My favourite apps for 2021
January 25, 2021•1,056 words
Below is a list of my favourite applications/services I use on a day to day basis.*
*Please note that not all of these products are privacy focused and I have not been paid or sponsored by any company to list these products.
In no particular order...
Bitwarden is my favourite password manager to date. I've been using Bitwarden for around 2 years now and I don't think I'll use any other password manager. The reason I love Bitwarden so much is that it's open-source and trustworthy. Unlike other popular password managers, Bitwarden also has an extremely cheap premium plan for $10 a year.
TorGuard is an underdog in the VPN space. Founded in 2012, TorGuard VPN has built a trustworthy reputation in the VPN market. I like TorGuard VPN because it has great speeds and packed with features. Unlike most other VPN services out there, TorGuard VPN allow users to have dedicated streaming IPs to bypass geo-restricted content. TorGuard VPN also have really fast servers and supports the WireGuard protocol for added speed and security. When using a dedicated streaming IP from TorGuard VPN, I've found the IPs to be consistent in bypassing Netflix geo-blocks and other streaming service restrictions because these services recognise the dedicated IP as a residential IP. TorGuard VPN also doesn't force customers into long term commitments with fake countdown timers (notably NordVPN) with shady and confusing pricing to make it look like you're getting a really good deal. TorGuard VPN has clear pricing (and very generous discount codes) and is on of the cheapest VPN services out there.
Authy is a really good two factor authenticator alternative to Google Authenticator. If you don't fully trust Google with your 2FA codes, then Authy is for you. I also find the application better looking than some of the others that are out there.
I'm so glad that I found Standard Notes. Standard Notes is the only place I feel safe to write my thoughts and feelings safely as the application is open-source and all notes are encrypted client side by default. When I first downloaded Standard Notes, I never thought I would use it. A year later, I am using it everyday to note down reminders, ideas, write blog posts (like this one) and keeping a personal journal. Ever since I started writing down things in Standard Notes, I feel I have gotten more productive in the things I am doing. The Standard Notes team are great too. They're really friendly and knowledgeable and care about the community they've built.
This is probably a something people who personally know me would not of expected to be on this list. I cannot deny the fact that I love Wikipedia. In fact, I've been donating to Wikipedia for the past 3 years because I believe in the vision that knowledge should be free for all, and Wikipedia stands for that. I am always wanting to find more information and gain more knowledge about anything that sparks my interest and Wikipedia is one of go to places for it. I know that people say that Wikipedia can be unreliable but I believe that opinion is no longer relevant for most topics. Information on the website has gotten more accurate in recent years and therefore I have more trust in Wikipedia.
NewPipe is an open-source YouTube alternative for Android. I like NewPipe because it doesn't use any of Google's framework libraries or the YouTube API itself. It also makes YouTube Premium irrelevant because NewPipe has all of the features from YouTube Premium that's locked behind a paywall for free. I can listed to videos in background mode and download those videos through the app and not have to pay £11.99 per month to do so.
Many people who know me, know I love wrestling. For years I've watched WWE and I've even attended a couple of their live events including Monday Night RAW. For the price, WWE Network is really good value (especially for UK fans) because the subscription includes live pay-per-views for £9.99 per month, instead of paying the inflated box office prices. WWE Network also includes a massive catalogue of archived content and original progamming.
Out of any product on this list, I definitely use Spotify more than the rest. I've been using this music service for years as I just love listening to music. I've tried other music services like Deezer and Tidal but they didn't quite meet my expectations like Spotify does. I honestly think Spotify knows more about my music tastes than I know myself. (Take that as a good thing or a bad thing)
Vgy.me is a free image hosting website. It's super simple to use and it even supports ShareX.
This list is being updated. Please check back later for updates.
Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash