---
id: 'boiteaoutils'
part: 9
order: 16
title: 'The everyday toolbox'
---

<p class="part-num">
  PART 15 · REPLACE THE REST · <span class="lvl lvl-2">🟡</span>
</p>

## The everyday toolbox

Google and Apple are not just email: maps, notes, calendar, photos, video calls, everything is tied to your identity. Here's how to replace each brick, one at a time, without losing convenience.

<ToolCard tool="t-maps">
  <Fragment slot="tags">
    <span class="tool-tag">🟢 Beginner</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">Replaces Google Maps</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">🌍 · open-source</span>
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="what">
    Map and navigation apps, built on OpenStreetMap, that work offline.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="why">
    Google Maps logs every trip and builds a chillingly precise location history.{' '}
    <b>Organic Maps</b> tracks nothing and shows no ads; <b>OsmAnd</b> targets power users (hiking,
    contour lines, detailed navigation).
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="who">
    Everyone. Live traffic and transit are less complete than Google's, but everyday navigation is
    excellent.
  </Fragment>
  <ol slot="install">
    <li>Install from F-Droid, the App Store or Google Play.</li>
    <li>Download the maps of the regions you need in advance for offline use.</li>
  </ol>
</ToolCard>

<ToolCard tool="t-notes">
  <Fragment slot="tags">
    <span class="tool-tag">🟢🟡</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">Replaces Docs / Notion</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">🌍 · open-source</span>
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="what">
    End-to-end encrypted notes and documents, to replace Google Docs, Notion or Evernote.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="why">
    <b>Standard Notes</b> (by Proton) encrypts your notes by default. <b>Joplin</b> handles Markdown
    notebooks with optional encryption and the sync of your choice. <b>CryptPad</b> (French) offers
    a real-time, fully encrypted Google Docs equivalent.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="who">Everyone for notes; CryptPad for multi-person collaboration.</Fragment>
  <ol slot="install">
    <li>
      Standard Notes / Joplin: create an account, install the app, and enable encryption (on by
      default in Standard Notes, to switch on in Joplin).
    </li>
    <li>CryptPad: use cryptpad.fr or another instance, no account needed to start.</li>
  </ol>
</ToolCard>

<ToolCard tool="t-visio">
  <Fragment slot="tags">
    <span class="tool-tag">🟢🟡</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">Replaces Zoom / Meet</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">🌍 · open-source</span>
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="what">
    Video-conferencing tools with no account or heavy install, to replace Zoom, Google Meet or
    Teams.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="why">
    <b>Jitsi Meet</b> runs in the browser, no account, and can be self-hosted (it's also the basis
    of Brave Talk). <b>Element Call</b> is end-to-end encrypted and federated via Matrix. For a
    simple, fully encrypted call, <b>Signal</b> calls also do the job.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="who">
    Everyone. On a public Jitsi server, multi-party calls are transport-encrypted; end-to-end
    encryption is optional.
  </Fragment>
  <ol slot="install">
    <li>Jitsi: go to meet.jit.si, create a room name, share the link. Nothing to install.</li>
    <li>Element Call: from the Element (Matrix) app, start a call in a room.</li>
  </ol>
</ToolCard>

<ToolCard tool="t-photos">
  <Fragment slot="tags">
    <span class="tool-tag">🟡🔴</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">Replaces Google Photos</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">🌍 · open-source</span>
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="what">
    Two ways to keep your photos without handing them to Google or Apple.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="why">
    <b>Ente</b> is a managed, end-to-end encrypted service, with on-device recognition and search:
    simple and safe. <b>Immich</b> is a Google Photos clone you <b>host yourself</b> (face and
    object search included), for those comfortable running a server.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="who">
    Ente for everyone; Immich for self-hosters. Note: Immich is not end-to-end encrypted, its
    security depends on your server.
  </Fragment>
  <ol slot="install">
    <li>Ente: install the app, create an account, turn on automatic backup of your camera roll.</li>
    <li>
      Immich: deploy it on your server (see section 10) via Docker, then connect the mobile app.
    </li>
  </ol>
</ToolCard>

<ToolCard tool="t-alias">
  <Fragment slot="tags">
    <span class="tool-tag">🟢🟡</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">Email aliases</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">🌍 · open-source</span>
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="what">
    Disposable email aliases: a unique address per site, forwarding to your real inbox without ever
    revealing it.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="why">
    You stop giving out your real address everywhere. If a site is breached or spams you, you cut
    that one alias, and you instantly know who leaked your data. <b>SimpleLogin</b> is integrated
    with Proton; <b>addy.io</b> offers unlimited aliases on the free tier.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="who">
    Everyone, and especially pseudonymous accounts that want to compartmentalise their signups.
  </Fragment>
  <ol slot="install">
    <li>Create an account, install the browser extension.</li>
    <li>At each signup, generate a new alias instead of typing your real address.</li>
  </ol>
</ToolCard>

<ToolCard tool="t-backups">
  <Fragment slot="name">Encrypted backups</Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="tags">
    <span class="tool-tag">🟡🔴</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">Cryptomator · restic</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">🌍 · open-source</span>
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="what">
    A way to back up your phone and computer, encrypting the data <b>before</b> it leaves for any
    cloud.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="why">
    iCloud/Google backups are often accessible to the provider, and thus to courts.{' '}
    <b>Cryptomator</b> encrypts your files before sending them to any cloud; <b>restic</b> makes
    automatic encrypted backups; <b>Proton Drive</b> is end-to-end encrypted. On iPhone, enable
    "Advanced Data Protection" to encrypt your iCloud backups.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="who">
    Everyone should encrypt their backups. Golden rule: two encrypted copies, on two media, in two
    places.
  </Fragment>
  <ol slot="install">
    <li>iPhone: Settings &gt; your name &gt; iCloud &gt; Advanced Data Protection: turn it on.</li>
    <li>
      PC: install Cryptomator, create a vault, put your files in it before syncing to the cloud.
    </li>
  </ol>
</ToolCard>

<ToolCard tool="t-databrokers">
  <Fragment slot="name">Erase your data (GDPR)</Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="tags">
    <span class="tool-tag">🟡</span>
    <span class="tool-tag">Data brokers</span>
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="what">
    Getting your personal information removed from the "data brokers" that collect and resell it.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="why">
    In Europe, the GDPR (Article 17) gives you a <b>right to erasure</b>: you can demand, for free,
    that a company delete your data, in principle within a month. Services like <b>Incogni</b>{' '}
    automate these requests at scale, for a fee.
  </Fragment>
  <Fragment slot="who">
    Those who want to reduce their exposure. Note: data reappears over time, and this doesn't touch
    public records or social media. Doing it yourself is free but tedious.
  </Fragment>
  <ol slot="install">
    <li>For a manual request: write to the broker citing GDPR Article 17 and ask for deletion.</li>
    <li>
      To automate: subscribe to a removal service and let it send the requests on your behalf.
    </li>
  </ol>
</ToolCard>