My Top 30 Sovereignty Apps

pavol.luptak@paralelnipolis.cz

About me

• Crypto-anarchist and voluntaryist focused on technology and society hacking.
• Global citizen and perpetual traveller (with the residency in Panama and Paraguay)
• Involved in IT security more 20 years (founder of IT security companies nethemba.com and hacktrophy.com)
• Digital privacy activist and Internet freedom fighter
• Co-founder of hackerspace Progressbar, Paralelní Polis and Parallel Polis
• The organiser of the best HCPP conference in the world :-)

Firstly, why Android I?

Why yes:

• It is open-source - easily and completely auditable what is crucial for security (iOS, Blackberry, Windows Mobile are proprietary closed-source platforms) - you know there isn't anything hidden that might violate your privacy (e.g. Carrier IQ)
• There is a "privacy-aware" Android distribution - Lineage OS / Replicant that has removed any Google spying functionality & includes incognito mode, torification etc.
• It supports all advanced Linux security features (e.g. SELinux, full disk encryption, etc.)

Why not:

• iOS marketplace is more conservative, it may contain less malware/trojans than Android app repositaries

 Why Android II?

Privacy-aware Android distributions

• Lineage OS for microG https://lineage.microg.org/#
  • mainly old smartphones are supported
• 100% Free Software distribution https://replicant.us/
  • mainly old smartphones are supported
• An opensource version of Google Play services https://microg.org/
• Opensource package manager with a lot of opensource applications https://f-droid.org/
• Hardened Android https://copperhead.co/android/ (Google Pixel and Pixel 2 are only supported) - replaced by https://grapheneos.org/ with Android 11 support now!

Password managers:

Dashlane (1)

https://www.dashlane.com/

• Of course, the best opensource is KeePass
• Dashlane is a commercial application, but with
  • great user experience
  • supporting all operating systems and browsers
  • password sharing
  • password analysis
  • Dark Web Monitoring and VPN

Two-factor authenticators

Authy (2)

https://authy.com/

• Commercial reliable app

FreeOTP Authenticator (3)

https://freeotp.github.io/

• Open-source available at F-Droid

Privacy-aware browsers

Brave (4)

https://brave.com/

• Mobile version doesn't support Tor private window
• It blocks effectively most advertisements
• BAT tokens and related ads can be disabled

Fennec F-Droid (5)

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/

• The latest Firefox with removed all proprietary bits found in official Mozilla's builds

Decentralized mesh network apps

Bridgefy (6)

https://bridgefy.me/

• Communicate & work using decentralized mesh networks (wifi & Bluetooth) instead of the Internet, during large events, natural disasters, schools, and much more

• Used during demonstrations by Hong Kong / Belarus protesters

Privacy-aware search engines

DuckDuckGo (7)

https://duckduckgo.com/

• Unlike Google, the DuckDuckGo never store your personal information or display ads. No tracking at all

• It is not so powerful like Google, but highly usable in these days

Opensource privacy-aware Facebook and Twitter front-ends

Face Slim (8)

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.indywidualni.fblite/

• FaceSlim is free of spyware, unlike what is built into the official Facebook and Facebook Messenger applications

Twidere (9)

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mariotaku.twidere/

• Twitter/Mastodon/StatusNet/Fanfou app free of ads

Open-source Android application repository

F-Droid (10)

https://www.f-droid.org/

• F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform.
• Thanks to F-Droid you can completely stay out of Google services (including Google Play) if you use Lineage OS or Graphene OS

Anonymous mobile number service provider 

Hushed (11)

https://hushed.com/

• Using BTC you can buy an anonymous mobile number in many countries (including the US/UK/Canada/Puerto Rico)
• Some countries (e.g. the Czech Republic or Slovakia) require a proof-of-address verification
• With DualSpace you can create a separate instance of your favourite messenger app associated with your anonymous Hushed number and route all traffic through Tor (thanks to Orbot)

Anonymization networks

I2P(12)

https://geti2p.net/en/

Orbot (13) 

https://guardianproject.info/apps/orbot/

• Both apps allow you to connect to Tor/I2P anonymization network (including Onion/I2P addresses)
• You can explicitly choose apps you want to torify (e.g. DualSpace cloned apps - secure messengers associated with an anonymous number)

Privacy-aware crypto wallets

Incognito Wallet(14)

https://we.incognito.org/t/wallet/336

• Multi-currency, multi-purpose privacy wallet. Send and receive assets anonymously.
• Buy and sell confidentially without KYC. Enable privacy for all your cryptocurrencies and all your crypto activities.

Phoenix (15)

https://phoenix.acinq.co/

• Phoenix runs natively on Lightning, non-custodial, easy to use

Privacy-aware crypto wallets II

Monerujo(16)

https://www.monerujo.io/

• Monero wallet with the power of the XMR.to service
• Monerujo can be used to make both XMR / BTC payments - just scan the given QR code or paste the BTC address into the send field, and the magic happens seamlessly in the background.

Samourai(17)

https://samouraiwallet.com/

• modern bitcoin wallet hand forged to keep your transactions private your identity masked and your funds secured
• thwart blockchain based surveillance and censorship

Secure Video Calls

Jitsi Meet(18)

https://meet.jit.si/

• ​Probably the best open-source video conference system
• You can host it on your own server and therefore make secure video calls without any 3rd parties!
• Using Jibri recording or streaming services, you can record all your video calls (and/or store them in Dropbox)

SSH and VPN secure access services

JuiceSSH (19)

https://juicessh.com/

• ​The top free SSH client for Android (for those who still use a command line :-)
• Can be used for SSH tunnels, SOCKS procies

ProtonVPN (20)

https://protonvpn.com/

• A lot of supported countries, Secure Cores (two nodes), Tor exit nodes, very fast, can be bought anonymously by crypto 

Privacy enhancers

Jumbo (21)

https://jumboprivacy.com/

• Increase the security of your Google, Facebook, and other internet and social media account, monitor the dark web for data breaches, reduce the number of unwanted robocalls
• Reduce your digital footprint (Delete old Tweets from Twitter, remove old Facebook posts, delete voice recordings from Alexa , Remove old photos from Instagram)
• Limit tracking- turn off Facebook’s facial recognition feature, limit Google’s use of your search history, protect your data from being used by Google and Facebook for ads and advertisers
• Prevent data leaks, restrict what info your Facebook profile shows to the public, restrict who can tag you on Facebook, etc.

Open-source offline maps

MAPS.ME / Osmand+ (22)

https://maps.me/

https://osmand.net/

• Both apps use OpenStreetMaps maps and do not track you
• MAPS.ME has a better usability, OsmAnd+ is more geek
• There are a lot of modules to both apps

Host-based firewalls

NetGuard (23)

https://netguard.me/

• NetGuard provides simple and advanced ways to block access to the internet - no root required.

• Applications and addresses can individually be allowed or denied access to your Wi-Fi and/or mobile connection.

• Blocking access to the internet can help

  • reduce your data usage

  • save your battery

  • increase your privacy

Ad-free YouTube app

NewPipe (24)

https://newpipe.schabi.org/

• Original YouTube experience on your smartphone without annoying ads and questionable permissions
• Unlike the official YouTube app, NewPipe can run on the background (and playing music)
• It is definitely a reason why to install F-Droid open-source repository

Google services open-source alternatives

Nextcloud (25)

https://nextcloud.com/

• The self-hosted productivity platform that keeps you in control

• Share and collaborate on documents, send and receive an e-mail, manage your calendar and have video chats without data leaks

• As a fully on-premises solution, Nextcloud Hub provides the benefits of online collaboration without compliance and security risks.

Secure mail clients

r2mail2 (26)

https://r2mail2.com/

• The most robust secure e-mail client with full PGP and S/MIME support (unlike K9-Mail), fully encrypted storage

ProtonMail (27)

https://protonmail.com/

• The secure webmail service hosted in Switzerland
• Can be paid by Bitcoins
• Natively support of PGP (all emails inside of ProtonMail are PGP end-to-end encrypted, non-PGP non-ProtonMail users can still use passphrases to decrypt their emails)

Secure messengers

Signal (28)

https://signal.org/en/

Threema (29)

https://threema.ch/en

Status (30)

https://status.im/

• All the above projects are modern, open-source, secure messengers with end-to-end encryption
• Signal requires a phone number, Status is decentralized

Thanks for your attention!