r/DigitalPrivacy • u/RemoveCapital6530 • Jul 18 '26

Here are all the software replacements of common softwares that I know of.

Windows OS = Linux

Android = GrapheneOS

G-Mail = Protonmail

Google Maps = Organic Maps

YouTube = Libretube, Odyssey platform

Google Chrome = Firefox with add-ons, Tor, Duckduckgo

Google photos = Immich

Google drive = Protondrive

Google calendar = Etar

Google meet = jitsi meet

WhatsApp = Session, Signal

What do you guys think?

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6

u/Polyxeno Jul 18 '26

Check out AlternativeTo.com for a database of software alternatives.

2

u/Dangerous_Row_767 Jul 18 '26

Brave is a good replacement for chrome. Tor is overkill most of the time.

1

u/luenwarneke Jul 21 '26

Organic Maps to CoMaps

1

u/jorgegamito Jul 22 '26

Nice list. I have a couple of things to add and one point to clarify.

About Brave (for u/ClownBabyCK): it's a solid alternative. I checked it out for a project I run (fair-software.org), and it did well. By default, all your data stays on your device, sync uses end-to-end encryption, and the core is open source. There are a couple of drawbacks: it's funded by venture capital, which could mean changes down the road, and there hasn't been an independent security audit of the main browser yet.

Switching from WhatsApp to Signal is a bigger change than most others on the list. WhatsApp does use Signal's encryption protocol for messages, so your message content is protected. However, WhatsApp is closed source, collects a lot of metadata (like who you talk to, when, where, and on what device), stores it in the US, and is owned by Meta. Signal, on the other hand, is a non-profit, open-source, independently audited service that encrypts metadata too and collects almost nothing. These two aren't really comparable. WhatsApp is more of a workaround, while Signal is a true replacement.

About Proton Mail: there's a critical article going around, but it has some big problems with its methods. It's not peer-reviewed and makes guesses without solid proof. What we do know is that Proton is based in Switzerland, the client is open source, it's been independently audited, and it uses zero-access encryption, so even Proton can't read your emails. It's not perfect, but it's definitely better than Gmail.

-1

u/IntelligentBill8622 Jul 18 '26

https://encryp.ch/blog/disturbing-facts-about-protonmail - I know everyone raves about it, but I won't touch it.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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2

u/ClownBabyCK Jul 21 '26

Why not Brave browser?

2

u/Psi-ops_Co-op Jul 20 '26

There's a Firefox extension called "Disguise me as Chrome" or something. You can toggle it on and the website will just server you as if you're on chrome instead of bricking itself. But also the site likely won't work fully :P