January 28 was Data Privacy Day, and in honor of that, I decided to share the list of Google and Facebook alternatives I've switched to over the past couple years. This list is non-exhaustive, based on my user experiences and can be updated over time.

Please note that none of these companies are sponsoring me in any kind, this is just my own opinions. Links to all the apps are available below the post.

Communication

• I switched from Facebook's Whatsapp to Telegram. On top of the encryption, I like the interface (web and app), speed, and the ability to create bots and join global "chatrooms" (channels).
  • Other alternative: Signal, if you really have things to hide, this is the most secure one out there.
• I dumped Gmail to open a ProtonMail account. Great design (customisable if you know some CSS), very good end-to-end encryption system, open source and relatively cheap. An encrypted calendar is available in beta testing for now and looks very promising. They also have a free version of the inbox with 500Mo of storage available if you want to try it out first.
  • Other alternative: Tutanota, which I use as well (free version only for me, 1Go of storage). I don't like the interface as much but it's pretty fast and they're working on a pretty good encrypted calendar as well. A big plus for them is that they're using 100% green energy, which is pretty cool.

Navigation

• Leave Chrome, download Brave Browser. If you're used to adding extensions such as Ghostery, uBlock Origin or any other ad blocker, you'll love Brave. It has all the best ad and tracker blocking technology built-in so you don't have to install anything, it's private by default. This makes it the fastest browser available today, and since it's Chromium based, you can still install all your favorite extensions from the web store. On top of that, you can choose to view ads if you wish -that are based on in-browser machine learning so no personal data is ever stored by Brave- and you get rewarded with BAT, a cryptocurrency that you can then withdraw or distribute to your favorite creators.
  • Other alternative: Firefox, a great privacy tool as well, especially since the addition of their Facebook Container. I chose Brave for the built-in privacy, the speed and the BAT system.
• Instead of Google search, I use Qwant everyday as my main search engine. It's completely private and secure, and the results are getting better and better as the company grows. It's not a coincidence if Brave decided to use it as its default search engine. It also has a special mode, Qwant Causes that doesn't change anything in terms of user experience, but allows you to gather rewards as you browse and then donate to your favorite cause at the end of the month. The Qwant ecosystem is growing fast, with Qwant Maps already available, and Qwant Mail following in the roadmap.
  • Other alternative: DuckDuckGo.
• To complete the secure browsing experience, I use ProtonVPN to protect my connection both on desktop and smartphone. Once you open an account on the Proton ecosystem, you have access to all their apps, and when you subscribe to a paid plan for the mail or the VPN, you get a discount for getting both at the same time. This VPN is really well done, super secure as well (the Proton team is made of great encryption experts) and relatively fast.
• OpenStreetMap is way more complete and detailed than Google Maps, especially in remote areas, as it is being updated constantly by the people, for the people. It provides a pretty good alternative to the leader, even though I must admit that the navigation system is not as good as Google's, unfortunately. Qwant Maps, that I mentioned earlier, is based on OSM and looks pretty promising, even though it's still only in beta as I write these lines.

Exceptions

As a videographer and photographer, if I want my work to reach as many people as possible, I have to have some online presence on the most popular social media... Hence my Youtube and Instagram accounts, that I use only in a professional way.

And you, what alternatives do you use and recommend?

Until next time, stay creative! See you!

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