Software - FOSS Central

Recommended Software

This selection of recommended software and web services will help you improve your security and online privacy by giving you the opportunity to discover various open-source projects, privacy protections, and secure alternatives to major services we all use and love.

Note: Because this website is still under construction, some sections here may be incomplete. Don't hesitate to post an issue on Github if you want to help out !

AllDesktopPhoneWeb

Browser Extensions

The web has become very important in our daily lives, but it is filled with invisible trackers, malicious sites, and annoying ads. Use these web extensions, available in all major browsers, to protect yourself from those threats.

uBlock Origin

uBlock Origin is a fast, open-source ad blocker designed to protect you from various trackers and block annoying ads on webpages. It is very efficient and customizable. Open.

Ad blocker Open Source

ClearURLs

This open-source extension automatically removes tracking elements often found in redirection and other URLs, in order to protect your privacy without breaking websites. Open.

Tracker blocker Open Source

Privacy Badger

Privacy Badger is an open-source extension that automatically learns to block invisible trackers on the net. It efficiently complements list-based ad blockers like uBlock by protecting you from unknown web trackers. Open.

Tracker blocker Open Source

HTTPS Everywhere

HTTPS Everywhere is an open-source extension that forces websites to use an encrypted HTTPS connection when you visit them, in order to prevent the data in pages you visit from being publicly available. Open.

Encryption Open Source

DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials

DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials is a multi-purpose privacy extension that roughly combines the capabilities of Privacy Badger and HTTPS everywhere. While very convenient, it does not seem to be as effective as Privacy Badger at blocking trackers. Open.

Multipurpose Open Source

Online Videos

Avoid Youtube

We have become increasingly reliant on Youtube to watch online videos, but other more privacy-respecting platforms now exist to do that. Discover unique content or watch Youtube videos anonymously using these alternative platforms...

Invidious

Invidious allows you to browse and watch Youtube videos anonymously. By creating an account on an Invidious instance, you'll also be able to import your playists subscriptions. Open.

Youtube videos Web app Private & Open Source

Peertube

Peertube is a private and decentralised platform to watch and share videos. When logging in to an instance, you will be able to rate and comment videos on many other instances. Open.

Unique content Web app Private & Open Source

LBRY

LBRY is a open-source, private, and decentralised digital marketplace to watch videos and other unique content created by its dedicated community. Open.

Unique content All platforms Private & Open Source

Newpipe

Newpipe is an Android app to privately watch Youtube videos. It allows you to locally keep track of your history, create playlists, listen to music in audio-only mode, and download videos. It also connects to other platforms such as Peertube and Soundcloud. Open.

Youtube videos Android Private & Open Source

Freetube

Freetube is a desktop app allowing you to privately watch Youtube videos, with a local history, subscriptions, and playlist system. Freetube is currently in beta, but a complete rewrite is ongoing. Open.

Youtube videos All desktops Private & Open Source

Social Networks

Avoid Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat...

Social networks have become an integral part of our digital lives, but they have also become extremely thirsty of user data. With very bad privacy practices, regular hacks and data leaks, and an annoying ability to lock us down on their platforms, most major social networks should be replaced by free and open-source alternatives.

Mastodon

Mastodon is a free, open-source and decentralized social network to connect with your friends. Every Mastodon instance is managed by an independent community, with various instances focusing on different topics and giving their users freedom and flexinility. Open.

Decentralized All platforms Private & Open Source

PixelFed

As Mastodon, PixelFed is a part of Fediverse. It's an instagram alternative. Open.

Decentralized Web app Private & Open Source

Diaspora

Diaspora is a decentralized social network focusing on user privacy and digital freedom. With many instances covering various topics, diaspora is an open-source project managed by the non-profit Diaspora Foundation. Open.

Decentralized Web app Private & Open Source

Gab

Gab is an open-source web browser and social network championing free speech and individual liberty. Open.

Free speech Web app Private & Open Source

Minds

Minds is a free and open-source social network focusing on privacy, transparency and decentralization. It uses blockchain to reward their users through various means, and is dedicated to fighting global surveillance and censorship. Open.

Blockchain All platforms Private & Open Source

Online Chat

Avoid Messenger, Hangouts, Skype...

Online chat platforms are really useful, but their (bad) privacy and security practices shouldn't be ignored. Use one of these alternatives for private and more secure conversations.

Signal

Open.

All platforms Private & Open Source

Element

Open.

All platforms Private & Open Source

Open.

All platforms Privacy friendly

Silence

Open.

Android Private & Open Source

Search Engines

Avoid Google, Bing, Yahoo...

If you want to search the web without being spied on and without being locked into an echo chamber, we highly suggest you to try these search engines. They all come with powerful search tools and strong privacy practices.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engines compiling results from several sources. It offers all the standard web search tools, plus enriched web results and instant answers for a wide variety of queries, ranging from song lyrics to programming answers. Open.

Multiple sources Web app Privacy friendly

Qwant

Qwant is another privacy oriented serach engine created in France. It comes with all the standard search tools and a custom news section, but its dedicated maps and music services really makes it stick out of the crowd. Open.

Mostly own results Web app Privacy friendly

Searx

Searx is an open-source and decentralized search engine that pulls its results from multiple, customizable sources. It comes with a strong privacy policy. Open.

Multiple sources Web app Open Source

Startpage

Startpage redistributes google results in an anonymized fashion. it comes with good privacy practices and comes with a unique "anonymous view" feature to peek at websites without them ever knowing about it. Open.

Google results Web app Privacy friendly

Web Browsers

Avoid Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge...

Web browers are the portal that we use to connect to the web. ...

Firefox

Text Open.

All platforms Private & Open Source

Chromium

Text Open.

All desktops Private & Open Source

Brave

Text Open.

All platforms Private & Open Source

Tor

Text Open.

All platforms Private & Open Source

Cloud Providers

Avoid Dropbox, Google Drive, Onedrive...

While they are very convenient, cloud providers like Dropbox and Google Drive have very bad privacy policies that enable them to possibly see the files you upload there, and aren't very secure. The following replacements offer better security and strong privacy practices.

Nextcloud

Open.

All platforms Private & Open Source

Mail Providers

Avoid Gmail

Nowadays, free mail prividers like Gmail actively scan emails to offer you relevant ads, and internet proividers can't all be trusted with private communications. If you need a truly secure email adress, try one of the services below.

Protonmail

Protonmail is a Suiss-based, secure and open-source mail provider. Offering 500MB of storage with a free account, Protonmail uses end-to-end encryption to protect your communications, so even the creators can't access your data. Open.

All platforms Private & Open Source

Tutanota

Tutanota is a great open-source and secure mail provider. Along with its modern and ergonomic client, Tutanota lets you create a private calendar and contact list, and offers 1GB of storage with a free account. Tutanota also uses end-to-end encryption. Open.

All platforms Private & Open Source

Mail Clients

Avoid Gmail, Outlook

In order to fuel "smart" functionnalities in mail clients, big corporations collect unreasonable amounts of data about their users and private communications. Choosing a more privacy-respecting mail client is key to your digital freedom.

Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a free and open-source mail client created by Mozilla. Completely private, it is a full featured mail client which allows you to save your mails in order to work offline. Open.

All desktops Private & Open Source

K9 Mail

K9 Mail is a free and secure Android mail client. Completely open-source, K9 recently received a complete redesign in order to be more modern and ergonomic. Open.

Android Private & Open Source

Fair Email

Fair Email is a great free and open-source mail client for Android. Focusing on privacy, Fair Email offers all the fetures you expect to get in a modren mail client. Open.

Android Private & Open Source

Operating Systems

Avoid Windows, Mac, Android

Text

Linux

Text Learn more.

All devices Private & Open Source

BSD

Text Learn more.

Desktop Private & Open Source

AOSP

Android Open Source Project without Google apps and services or any fork like LineageOS, GrapheneOS or other alternatives...

Phone Private & Open Source