Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
(I reposted this bc some applications were missing.) I had to install some apps because of school. Btw, can you say improvements that I can make? I can't install anything that isn't from playstore. Edit: Duolingo is now just a PWA
Firefox or Waterfox instead of Brave. Vivaldi's a good compromise if it has to be Chromium.
How about Librefox?
I'm on android
Try IronFox or Fennec (Firefox forks), both are privacy focused and aren't bad like Brave.
GrapheneOS has shown FF does have some security issues, so if you prefer Chromium then use either Vanadium (GrapheneOS only) or Cromite.
For desktop I do use Librewolf and Ungoogled Chromium if a website refuses to work on Firefox.
I know that brave isn't good, can you just explain why?
Nothing I didn't really know in the article, thanks for posting though. I know Naomi Campbell pushes Brave pretty hard. Any thoughts on that?
Still gonna use Brave because it is better technically.
I would recommend moving off of Duolingo if you can. What you move to depends on the language you're learning. They fired a bunch of their language developers and went hard on AI.
I help run a community for Welsh learners and we're finding more and more people coming in with questions about a Duolingo lesson where things are wrong and weird. Plus their business practices aren't great. They realized that they make money from you staying on the app, not learning a language, so your progress is artificial stunted. Plus the complete lack of grammar explanation at all we're finding hurts people more than helps
As a general recommendation, textbooks are so much better.
I also see Gmail. I don't have a recommendation for a replacement as I'm doing my research on it now, but getting away from Google is a good idea
I recently tried duo lingo. I have a pretty strong background in Spanish, but want to brush up. It became apparent very quickly that the app is not about learning so much as keeping you in it. The lessons don't make a ton of sense, and after not using app for a week, it demoted me to just 8 words that you would learn in your first class (hombre, el, agua, tu, etc.). There is no way to skip ahead.
I've already replaced Gmail (I just can't disable it and I need for my school) with Tuta. In addition, I was forced to install Duolingo because of my Spanish teacher (at least it was with a fake email address).
You can acess your gmail account with thunderbird
Can verify, it's super easy to do and I nuked the Gmail app from my phone afterwards.
You could try https://delta.chat/ instead of WhatsApp
Yeah but then im going to to be the only one who uses it lol
Try Anki instead of Duolingo. You'll learn fucking nothing from it.
Also move all the proprietary software into a work profile with Shelter (available on F-Droid) just like I did.
I use Lingodeer instead of Duolingo, in combination with Anki.
These kinds of apps are useful as a starting point but they're not going to get you fluent and they'll only barely get you to beginner level. Plus Anki is kinda complicated especially if there isn't a suitable shared deck.
That's why I went to the next level and switched all of my devices, sites and accounts to German.
Lol Android Work Feature (and hence Shelter) doesn't work without Google Play Services. Shit.
I see Maps.
I can't disable it
Works via adb. What was it's name, Universal Android Debloater? (set to disable instead of remove first). Btw, you can't remove the play store itself, causes bootloops. Just keep it frozen. And only disable what you're really sure about.
And Organic Maps is a good replacement imo, or Osmand for more complex needs.
I can't enable developer options
What, why not?
Parental controls
Remove Netflix, proprietary software.
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/piracy
I can't install anything that isn't from playstore.
Why?
Parental controls, newpipe was an exception
Oh, that’s a good start. Teach them about libre software and show them F-Droid. PipePipe works better than NewPipe and you can get it there too. Good luck!
A great step that will solve most of the junk problems that I see, is to move to a custom rom.
Pretty sure Wireguard is better in most regards than openvpn. But I also have no idea what you use the VPN for, or why not just use Mullvad.
I'd replace the default text-messaging app with QUIK or something (also allows you to block people who you otherwise cant block).
And replace Ace Attorney with Wrath Of The Gods ;)
It would be nice to use something like RethinkDNS to block internet connection of these apps you can't disable. You can also config it to block some trackers by DNS filtering.
I would see if you’re able to actually uninstall or disable the Google apps. They’re likely to still grab info otherwise