I recently told you that I only use Apple apps and why I do that. A short list. I think that’s interesting.
How do I get an account of my use?
Since my privacy has always been an important part of my life, so I have spent many years studying how I want to include apps in my devices. In this sense, I learned quite a few things, and in addition, Apple added more tools to keep up with the work.
The first thing I’ve looked at before considering an application is the privacy report. If I don’t see big data collected, I’ll probably see much data collected; but if I do not see data related to you, like a user and diagnostic data, I usually work out.
As soon as I install the application, I have to check this. Go to my firewall to see what is blocking. As a security guard, I use the Lockdown app, which allows me to configure my own rules, as well as much more. How do I get Lockdown, look for the block history, look at the app Im looking at, and see what new requests have been blocked. Here Facebook logins often trigger alarms, sometimes by charts or at Google, either with firebase or with various APIs, a matter of the whole time.
The truth is that blocked connections cause terrible problems to me. I’m hoping for a better understanding of how the mobile app works. If you like it, or if it’s essential to my daily life, you block what I consider and continue, but once again, it’ll usually be eliminated.
I have a tendency to use the app for a few days. Then go to Settings and Security > App Privacy Report. I can’t access data and sensors since, in general, I refuse to access from the mobile app to everything, but I listen to the network a lot, too. Here I study how the app connects and my firewall doesn’t filter. Once they do it I block whatever connections I find appropriate, always checking that the app continues to work without them, either I keep the app or delete it.
Once I complete that process, I establish with confidence that I can use the application, and the equipment that I use most to take.
What apps should I use?
So let’s talk about the tools I use. It’s possible that most of these are universal applications, or, at least, available on all devices. It’s something I really appreciate to simplify the experience and focus on a few applications. The list’s one which is a list.
- NorthVPN: my go-to VPN for years, always installed on all my devices and always connected to my servers.
- iA: The application to write all of my articles. Both in Apple and other media. All the same happens with the cloud in real time.
- Soft is the communication tool used by Webedia to coordinate and that I have also adapted to receive notifications from sources that interest me.
- 1Blocker: my essentials: the content filter.
- The vinegar is an application that replaces the YouTube player with the system one. This is ideal for iOS and Safari with PiP, while integrating with the whole Apple ecosystem.
- Brave: a third-party browser I use for an app, such as Twitter, so cookie and usage aren’t at all harmful to Safari. On Mac, I replace it with Safari Optimum – with the same objective.
- Compressing: my firewall application.
- Photo editing software is the tool used, like example, for the editing of images for each article that I publish. It’s only for Mac and iPad. When I use the iPhone, I use a Pixelmator to replace it.
- Procreate: a great drawing app that I use on the iPad exclusively.
- Uber is for traveling. Only by your iPhone and with a multitude of faulty connections.
- My trusted banking institution is the wisest. Multi-currency with the possibility of creating virtual cards for any transaction and of which I’ve only to block an in-cogether connection to Google’s Mixpanel.
I can explain that a few years ago Wise connected to Facebook during a startup. I realized that and wrote it to the app developer. They removed that connection within weeks. Something similar happened to iA Writer, which connected with revenuecat (something I blocked) but stopped doing that at the last update. This drives me to report the applications periodically, and to adapt based on what I find.
As far as I’ve known, privacy is always an important aspect of mine. I like to know, as much as possible, what will happen to my data. The confidence I build in my use of the services is something that I think I seriously enjoy. Doing something differently is fine, it’s not my choice, I would say that the best way is to focus the responsibilities and give the all my tools, the security, and the freedom of mind.