Tools
Difficulty Levels
- easy: no prior knowledge necessary
- medium: easy to learn
- hard: complex knowledge necessary
Android
| Topic | Link | Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymous browsing | Tor Browser | easy | Onion-routed, hardened Firefox from the Tor Project |
| Anonymous chats | Briar | medium | Onion-routed anonymous messaging |
| Browsing | Firefox Focus | easy | Open-source browser |
| End-to-end encrypted calls and chat | Signal | easy | End-to-end encrypted phone calls, video calls, and messages; WhatsApp alternative |
| Wire | easy | End-to-encrypted phone calls, video chats and messages; WhatsApp alternative | |
| End-to-end encrypted chat | Conversations | medium | End-to-encrypted chat (jabber plus OTR & OMEMO) |
| Client-side encrypted cloud | Nextcloud | easy | Self-hosting and contact/calendar synchronization (“cloud”) |
| End-to-end encrypted email | OpenKeyChain/K9Mail | hard | End-to-end encrypted e-mail |
| Passwords | KeePassDX | medium | Password manager |
| File Sync | Syncthing | medium | Encrypted, decentralized file sync |
| Operating System | LineageOS | hard | Alternative operating system based on Android |
| Other | F-Droid | medium | “App-Store” for free software |
| Transportr | easy | Map for Public Transport (formerly known as Liberario) | |
| Maps | medium | OpenStreetMapc client with offline maps and navigation | |
| Shelter | medium | Shelters apps e.g. from your contact list |
iOS
| Topic | Link | Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymous Browsing | Onion Browser | easy | Proxy With Tor/Private Web Browser |
| Phone Calls, Chat | Signal | easy | End-to-end encrypted phone calls, video chats, and messages; WhatsApp alternative |
| Wire | easy | End-to-end encrypted phone calls, video chats, and messages; WhatsApp alternative | |
| Chat | ChatSecure | medium | End-to-end encrypted chat (with jabber plus OTR & OMEMO) |
| Cloud | Nextcloud | easy | Self-hosting and contact/calendar synchronization (“cloud”) |
| Password-Management | Keepassium | medium | Password manager |
Firefox/Chrome
| Topic | Link | Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adblocker | uBlock Origin | easy | More than a multiple ad blocker |
| Privacy plugin | Privacy Badger | easy | Self-learning tracking blocker |
| NoScript | hard | Manage javascript, flash, anti-xss, java, anti-clickjacking | |
| uMatrix | hard | Blocks scripts, iframes, ads, facebook, etc. | |
| Disable WebRTC | easy | Browser add-on to disable Web-RTC based leak of IP-address | |
| Cookies | Cookie AutoDelete | medium | Auto-delete for cookies without closing the browser |
| Browser Fingerprint | CanvasBlocker | easy | Browser add-on to change JS-API for modifying canvas to prevent Canvas-Fingerprinting |
| HTTPS | HTTPS Everywhere | easy | Switch to encrypted (=HTTPS) version of websites automatically |
| Search Engine | DuckDuckGo (Onion URL) | easy | Private search engine |
| Searx | easy | (self-hosted e.g. as https://search.fuckoffgoogle.net/) |
More privacy-preserving browsers based on Firefox:
- Mullvad Browser (in partnership with Tor Project, maker of TorBrowser)
Windows
| Topic | Link | Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymous Browsing | Tor Browser | easy | Onion-routed, hardened Firefox from the Tor Project |
| Browsing | Firefox | easy | Open-source browser |
| LibreWolf | easy | open-source browser based on Firefox but with improved privacy | |
| Mullvad Browser | easy | open-source browser based on Firefox; in partnership with Tor Project, maker of TorBrowser | |
| End-to-end encrypted chat | Signal | easy | End-to-encrypted phone calls, video chats and messages; WhatsApp alternative |
| Wire | easy | End-to-encrypted phone calls, video chats and messages; WhatsApp alternative | |
| Client-side encrypted cloud | Nextcloud | hard | Self hosting and contact/calendar synchronization (“cloud”) |
| End-to-end encrypted email | Thunderbird+Enigmail | hard | Secure Email: client (Thunderbird) & Enigmail (PGP-encryption) |
| File Sharing | OnionShare | easy | Secure and anonymous file sharing |
| File Encryption | VeraCrypt | medium | Continuation of TrueCrypt |
| Metadata | MetaData Stripper | easy | Remove metadata from photos |
| Passwords | KeePassXC | easy | Offline password manager |
| File Sync | Syncthing | medium | Encrypted, decentralized file sync |
Linux
| Topic | Link | Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymous Browsing | Tor Browser | easy | Onion-routed, hardened Firefox from the Tor Project |
| Anonymous Messaging | Briar | medium | Onion-routed anonymous messaging |
| Browsing | Firefox | easy | Open-source browser |
| LibreWolf | easy | open-source browser based on Firefox but with improved privacy | |
| Mullvad Browser | easy | open-source browser based on Firefox; in partnership with Tor Project, maker of TorBrowser | |
| End-to-end encrypted chat | Signal | easy | End-to-end encrypted phone calls, video chats, and messages; WhatsApp alternative |
| Wire | easy | End-to-end encrypted chats with other computers and with mobile phones. Video chats possible | |
| Cloud | Nextcloud | hard | Self-hosting and contact/calendar synchronization (“cloud”) |
| Thunderbird+Enigmail | hard | By installing the enigmail package Thunderbird will be installed, too; seahorse-nautilus integrates gpg-commands into the Nautilus file explorer |
|
| kmail+kleopatra | hard | kmail is part of the KDE desktop | |
| Full Disk / File Encryption | VeraCrypt | medium | Continuation of TrueCrypt |
| LUKS+dmcrypt | hard | Disc encryption for Linux (package name: cryptsetup) |
|
| File Sharing | OnionShare | easy | Secure and anonymous file sharing (package name: onionshare) |
| Metadata | Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit | easy | Remove metadata from photos, text files, etc. (package name:mat) |
| Passwords | KeepassXC | easy | Offline password manager |
| File Sync | Syncthing | medium | Encrypted, decentralized file sync |
Privacy focused Linux distributions
MacOSX
| Topic | Link | Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymous Browsing | Tor Browser | easy | Onion-routed, hardened Firefox from the Tor Project |
| Browsing | Firefox | easy | Open-source browser |
| LibreWolf | easy | open-source browser based on Firefox but with improved privacy | |
| Mullvad Browser | easy | open-source browser based on Firefox; in partnership with Tor Project, maker of TorBrowser | |
| End-to-end encrypted chat | Signal | easy | End-to-end encrypted phone calls, video chats, and messages; WhatsApp alternative |
| Wire | easy | End-to-end encrypted phone calls, video chats and messages; WhatsApp alternative | |
| Cloud | Nextcloud | hard | Self-hosting and contact/calendar synchronization (“cloud”) |
| Thunderbird+Enigmail | hard | Email encryption: client (Thunderbird) & Enigmail (encryption) | |
| gpgtools+Mail.app | hard | Email encryption with Mail | |
| File Encryption | VeraCrypt (requires FUSE for MacOS) | medium | Continuation of TrueCrypt |
| File Sharing | OnionShare | easy | Secure and anonymous file sharing |
| Metadata | MetaData Stripper | easy | Remove metadata from photos |
| Passwords | KeePassXC | easy | Offline-password manager |
| File Sync | Syncthing | medium | Encrypted, decentralized file sync |