Technology is not neutral. Most apps on our phones are not designed in the interest of the public, with our health and well-being in mind. Instead, they are designed based on economic interests: increasing shareholder value by selling you services or by selling your data.
Tech companies are also subject to (geo)political interests. For instance, we saw Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg shift to the far right after the election of Donald Trump, by doing away with content moderation and fact-checking. Progressive pages from abortion providers were also suddenly blocked by the platform. Earlier, we saw that Twitter/X became a hotbed of disinformation, hate and political manipulation after Elon Musk's takeover.
15 alternative apps that are better for your privacy and wellbeing
Luckily, there are apps available that are not-for-profit and privacy-friendly. Check out our list below:
- Mastodon to stay connected, follow updates by interesting sources and join online public debate
- Signal for private (group) messaging
- Jitsi for online video meetings
- The Drip App or Fertility Friend to track your menstrual / fertility cycle
- Open Street Map & Wikiloc for navigation
- Pocket Casts or AntennaPod to subscribe and listen to podcasts
- Free OTP or Aegis for extra two-factor authentication security on your phone
- Element as a large chat server with seperate rooms for your workplace or friend group
- FairMail or Thunderbird as an open-source e-mail app
- PixelFed for sharing photos and video reels in a decentralized way
- HappyCow to look for nearby vegan and vegetarian places
- FitoTrack to track your running, cycling or hiking workouts
- Immich or EntePhotos as private photo and video cloud storage
- DuckDuckGo as a privacy-oriented search engine
- Firefox or Tor to privately and securely browse the internet
- BookWyrm as your book logging and reviewing app instead of Amazon Goodreads
What do you use?
Have you found a good alternative to a big tech app that should not be missing from our list? Let us know by joining the discussion on Mastodon! If you don't have an account yet, you can visit Waag's very own instance: https://waag.social.
Create an account on waag.social
Getting a grip on technology
The problem is not only in your apps, but also in the operating system, hardware, and cloud you are connected to. It affects your privacy, your health and our planet. Want to read more about alternative technology and ways to escape the power of big tech? Then check out our Grip on Technology page.
