Activist essentials
Some essential high Threatmodel privacy apps for Android, and some recommendations.
Following: Vanadium, Sentry, Duress,
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Keepass App for iOS (only standard 3 supported!)
- Password Manager
- Freemium • Open Source
- iPhone
- iPad
Desktop Operating systems
The only transparent and private Operating Systems are Open source, so they are Linux, BSD, Android-based Desktops, ... not Windows or macOS, even though they say they are secure.
High security: Tails, QubesOS + Whonix
Normal security: Any common Linux Distribution with good Apps and some Hardening (Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, SUSE, Manjaro, Arch, Deepin, ...)
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Number 1, excellent privacy, security, anonymity
- Linux Distro
- Free • Open Source
- Linux
- Electrum
- Tor Browser
- GNOME
- Tor
- VeraCrypt
- Thunderbird
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Complex and very secure, based on containerizing everything to not leak any data
- Linux Distro
- Free • Open Source
- Linux
- Fedora
- Xen
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integrated into QubesOS, can be run as a VM on other OSses too. Consists of 2 virtual machines, the Gateway, that only channels outgoing traffic to the Tor network, and the main virtual machine with all the data. They dont know anything more about each other, for security reasons.
- Linux Distro
- Free • Open Source
- Linux
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Lots of Variants, KDE, GNOME, Silverblue/Kionite are made for Flatpak use (Flatpaks are not yet ready to be called secure!), RockyLinux is also based on RedHatEnterprise Linux and replaces the former CentOS, which is more stable than fedora, no bugs, but older,
- Linux Distro
- Free • Open Source
- Linux
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KDE, LXDE, XCFE, standard GNOME desktops, then there is Linux Mint, the parent Debian, KDE Neon, Vanilla Linux and more, all Debian or even Ubuntu based
- Linux Distro
- Free • Open Source
- Linux
Android Variants
GrapheneOS is the safest, it is optimized in many parts and the development focuses on security a lot. If you want to wipe your devices data on demand, it doesnt matter what custom OS you have, but it should be tracker-free.
If the Bootloader is unlocked, people can wipe and reinstall your device. Shouldnt be easier to get your data though.
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Place 1, most secure mobile OS available
Pro: very secure, relockable Bootloader, signed, hardened, lots of profiles, new updates (Android 13 currently)
Con: you need to fund a tracking company (Google), no customization
if you own a Pixel, get it! Installation is extremely easy (just 2 downloads and one klick on a script, if you dont use a Chromium-based Browser). Be careful about the security update span! https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-lifetime
- Android ROM
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
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Place 4: The most common custom ROM for Android, it is AOSP (Android Open Source Version) with minor additions. If you want fast network-based location, Google-services or Google-push, get "Lineage for microg".
Dont install Google apps as system apps onto it, if you should really need them, they can be installed as normal apps from the Playstore.
LineageOS is very customziable, but not very secure. The internet block for apps may be insecure. The Bootloader cant be locked, so anyone can wipe your device.
- Mobile OS
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
Online Tools
There are many tools you may use (a secure and private Browser!):
Desktop: Librewolf, Firefox (After configuration), Brave (after Configuration), Tor-Browser
Mobile: Mull, Bromite, Vanadium, Fennec, Tor-Browser
iOS: Firefox, Onion-Browser (they have to use Safaris engine though)
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.onion adress, useful for creating a really secure (free) mail. Situated in switzerland. If you dont have to pay them, they cant know who you are.
- WebMail Provider
- Freemium • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- iPad
- Tor
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You can pay by cash, they are really focussed on privacy, transparency and security, situated in Germany though.
- WebMail Provider
- Paid • Proprietary
- Online
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Mail provider, funded by Donations. In the USA though.
- WebMail Provider
- Free • Proprietary
- Online
- Tor
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This is less convenient as Nextcloud, but you dont havr to trust the server provider
- Word Processor
- Freemium • Open Source
- Self-Hosted
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
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If you have your own, this is a really comfortable solution. Only secure on an encrypted server with panic-mode (auto turning off)
- Cloud Storage Service
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Self-Hosted
- F-Droid
- Cloudron
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Another encrypted Videochat
- Video Calling App
- Free • Open Source
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Self-Hosted
- Apple Watch
- F-Droid
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Encrypted Videochat
- Web Conferencing Tool
- Free • Open Source
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- Chrome OS
- Self-Hosted
- Google Chrome
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Chromium
- Mozilla Firefox
Basics (Android)
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A customizable keyboard that has an integrated clipboard and the option to turn off user adaption at all. The keyboard can read everything you type, in every browser and messenger, so this is essential. Apps cant read the internal clipboard of Florisboard too, you have to activate it in the settings.
- Mobile Keyboard
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
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Configurable through your internet settings. DONT USE GOOGLES PRECONFIGURED DNS! This is also the case on LineageOS!
Otherwise every website you open will be processed by Google, of course this makes you transparent.
- DNS Resolver
- Free • Open Source
- Online
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Extremely good Camera app, has a ton of features. You can configure GPS tag on images, but they still contain your device name so use it with Imagepipe / Scrambled Exif when sharing.
- Camera App
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
Browsers
Firefox is the only common browser without a complete tracking company behind it. Prefer Firefox over Chromium-based ones, as Chromium breaks the liberty of the internet. In a dystopian future, if a site only works on Chromium, thats just how it is.
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If you dont know how to harden Firefox, just take Librewolf. It works normally, but all the nessecary security changes are already added.
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- AppImageHub
- Linux Mint
- Arch Linux
- Gentoo
- Flathub
- Fedora
- Ubuntu
- Debian
- OpenBSD
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Fastest updates, and a good browser. Using the Arkenfox modifications and the Addon "NoScript", you can make it very secure. If you dont want to check changes and set settings manually, use Librewolf.
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- BSD
- iPad
- AppImageHub
- Snapcraft
- Flathub
- PortableApps.com
- Haiku
- Flatpak
- Homebrew
- Chocolatey
- Gecko
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Hardened Firefox mobile, very secure for what it can. Most private browser for mobile apart from Tor-browser, still pretty fast
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- F-Droid
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Desktop: Available for all Linux distributions, as a binary install and Flatpak. Integrated into Tails and Whonix.
For Android you get it from the Guardian projects repo through Droid-ify. It is limited to what hardening you can apply to Firefox mobile, not as secure as Tor for Desktop!
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- OpenBSD
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Based on Chromium, hardened for privacy. No addon support, no customizability, no expert configs, no custom search engines, but Tabs are isolated from each other, so it is more secure than Firefox mobile. Security vs. Privacy is the problem on Android at the moment.
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
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"Tor Browser" for iOS. The only one you should use, there are a lot of duplicates! Doesnt allow video and audio because of Apple insecuritites.
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- iPhone
- iPad
Messaging
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Send encrypted SMS like it was Signal! Only works on Android and if the partner uses the app too. A Fork of Signal, which supported that in the past. It got dropped, because SMS is not private at all, only the content is!
- Instant Messenger
- Free • Open Source
- Android
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Very easy to use but powerful App for the Matrix protocol. Dont let it fool you, "matrix.org" is not "the Element server", there are hundreds, and you should choose one of them! https://joinmatrix.org/servers/
- Instant Messenger
- Freemium • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Self-Hosted
- Matrix.org
- Flathub
- F-Droid
- Cloudron
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Awesome Messenger supporting Android and Linux (Flatpak). Works through Bluetooth too and has a lot of security features.
- Instant Messenger
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- Flathub
- F-Droid
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In theory very secure. At the moment you cant delete sent messages from the blockchain, so dont use it!
- Instant Messenger
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- iPad
- F-Droid
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Secure easy to use mail client that can use PGP (OpenKeyChain) for encryption and signing
- Email Client
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
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Easy to use PGP app. Import your private keys, encrypt and decrypt files and more.
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
- K-9 Mail
Security
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Keepass Password manager that even supports fingerprint and can fill out forms in most browsers. (Firefox based work). Very good interface. Allows easy strong password creation and management. You nedd a password manager!
- Password Manager
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- F-Droid
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Very easy creation of an AES encrypted drive, that you open with a password and store wherever you want. Has an inbuilt camera, media viewer and more. Importing files or folders automatically asks to delete them on the unencrypted storage.
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- F-Droid
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Encrypt your cloud backups. Theoretically allows usinf whatever provider you want as everything online is encrypted. Prefer an encrypted backup for double security though (like Mega)
- Cloud Storage Service
- Freemium • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Flathub
- F-Droid
- Homebrew
- Chocolatey
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2FA, secured by a password, unlockable by fingerprint
- Authenticator
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- F-Droid
Anonymization
Tools to hide you, your data, your traffic e.g. The best ones need root (or a custom Operating system) and may cause speed problems.
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Like Orbot but way more complex. Allows DNSCrypt and I2P proxying too.
- Ad Blocker
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- I2P
- Tor
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Channel apps traffic through the Tor proxy. Doesnt have much sense if you use tracking apps like Instagram or login to accounts.
- VPN Service
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
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Most trustworthy VPN provider with Monero ability and no email or phone number requirement.
- VPN Service
- Paid • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Chrome OS
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- F-Droid
- WireGuard
- Qubes OS
- Tor
- OpenWrt
- Tomato
- IPFire
- pfSense
- OpenVPN
- DD-WRT