Have you tried Pixelfed ?

https://pixelfed.org/

I use Simple File Manager Pro myself. It’s available on F-Droid. The code is licesned using GPLv3.0.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.filemanager.pro/

I use SearXNG.

You can pick an instance from here:

https://searx.space/

I use https://searx.namejeff.xyz/ myself because it’s based out of Switzerland and gets good grades.

I use KeePassXC. It allows me to have strong passwords; it supports 2FA; and I can backup the key databases.

My issue with closed source is we don’t know if it is insecure or secure because nobody can find out. It’s a pandora’s box of privacy and security. It may be the most private and secure code known to man or it may be sending anything and everything about you somewhere but we’ll never really know. As for public audits who picks who gets to audit the code ? The company who made it ? You can do as you please but I refuse to trust closed source code. I’m not saying all open source code is good but at least we can find out if it’s good or not through independant means rather than trusting people that the company who made it picks to tell us.

What keeps me from using Telegram is the server side is closed source; they have been known to work with governments; and been willing to censor content. There are enough better options that I have zero use for them.

While I can’t say I would have use for it myself I wish you luck and will spread it around where I can.

You can say how FOSS programs don’t equate to privacy because people may not catch things or be watching but with closed source options nobody gets to audit the code at all outside the project. How is that better for privacy ? FOSS at least gives us a chance at privacy.

I use an unnoficial Bitwarden app on Ubuntu Touch. I would prefer KeePassXC or KeePassDX as my go to password managers but have found no reason to distrust Bitwarden thus far.

Telegram is closed source on the server side. I don’t trust it. Lots of better options:

https://alternativeto.net/software/telegram/?license=opensource

I don’t use software made by the likes of Meta. I have plenty of better Twitter alternatives that I trust more.

I use Matrix; XMPP; Session; Jami; and am looking into Briar. Some of what the article says is valid but other parts are weird such as when they list Riot as “the Matrix client”. Matrix has many clients. I don’t use Riot at all. I use Fluffy Chat and Cinny Mainly. A lot of their list of issues don’t apply to me. For instance my phone number isn’t tied to my Matrix account and while they may get my IP I am usually on a VPN so that limits what they get. They talk of Matrix being centralized but that only really applies if you use the Matrix home server, there are many alternatives.

In the end they have some valid concerns but it really depends on what Matrix is being compared to. Even with these issues is it betetr than Discord for privacy and security ? Yes it is. Discord is clsoed source so nobody knows what it gives up or does in the background. No closed source program can be trusted over a FOSS option. If you want to trust any of the options I mentioned over Matrix then feel free to but don’t trust Discord over it.

I use both Tutanota and Protonmail and love both. Protonmail is based out of Switzerland where Tutanota is based out of Germany. Germany is part of fourteen eyes so I give the win to Proton there. Tutanota has lower prices. Tutanota has apps available in App Image and Flatpak for Linux where Proton is only in the AUR and as a .deb. Tutanota has an Android app on F-Droid where Protonmail you have to navigate their site to find a standalone apk. Both are on the Fediverse but Proton did leave for a while where Tutanota stayed and was more active. Overall both are good choices.

Your article neither lists what it deems as good alternatives to Linux; nor does it specifically say that what advice I gave was bad. It also lists people at the end as credible views of which half work for Google. Overall I don’t view your article as able to be trustworthy or really changes any views I have.

I don’t use Youtube; Chrome; or Google Search. I use Abrowser which doesn’t play with DRM so I don’t visit those sites. I use Ublock origin; Jshelter; Privacy Badger; and LibReDirect. I did this for years before even coming to this thread. It’s as simple as making choices which support your values. Google and the like will never change to support your values. Just ditch them and change your behavior.

Quitting from sites you despise is a better option than hopping from frontend to frontend in my view.

I already have enough content to watch between Peertube and Odysee. Youtube is dead to me.

This seems more like a good reason to not use default options than a reason to not use Garuda. Many distros have worse defaults than this.

I use Simple Dialer myself. It’s available on F-Droid.

I prefer Peertube over other alternatives although Odysee is a close second. I use Tilvids as my instance of choice:

https://tilvids.com/