Switch away from Big Tech
You do not have to leave everything at once. Pick one thing you rely on a Big Tech company for, and swap it for something that does not watch you. Each one below points to the alternatives we recommend.
Leave Google
One company holds your mail, your searches, your files, your photos, your location, and your phone. Take the pieces back one at a time.
Gmail Alternatives
Google reads your mail to build a profile and feed its ad machine. Your inbox is the most sensitive account you own, so it is the first thing to move.
Chrome Alternatives
The most-used browser on earth is built by the company that makes its money watching what you do online. The browser is the wrong place to trust an ad company.
Google Search Alternatives
Every search is logged and tied to you. A search engine does not need to keep a file on you to answer a question.
Google Drive Alternatives
Your documents sit unencrypted on Google's servers, scannable by Google and anyone who compels Google. Storage should be encrypted so only you can read it.
Google Docs Alternatives
Everything you write lives on Google's servers in the clear. There are office suites that keep your work yours.
Google Calendar Alternatives
Your schedule is a map of your life: who you meet, where, and when. Google does not need that map.
Google Keep Alternatives
Your notes are your private thoughts. They should be encrypted, not another feed for Google's profile of you.
Google Photos Alternatives
Google scans your photos, faces and all. Your family album should not train anyone's systems.
Google Maps Alternatives
Maps is one of the biggest location trackers ever built. You can navigate without handing over everywhere you go.
YouTube Alternatives
Owned by Google, ruled by its algorithm and its rules on what you may say. There are platforms that do not answer to it.
Android Alternatives
Stock Android phones home to Google constantly, from the moment you turn them on. The phone itself is the deepest layer to fix.
Google DNS (8.8.8.8) Alternatives
Every site you visit is a DNS lookup. Point them at Google and Google sees the lot. A private resolver keeps that list out of their hands.
Leave Meta
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger all report to the same company built on tracking people. Cut the cords.
WhatsApp Alternatives
The messages are encrypted, but Meta still sees who you talk to, when, and how often, and ties it to your Facebook self. The metadata is the point.
Facebook Messenger Alternatives
A Meta chat app wired straight into the ad business. Move your conversations somewhere that does not sell you.
Facebook Alternatives
The original surveillance network. There are places to post and follow that do not exist to profile you.
Instagram Alternatives
Same company, same tracking, aimed at your photos and habits. You can share without feeding Meta.
Leave Microsoft
Windows and Office quietly moved from software you bought to services that watch you. Here is the way out.
Outlook.com Alternatives
Microsoft's webmail scans and profiles like the rest. Your mail deserves a provider whose business is privacy, not ads.
Microsoft 365 / Office Alternatives
Office is now a cloud service that phones home. There are suites that let you write and edit without the telemetry.
OneDrive Alternatives
Your files, unencrypted, on Microsoft's servers. Swap it for storage only you can open.
Microsoft Edge Alternatives
Edge sends a stream of data back to Microsoft by default. A browser should work for you, not report on you.
Bing Alternatives
Another logged, profiled search engine. Search without being on the record.
Leave Apple
Apple markets privacy, and does better than most, but it still holds your files, photos and messages under its own keys. You can hold your own.
iCloud Drive Alternatives
iCloud is convenient, but Apple holds the keys and can be compelled to hand data over. End-to-end encrypted storage keeps the keys with you.
iCloud Photos Alternatives
Your photo library sits under Apple's control. Move it somewhere only you can decrypt.
Safari Alternatives
Safari is better than most, but it is still Apple's window on your browsing. A privacy-first browser goes further.
Apple Maps Alternatives
Better than Google Maps on privacy, but still a location service tied to your Apple account. There are maps that need no account at all.
iMessage Alternatives
Fine between iPhones, but green-bubble texts fall back to plain SMS, and it locks you to Apple. A cross-platform encrypted app frees you.