126
De-everything enough? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by ori to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

(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

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[-] november@piefed.blahaj.zone 56 points 5 days ago

Firefox or Waterfox instead of Brave. Vivaldi's a good compromise if it has to be Chromium.

[-] birdwing 10 points 5 days ago
[-] ori 8 points 5 days ago
[-] Dreaming_Novaling@lemmy.zip 25 points 4 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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 when a website refuses to work on Firefox.

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[-] arox@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 7 points 5 days ago

Don't use Firefox, the original one anymore if you're really into privacy. I haven't tried Waterfox, but I can recommend Ironfox. It's on Acrescent and Fdroid.

[-] FunctionallyLiterate@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 days ago

OP said they can't install from anywhere but the Play Store.

[-] arox@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 4 points 4 days ago
[-] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Avoid Acrescent which promotes anti-libre software.

[-] ori 5 points 5 days ago

I know that brave isn't good, can you just explain why?

[-] Pacrat173@lemmy.ml 26 points 5 days ago
[-] piwakawakas@lemmy.nz 2 points 3 days ago

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?

[-] 68silver@beehaw.org 2 points 4 days ago

Still gonna use Brave because it is better technically.

[-] DrunkAnRoot@sh.itjust.works 39 points 5 days ago

co maps over organic maps

[-] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 34 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

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

[-] AlternatePersonMan@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago

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.

[-] ori 10 points 5 days ago

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).

[-] SoftBun@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 days ago

You can acess your gmail account with thunderbird

[-] Dreaming_Novaling@lemmy.zip 7 points 4 days ago

Can verify, it's super easy to do and I nuked the Gmail app from my phone afterwards.

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[-] DarkAri 3 points 3 days ago

One app you are missing is shelter, Google won't allow it on the play store since it's a privacy app, but it allows you to install the school apps and stuff inside a work container so that they can't access the personal information on your other devices.

[-] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Remove Netflix, proprietary software.

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/piracy

I can't install anything that isn't from playstore.

Why?

[-] ori 7 points 5 days ago

Parental controls, newpipe was an exception

[-] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

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!

[-] foremanguy92_@lemmy.ml 5 points 4 days ago

A great step that will solve most of the junk problems that I see, is to move to a custom rom.

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[-] adhd_traco@piefed.social 5 points 4 days ago

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 ;)

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[-] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

You are using a Chinese phone ... You got bigger issues

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[-] amzd@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago
[-] sdiowN@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 days ago

Yeah but then im going to to be the only one who uses it lol

[-] Mynameisallen@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 days ago

I would see if you’re able to actually uninstall or disable the Google apps. They’re likely to still grab info otherwise

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[-] SoftBun@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 days ago

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.

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this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2025
126 points (100.0% liked)

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