Tools & app swaps.
Everything we set up on the phones we ship — and everything you can do yourself, for free. We'll always tell you where we earn a penny and where we don't.
Proton VPN
we may earnVPN + the wider Proton privacy suite (Mail, Pass, Drive)
Swiss-built, audited, and they relocate rather than weaken encryption. Our main recommendation.
NordVPN
we may earnFast, mainstream VPN with a big server network
A solid, well-known option if you want maximum speed and coverage.
Mullvad
we earn £0No-account, flat-rate VPN (pay with cash if you like)
We rate it and earn nothing from saying so — they refuse affiliate schemes on principle. That should tell you something.
Incogni
we may earnGets your details deleted from data-broker lists
Does the tedious removal work for you, on repeat. On-brand and genuinely useful.
Proton Pass
we may earnPassword manager from the Proton suite
Keeps your logins in one encrypted place. Free tier is fine to start.
Bitwarden
we earn £0Open-source password manager
Free, open-source, and excellent. We earn nothing here — we just rate it.
YubiKey
we may earnPhysical security key for your most important accounts
A login someone can't phish out of you. Belt-and-braces for email and banking.
What goes on the phone
Swap Google out, app by app.
This is exactly what we set up on the phones we ship — and you can do every bit of it yourself, for free. Most of these cost nothing and we earn nothing from them; we'll always tell you which is which.
★ we may earn a commission◇ free / open-source — we earn nothing, we just rate it
Get the free guide.
We'll send you the full de-Google walkthrough, plus a plain-English heads-up whenever the law changes — digital ID, age checks, all of it.
We hate spam — and we'd never sell your data. That would be a bit rich, wouldn't it?