sven Taylor February 19, 2018

           Thanks for this. I added a new section on Google Calendar alternatives.
         • James February 23, 2018

           After analyzing aCalendar a bit, it seems to have a lot of adds, which is not very nice. It does have a nice design though =)
           One more calendar to mention is Simple Calendar, which is open-source, has import/export to .ics file feature, CalDAV sync and event type setting.
           Overall, I’d recommend it over Etar as well.
         • Jehan Delacroix March 12, 2018

           Mailfence which is mentioned under mail also offers Calendar, Contacts and Documents tools all integrated in a suite, making it an alternative for Google Calendar, Google Docs,… More info about the calendar here: https://blog.mailfence.com/secure-online-mailfence-calendar/
165. anon February 7, 2018

     Great article, finally cutting out google on my phone and it feels good. Hopped on protonmail and searchx.

     Reply
166. john January 31, 2018

     What about Playstore alternatives?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor February 1, 2018

       Hi John, good point. I’ll research that question and add it to the next article update.

       Reply
       • Duderino February 9, 2018

         1. F-DROID –> Only Open-Souce contents available
         2. Via F-DROID you can download YALP Store which is Google PlayStore without the need to login with your Google-Account

         Reply
         • John February 17, 2018

           Thanks for the recommendation! First I tried Amazon, but I couldn’t get their app to work. Then I tried apkmirror and Fdroid, but their selections were just too small. They didn’t have any of the apps I use on a daily basis. Then I tried Aptoid, but their app was too invasive. It wanted access to Camera, Contacts, and Location! So far, Yalp is what I’ve been looking for. Thank you!
       • James February 19, 2018

         As Duderino suggested above, if you install F-Droid, and then got install Yalp Store, this basically removes the need for Google Play.
         The only drawback I see is that you wouldn’t be able to buy apps, however there is a workaround that as well.
         Speaking of users that only use free apps this is a golden mine, as you can really remove Google account completely.

         Reply
         • Sven Taylor February 19, 2018

           Yes this appears to be the best option. I just added it to the list.
         • Michael Meier June 12, 2018

           Yalp only omits the google play store UI. You are still using the play store when you download the apk from there.
           So, it is not really an “alternative”.

           Same for hottube.
167. The Floating Brain January 29, 2018

     For Chrome alternatives I highly recommend epic privacy browser, its open source and based off chromium, has its own privacy based search engine because “It dosen’t trust any other search engine,” built in proxy anti – tracking addons, disables all the data collecting and more, speeds are good, particularly if you do decide to use duck duck go instead of epicsearch.in (their search engine), if you want chrome without data collection (which you get anyway, even if you turn off all the addons), and you want privacy, I recommend epic. [link]

     Reply
168. Gary January 11, 2018

     Hi Sven!
     What’s your thoughts on Puffin browser?
     Thanks!

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor January 11, 2018

       Hi Gary, I have not heard of or tried out Puffin browser. As a general rule I like to stick with FireFox, however, for both mobile and desktop.

       Reply
       • George January 24, 2018

         Hello Sven! Am very new to your site (brilliant BTW) and have a question re FireFox. When you say you like to stick to FF, which one do you mean? Seems to be various versions kicking around, e.g. FF Quantum, WaterFox, etc. (I’m on a Mac running macOS 10.12.6.) Thanks in advance!

         Reply
         • Sven Taylor January 24, 2018

           Hi George, I just mean whatever is the latest version of the standard Firefox browser. The latest version as of now is Firefox Quantum.
169. Ruben January 10, 2018

     The real question is if there is an alternative for Google Services. I mean for Android, there is Aptoide to use instead of Google Play Store but most of the Apps won’t work if you don’t have Google Services installed on your device. 🙁

     Reply
     • Duderino February 9, 2018

       There is a very time-expensive way.
       It’s called Xposed Framework. I used it quite successfull on my Galaxy S4 several years ago. With that you can install a Google Service replacement. Also you can install several location services for GPS etc.
       According to the developer you don’t even need to root your device for this.
       Unfortunately I don’t know what’s the status of Xposed Framework these days.

       Reply
       • Luke Chandler June 11, 2018

         What you really need for many apps to work without Google Play Services is an operating system with signature spoofing, such as microG: https://lineage.microg.org/ . The Xposed Frame work is still alive and well, and has a version for Android Nougat and Oreo, as shown here https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3034811

         Reply
     • Luke Chandler June 11, 2018

       What you really need for many apps to work without Google Play Services is an operating system with signature spoofing, such as microG: https://lineage.microg.org/ . The Xposed Frame work is still alive and well, and has a version for Android Nougat and Oreo, as shown here https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3034811

       Reply
170. TPaige January 9, 2018

     Hello Sven,

     Any thought on Synch.com for No-Knowledge cloud storage? They are based in Toronto which could be a drawback since Canada is part of five eyes. Then again Synch.com claims they do not have your key. They are a less expensive alternative to Tresorit.

     I will probably get one of them, there doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution.

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor January 9, 2018

       Hi TPaige, I haven’t looked into this area too closely, but will hopefully get a guide out after doing some research and testing the different providers.

       Reply
       • TPaige January 16, 2018

         Thank you in advance for the research. I’m sure there is something to this No-Knowledge approach like where is the key? What is the key? What happens if all of the uploads and downloads happens through the browser? Is it still Zero Knowledge and end to end encryption? There are quite a few questions to look into.

         TPaige

         Reply
171. Nicolas December 29, 2017

     How about ProtonMail as an alternative to Gmail?

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor December 29, 2017

       Yep – also a good alternative.

       Reply
       • Nicolas December 29, 2017

         Thank you for this article. It has been really educational

         Reply
         • Sven Taylor December 29, 2017

           Happy to help, Nicolas.
172. Richard Allen October 30, 2017

     Sven, here is one you need to add to the video section.

     an alternative to youtube is “hooktube”.

     Just copy the URL & replace it the youtube.com part with “hooktube.com” & it’ll do the same thing.

     Of course, if you’re using something by a youtube content provider like VEVO (I imagine other major providers too), then it won’t work

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor October 30, 2017

       Hi Richard, good suggestion – I have added it to the list.

       Reply
173. Kevin To October 6, 2017

     Stop tracking me

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor October 6, 2017

       Google doesn’t listen 🙂

       Reply
174. tomtom August 26, 2017

     Hi,

     is Opera also considered as an Google alternative or it is near as good/secure/private as Firefox?

     Cheers for that

     Reply
     • Sven Taylor August 26, 2017

       Hi Tomtom, it is indeed an alternative, but not one that I would use. When I analyzed Opera’s Privacy Policy I found they collect vast amounts of user data – just like Google. Their “free VPN” is also not so good – see here.

       Reply
175. Trond Wingård April 19, 2017

     A map alternative for PCs (Waze is only Android/iOS AFAIK) is openstreetmap.org. It’s more basic than Google Maps, but still.

     Reply
     • Sven April 19, 2017

       Thanks Trond! It has been added to the list.

       Reply
       • Anonymous May 13, 2017

         Didn’t Google acquire Waze?

         Reply
         • Sven Taylor May 13, 2017

           Thanks for that information – you are correct. I removed it from the list.
     • Duderino February 9, 2018

       OpenStreetMaps is also available for Android. The app is called OSMand

       Reply