{"id":62783,"date":"2018-08-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foxtail\/2018\/08\/07\/privacy-apps\/"},"modified":"2018-08-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T00:00:00","slug":"privacy-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven apps that put privacy first"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nothing online is quite as important as making sure that your privacy is secure and respected by the platforms you choose to carry out your day-to-day tasks. It is no secret, especially in light of recent revelations regarding those platforms, that some services stand to gain more from exploiting your personal information rather than protecting it. That said, there are a number of apps and services whose operations are based around a commitment to being a reliable source of privacy and security for their consumers. Here are a few distinguished examples:<\/p>\n

DuckDuckGo<\/h2>\n

Being entirely anonymous when you search the internet today isn\u2019t easy, but using the search engine DuckDuckGo<\/a> gets you closer. Their privacy policy in a nutshell? We don’t collect or share personal information.<\/i><\/a> Instead of tracking, saving and sharing your history, DuckDuckGo processes searches using a redirect method that shields your personal information. For example, when you click on a search result in a typical search engine, your personal information is provided to that site, which can allow them to see your search terms. But with DuckDuckGo, the redirect hides your search from the site you go to.<\/p>\n

Websites won\u2019t know what has been searched for, only that someone has accessed their site. Essentially, there is no way to track your search history because DuckDuckGo does not log IP addresses or user agents. Encryption (HTTPS) is used to further ensure that search terms will not be sent to other sites. The search engine\u2019s default setting does not use cookies, unless the user goes into the preferences and change it. Additionally, when searches are made, the engine goes ahead and clears results that are riddled with advertisements, offering up clutter-free results instead.<\/p>\n

Firefox offers DuckDuckGo as one of the available default engines<\/a>, which is appealing for user who do not want to be tracked online.<\/p>\n

ProtonMail<\/h2>\n

There is something extremely creepy about knowing that emails between you and your best friend might be read by a third party. Google, for example, has confirmed that some third-party apps can connect to Gmail, allowing human developers to read the contents.<\/a> With ProtonMail<\/a>, on the other hand, end-to-end encryption (HTTPS<\/a>) makes certain that only the sender and receiver have access to their email contents. Not even ProtonMail itself has the ability to gain access to their users\u2019 mail.<\/p>\n

WeTransfer<\/h2>\n

Founded in the Netherlands and used by people around the globe, WeTransfer<\/a> adheres to a strict code of privacy and data protection by default, abiding by the Dutch Personal Protection Act<\/a>. All files are encrypted when being transferred, as well as when they are being stored. Only the sender and the recipient have access to the files via a unique link that only they receive. Per WeTransfer\u2019s privacy policy, the platform does not scan the contents of any of the files that are shared through their service. You can even choose to get a link to share the files yourself without providing any email addresses. Plus, WeTransfer is a community-minded organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Medium<\/h2>\n

Unlike so many platforms that collect user data to sell to advertisers, Medium<\/a> does not make money off of its customers in that fashion. The information they collect is limited to making Medium a more personalized service, combating spam on their platform and understanding what features people prefer. Medium does not send information about you to third parties for advertising purposes,<\/a> essentially meaning that Medium will not sell you out for a profit. Medium also isn\u2019t interested in what you do outside of their network, and so they do not track your online activity outside of the platform. When you leave Medium, they don\u2019t follow you across the web.<\/p>\n

Signal<\/h2>\n

It seems obvious that private communication should be kept between the people who are involved, yet that is not always the case. With a service like Signal<\/a>, which provides end-to-end encryption for messaging and voice-calling, private communication can be achieved. Like many of its privacy-respecting counterparts, Signal does not and will not sell your information to third-parties for revenue. Privacy is at the core of Signal\u2019s mission, and they do not view any of the messages sent via its services.<\/p>\n

Tor Project<\/h2>\n

Similar to DuckDuckGo, the Tor browser<\/a> is committed to providing people with anonymity. The browser is based on Firefox, and shares about 95% of Firefox\u2019s code. That extra 5% allows Tor to implement further privacy protections for its users. Tor routes your traffic through proxies to hide your IP address, and search histories are always immediately deleted\u2015they cannot be viewed by anyone who uses your computer.<\/a> Tor bounces signals around several times to ensure untraceability for its users, which does make the experience a bit slower. Like all the other services that value privacy, Tor does not make any profit by selling information about its consumers to advertisers.<\/p>\n

Firefox Focus<\/h2>\n

And last, but most certainly not least, there is Firefox Focus<\/a>, the mobile browser dedicated to privacy. With Firefox Focus, you can rest assured that your web activity is not being tracked by your phone or tablet\u2019s browser, and your history and cookies are erased when you close it. Additionally, content blocking shields users from advertisements that embed hidden data collection trackers. As a result, the browser is quite fast because there is less content to load.<\/p>\n

~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ~<\/p>\n

What do you think? What apps and services do a great job of protecting your privacy?<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Meet Firefox Quantum<\/h2>\n

A powerful, new engine that\u2019s built for rapidfire performance. Better, faster page loading that uses less computer memory. Gorgeous design and smart features for intelligent browsing. Get the new Firefox.<\/a> Fast for good.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nothing online is quite as important as making sure that your privacy is secure and respected by the platforms you choose to carry out your day-to-day tasks. It is no secret, especially in light of recent revelations regarding those platforms, that some services stand to gain more from exploiting your personal information rather than protecting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":727,"featured_media":21631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,289374],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n7 apps that put your privacy first - Internet Citizen | Mozilla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here are seven apps and services that are committed to being a reliable source of privacy and security, including search engines, email providers, browsers and more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/\",\"name\":\"7 apps that put your privacy first - Internet Citizen | Mozilla\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2017\/06\/firefox-focus-privacy.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-07T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-07T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5c987afc4f606be73692d2acfdd1316c\"},\"description\":\"Here are seven apps and services that are committed to being a reliable source of privacy and security, including search engines, email providers, browsers and more.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2017\/06\/firefox-focus-privacy.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/278\/files\/2017\/06\/firefox-focus-privacy.png\",\"width\":780,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/privacy-apps\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Seven apps that put privacy first\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/\",\"name\":\"The Mozilla Blog\",\"description\":\"News and Updates about Mozilla\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5c987afc4f606be73692d2acfdd1316c\",\"name\":\"M.J. 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