Most of us are so used to the apps we rely on, it's easy to stop thinking about how they work and what they do with our data. Most free services make their money from ads, and that means collecting data about our likes, our online activities, and our app usage.
There are better options: apps that will keep your data safe from unwelcome visitors and eager advertisers. And they might fit into your daily routine more easily than you expect.
Of course, Apple and Google take different approaches to user privacy—Apple makes money by selling hardware, whereas Google makes money selling ads, and that requires a lot of data collection and profiling. Even though Google promises to keep your actual personal data private, it does sell ads against the profile it creates.By comparison, a lot of Apple's apps are already fairly well locked down from a privacy standpoint: Safari, Mail, Apple Maps, and so on. However, we've avoided both Apple and Google in this rundown to give you options across multiple devices and platforms.Signal for Messaging
Firefox for Web Browsing