Note: This setup is both for my android and pc Edit: For those recommending paid services and selfhosting, I don’t have the money nor resources for either. Also it seams some people are confusing my android setup with my PC setup so I’ll write it down. Android: Brave(movies) + Ironfox, Search: Brave + DDG, VPN: Proton ( not always on), GPay = Cash, Auth= Aegis Auth, Pass: KeepassDX, PC: Firefox= Librewolf, VPN = No VPN (VERY slow internet), Search: Searxng + DDG, Pass: KeepassXC,

  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
    142·
    9 days ago

    Would switch Organic Maps to its fork CoMaps. (See: this open letter)

    And I would never recommend Brave as the first choice; it’s run by a shady corporation and reinforces Chromium’s hegemony.

    I think it’d also be reasonable to add ProtonMail to email and Mullvad to VPN since you can have multiple.

    • s38b35M5@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      9 days ago

      How about OsmAnd? Is that still a decent project without world domination plans? I actually have CoMaps as well, but have sort of stuck to using OsmAnd.

      • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
        19·
        9 days ago

        Yeah, OsmAnd is really good; it’s what I use as my daily driver. CoMaps/Organic to me feel too limited, but some people may like that.

        (I use Vespucci for editing on Android.)

        • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          9 days ago

          Something I’d suggest if OsmAnd feels too cluttered for you is to change the settings; OsmAnd lets you change a lot, but one of the ones I do is to change “Map Style” to Osm-Carto.

          Carto, for context, is the vector map that you’d find by going to the OSM website. Much cleaner color scheme, imo.

            • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              9 days ago

              “Takes seconds” seems like a strange experience. I remember OsmAnd years ago performed like that for me – clearly, painfully loading in the individual tiles. But nowdays, it smoothly transitions between LoD and has no problem smoothly scrubbing over e.g. a major city.

              I’m using offline vector maps, for context.

              Edit: Trying online tiles again, I’m assuming your problem can be resolved by switching to offline. You can have the offline data update automatically such that you don’t have to worry about it. CoMaps and Organic only use offline maps, which is why they’re similarly snappy to offline OsmAnd.

              This is under Configure Map > Map Source, and you only need to download for the region (usually e.g. a province) that you’re using.

              • Kilgore Trout@feddit.itEnglish
                2·
                8 days ago

                Not everyone uses a powerful smartphone.
                «Works for me» is seldom a good advice. OsmAnd is perfect on my Google Pixel 4a (2020), but can’t run decently on my father’s Sony Xperia L3 (2019).

                • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  1·
                  8 days ago

                  «Works for me» is seldom a good advice.

                  That wasn’t the advice; the advice was “try offline tiles and see if that helps.” In their case, it didn’t, but it’s just covering arguably the most likely potential cause. The fact it wasn’t their problem doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth asking.

              • yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de
                2·
                8 days ago

                Sadly that’s not it, I was using offline maps.

                I’m not entirely sure what’s the exact issue, but it only really occurs when trying to change LoD quickly. E.g. clicking on an inter-city bus route and zooming out to see it in its entirety or zooming back in. From 10 km to 500 m can take 3-4 seconds which is enough to feel sluggish if you’re doing it often.

                Probably not the most popular use case but it can get frustrating after a while nonetheless

          • qweertz@programming.dev
            2·
            9 days ago

            Tried it out, but since I was so used to the standard OsmAnd style it just felt wrong some way.

            It really like how OsmAnd allows for so much customization e.g. in map styles

      • qweertz@programming.dev
        31·
        9 days ago

        Still a proprietary black box you shouldn’t trust and chromium based so you reinforce the chromium monopoly

        • Man_kind@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          9 days ago

          Why is vivaldi helping a chromium monopoly?

          I understand it is based on chrome tech, and I guess that means it can use chrome extensions maybe? But how does it help chrome if people use it?

          • qweertz@programming.dev
            5·
            8 days ago

            It uses Google’s browser engine base called Chromium, which Chrome is based on (the used engine is called “Blink”). A lot of websites made to just function well on Chromium and maybe Safari

            • taco@anarchist.nexusEnglish
              1·
              8 days ago

              A lot of websites are made to just function well on Chromium and maybe Safari

              Isn’t that more on the site creators? I have a handful of sites and web apps I don’t have a choice to simply avoid because of job-related requirements. I’ve tried a bunch of other approaches, but keeping a Chromium browser installed has, so far, been the least painful way to get through my normal work days.

              • qweertz@programming.dev
                1·
                8 days ago

                That’s on corporate sites just saving work or intentionally obstructing and restricting Firefox because Google basically a monopoly.

                For me personally Firefox (and it’s engine Gecko) work fine for 99% of websites I visit.

          • kossa@feddit.org
            2·
            9 days ago

            With the market share of Chrome and Chrome-derived browsers Google basically single-handedly decides how the web works. They decide to implement some functionality, everybody needs to do the same, every other browser “vendor” has to implement it as well now. The consortium deciding about it theoretically is a fig leaf at that point.

        • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today
          1·
          9 days ago

          Agreed, but occasionally I have to use a site that doesn’t work properly on Firefox-based browsers. I mostly use Cromite to deal with that, but want a backup in case Cromite dies like its predecessor Bromite did.

            • kn33@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              9 days ago

              I agree. Firefox is “almost everything” for me. The example that comes to mind for it not working is WebSerial. That’s when the UC comes out. Also there was a brief period where the Papa John’s website checkout didn’t work in Firefox.

          • kossa@feddit.org
            3·
            9 days ago

            have you tried to fake user-agent with Firefox? Most shitty sites I encountered which pull that off just do it for no reason whatsoever. They work perfectly fine in Firefox disguised as Chrome.

    • bradons@lemmy.world
      2·
      9 days ago

      Can you tell me why? I found out ddg was just repackage bing results so I’ve been trying brave for now.

    • s38b35M5@lemmy.worldEnglish
      19·
      9 days ago

      I wish Nobara Linux would move off it. Every third or forth update, the Brave repo I disabled is re-enabled. Not a huge deal, but I’d rather see the Librewolf repo instead.

      • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        9·
        9 days ago

        You can raise the issue to the developers but from what I see, they don’t have a public page for bug reporting so who knows how many issues actually exist within the distro.

        Given that Nobara is just a fork of Fedora, and I assume you’ve gained a little CLi experience, why not just switch to Fedora?

        • s38b35M5@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          8 days ago

          I switched to Nobara last spring from MX Linux (Debian) when my brand new GPU needed brand new mesa driver, but MX said it was months away from being added to the stable channel. Nobara is (or was, Dev has slowed down) bleeding edge for most things. I no longer need that, but I like it okay, and my setup… Look, I’m just Lazy when it comes to setting up all my games and apps I have installed all over again…

            • s38b35M5@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              8 days ago

              I was running AHS at the time. I asked in the support forum about my GPU and they warned me against forcibly upgrading Mesa. They told me it would be months before they got to the required version (25.3? 25.0.2), so I started distro shopping.

              ETA: link to my post in MX support forum, fixed Mesa version

                • s38b35M5@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  1·
                  8 days ago

                  I think they mentioned that the (then) upcoming Trixie was running 25.0.1, but Phoronix listed the next version (25.0.2) as the first viable version. Either way, I figured if I was going to risk hosing my machine, I might as well just take a decent backup and try some of the distros I had been eyeballing.

      • mholiv@lemmy.world
        3·
        9 days ago

        I bet one of the maintainers is a cult member (or is being paid to re add it) either way eww.

        • s38b35M5@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          9 days ago

          IIRC, the sole Nobara Linux maintainer is GloriousEggroll, AKA, the creator of GE-Proton that is the go-to for some windows-on-linux gamers.

            • DPEWGF@sh.itjust.works
              2·
              9 days ago

              I have an older comment regarding GE supporting AI use by Lutris dev & using AI for Nobara’s wallpapers. I also felt like Nobara wasn’t too stable. GE has done a lotta work for that hobby project, but I’ve switched to CachyOS since & it’s been a much smoother experience.

  • Art3mis@lemmy.world
    58·
    9 days ago

    Every time a “privacy” list shows brave, i instantly ignore the rest of it because i know they arent serious.

      • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
        3·
        8 days ago

        I don’t know why you are getting downvoted for asking a question. I think if Brave is malware, it is important to bring awareness to what the actual problems are and talk about it. This is the right place. I’m not aware of anything that makes Brave malware, maybe besides the crypto stuff. But I’m not sure if that counts as malware, or if anything else is going on I’m not aware of.

  • GMac@feddit.orgEnglish
    23·
    9 days ago

    Suggest adding keyboard to the chart. Replace google or other proprietary keyboard with fossify keyboard or heliboard. No keyboard should need or be granted internet permissions.

  • JadeEast@quokk.auEnglish
    19·
    9 days ago

    Close to what I normally use. I prefer CoMaps instead of Organic, Mullvad VPN instead of Proton & Artix instead of Arch.

  • M137@lemmy.today
    18·
    8 days ago

    I have not once seen a picture like this, and “guide” ones, that doesn’t have several glaring issues.
    This one started really good, then brave pops up, then proton, then AI…

    Why is it so fucking hard to look up the stuff you’re using? How are you aware of several of these that are not well known yet somehow not aware of how bad brave is? It’s just so weird every single time.

  • Kilgore Trout@feddit.itEnglish
    18·
    8 days ago


    A lot of programs and services I use are not present so I did not include those alternatives.
    Of those I included, I use only a few, too. These are sane alternatives for the common user.

      • ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        2·
        7 days ago

        I’m a big NewPipe fan, but took your suggestion to check out PipePipe. Looks good so far since it only needs 8 permissions but NewPipe needs 11. Installing now.

        Edit: It even has two more default platforms to chose from. Yeah, this is cool! Thanks!

        • Mountainaire@lemmy.world
          1·
          7 days ago

          Superb. I didn’t even think to compare the permissions, haha. Yeah, never have loyalty to anything; if something better somehow emerges than PipePipe, we shall instantly ditch it for the superior alternative, and so on.

  • dreamy@quokk.auEnglish
    10·
    9 days ago

    My recommendations:
    Organic Maps -> CoMaps (they got forked because of some bad decisions.)
    Brave -> Helium (has full uBlock Origin and Ungoogled Chromium patches, and no crypto bloat)
    LibreTube -> PipePipe (has some nice features like live chat, and less buggy in my experience)
    LibreOffice -> OnlyOffice (has better Microsoft Office compatibility, and easier to use in my experience)

    Disable your third-party DNS, that only works to make you more identifiable as you’re already using a VPN. You can also use Syncthing to sync your password vault etc. between your devices. I’d also recommend using Posteo instead of Tuta because it is cheaper and its privacy policy is kinda better.

    • luci
      11·
      9 days ago

      Onlyoffice is a little bit shady tho, it might be worth considering staying with libreoffice. But the eu wanted to switch away from ms office and made their own fork of onlyoffice, because of said shadyness, so that might also be worth looking at.

    • taco@anarchist.nexusEnglish
      2·
      9 days ago

      Brave -> Helium (has full uBlock Origin and Ungoogled Chromium patches, and no crypto bloat)

      Does it have a way to sync between devices? This is one of the things Brave does fairly well that the recommended alternatives tend to lack.

      • s38b35M5@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        9 days ago

        I use Librewolf on desktop and Ironfox on mobile, and they sync using the Mozilla encrypted sync service. I haven’t heard of any shady business with their sync yet, and it works pretty well for me.

        That said, I don’t store passwords, addresses or payment methods in my browser, so YMMV.

      • dreamy@quokk.auEnglish
        3·
        8 days ago

        NewPipe’s extractor doesn’t work properly right now, as you can only watch videos in 360p. That’s the biggest upside of PipePipe but it also has some extra features like these:
        2tuZAskw7ZSWApD.png

  • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
    10·
    9 days ago

    Brave nor duck duck go can be trusted.

    Brave has been known to inject their own referral links in people urls.

    Duck duck go serves bing results and has to give Microsoft special acces to do so.

    The actual alternatives are:

    Firefox based browsers (waterfox, librefox)

    Self hosted searxng for search-engine. This one will get results from all possible configurable engine and allow zero trackers.

    Notable mention: self hosting isn’t for everyone, startpage.net is to google what ddg is to bing, but it hasn’t had any scandals proving that they give special acces to google yet. Still self hosting is not that hard with docker, i do recommend a local searxng.

      • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
        1·
        9 days ago

        https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/duckduckgo-browser-allows-microsoft-trackers-due-to-search-agreement/

        Now I little after this came out they do claim they removed them (odd how that suddenly changes after it was no longer secret)

        But then much more recent as listed on wikipedia, verifying they still have some long term deals with microsoft in 2025… microsoft is not going to make a deal with a perceived competitor for nothing in return.

        By August 2025, Bing planned to cut off access to its search APIs in a push to sell more AI-related APIs, though DuckDuckGo believed that larger companies like it with long-term deals would not be affected.[62] Bing had dramatically raised rates for its search API in 2022 after ChatGPT debuted.[62]

        There is also more general proof that while duck may technically use other sources also. It really is mostly bing:

        During a Bing API outage in 2024, DuckDuckGo stopped showing results, indicating that Bing provided a substantial portion of DuckDuckGo’s results.[69][70]

        I literally do not understand how they managed to take such foothold in real privacy communities. I used to love brave till the i was repeatedly pointed to the scandals that many people are aware of and informing others about… but considering ddg i rarely see anyone pointing this out. It actually smells like a huge successful marketing adventure to sell bing to privacy enthusiasts, but for that i obvio do not have proof.

        I often imagine this meme with bing instead of google and a cute duck go as mr incognito

      • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
        2·
        9 days ago

        Lol, it’s littered with predatory ads.

        I appreciate the attempt but self hosting searxng is free, has no ads and

        You can include presearch results as part of your searxng results, its already listed by default

    • BehavioralClam@lemmy.world
      1·
      8 days ago

      Duckdickgo and startpage just anonymize Bing/Google search results. They aren’t trying to be their own things, and thats ok.

      • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
        1·
        8 days ago

        That would be ok if it wasn’t a lie.

        Which for duck it definitely was for years, and considering they still have a long term deal with microsoft, still is.

        I have another reply in this thread somewhere that lists my sources.

        But here is another I hadn’t listed. (Source used by Wikipedia)

        “One of the bigger customers that is unaffected for now is the search engine DuckDuckGo, company spokesperson Kamyl Bazbaz confirmed to WIRED. “They’re retiring the self-serve version,” Bazbaz says. Brown says Brave’s understanding is that companies that have inked private and long-term deals with Microsoft will maintain access to the APIs.”

        Just ask yourself, what does Microsoft get out of it? If for the first decade at least it contractually includes free passage from bing and linkedin trackers.