this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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This guide is by a Canadian author, but I find it very appropriate here as most of his solutions are European and he points to several alternatives, so all in all a great source of inspiration.

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[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

All very good suggestions indeed. But there are more. Most of them are North(west) European, but this is because most of those countries got their own systems set up already, and got relatively robust privacy laws. Not sure about other ones, but please do inform!

Weather
Windy ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ - expansive, worldwide. Pretty.
Yr ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด - Norwegian-focused but has good coverage for Europe.
Meteonet ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท - old interface, but no-nonsense.

Whatever your country has, also works.


Payment processors

National/regional ones exist, they're more independent and should be preferred.
But also, Wero ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ is there. Check if your bank already has it. Though I think it must address tech reliance concerns.

Some forms of crypto also are independent, but beware of how much electricity they use.

GNU Taler may also be considered.


Banks

If you wish to stick with a 'traditional' bank, then these following would be best:

ASN Bank ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ - government-safeguarded. Came best out of the Ethical Banking Guide (Dutch).
Triodos ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ - independent (second-best), Europe-wide.

If you've the choice, you can also go for a local bank that's a co-op. Then you can decide along where the money goes, and hold the bank more responsible. They don't have stocks, instead having different financing methods.


Phones

Jolla ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ (has Sailfish OS)
FairPhone ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ is a very good option (best balance between ethics, repairability, and privacy). They or Murena might soon get an option that is suited for GrapheneOS.
Murena ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท has the iPhone look and feel. Pretty easy to use.
Nothing ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง - a bit riskier in my opinion, since they share demographic and fiscal data, and share data outside of the EU/EEZ+UK.

None of these support GrapheneOS, but they really ought to. If you want one, get a used Pixel, 'clean' thoroughly, and then put GrapheneOS on it.


Tablets

Archos ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท
Juno Tab ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง (runs Linux)
Murena ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท
Nokia ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ (also has phones, TVs and laptops)
reMarkable ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด

The Purism one is good too and has some killswitches, though it's US-based (California, at least, which has a sort of GDPR-like law).


Laptops

Do you want to game -> Tuxedo ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช
It just works & supports FOSS devs -> Slimbook ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ
Privacy-focused Macbook-like? -> StarLab ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง
More customisable -> Novacustom ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ

Nokia supposedly sells some too, but I couldn't find a place to buy them.

You can also get an Asus or Acer ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ผ (๐Ÿ‡ผ๐Ÿ‡ธ), or if you don't mind Chinese products, Lenovo.

Clevo is also a good one, it's Taiwanese.

Regarding hardware, if you've a laptop with an Intel chip, disable the Intel Management Engine, it's likely backdoor spyware. VIA Technologies ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ผ (๐Ÿ‡ผ๐Ÿ‡ธ) is the only non-American one that makes graphic cards supporting x86, like Intel and AMD.


What OS to pick (an OS is a software like Windows or Macintosh)

Anything Linux, really. Some of them are headed by the Red Hat project, which is good, but it's American, so keep that in mind. Nevertheless, depending on your tasks:

New to Linux -> Linux Mint (it just works)
Privacy -> openSUSE
Security -> QubesOS (multiple computers on one)
Stable updates -> Debian
I use -> Arch Linux (btw)
Resembles Macbook -> elementaryOS

With most Linux distributions you can make them look like Windows or Mac either way, but I'd like to throw that in.


Smartwatch

PineTime ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ - FOSS, more privacy friendly than the big players.
WatchMark ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช - has the Apple Watch look, manufactured in Europe.
Montblanc ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช - Manufactured in Germany.
Polar Electro ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ - Owned by Finns, made in China and Malaysia. For outdoors.
MyKronoz๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ- Swiss, pretty affordable.


And for printers;

Epson ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต EcoTank especially, all-around.
Canon ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Pixelma.
Novaware ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ - they got a good thermal printer.
Nuvance ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ also thermal.

[โ€“] klangcola@reddthat.com 8 points 3 days ago

For weather I can also recommend the app and website https://www.yr.no/ . Publicly funded by the Norwegian government, publicly available weather data, and good coverage for weather outside Norway.

[โ€“] Tehdastehdas@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

About "Phones",

FairPhone ... privacy

With Android? Is that even possible? Surely /e/OS should be recommended here?

They or Murena might soon get an option that is suited for GrapheneOS.

Surely GrapheneOS hasn't yet decided on the device?
Murena isn't a manufacturer that could support an OS. Murena sells phones with /e/OS, an open-source, mostly Android-compatible, operating system developed by them from LineageOS based on AOSP.

Murena ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท has the iPhone look and feel. Pretty easy to use.

"Murena has the iPhone look and feel. Pretty easy to use. Privacy-focused. Runs most Android apps. Uses hardware from other brands, of which Fairphone and Shiftphone are European."

[โ€“] GMac@feddit.org 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I have to add a recommendation for https://supernotes.app/ (N.B. Not the Canadian e-notebook maker with almost the same name). I have been using supernotes for a while now and it's something I actually enjoy using; a feeling that has been absent for a lot of tech products for a long time.

They're an independent business based in the UK and the owners are very active and responsive to supports. Works seamlessly for me across browsers(vivaldi), windows, linux (Mint) and android (GrapheneOS) and they have Mac, iOS, and a VR app. My only complaint is that I believe they host on AWS

I've got no affiliation with them, I'm a customer and I really like what they do and how they do it (except AWS) and since they tend not to appear in these lists often I don't think many people have heard of them.

[โ€“] hushable@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Privacy-focused Macbook-like? -> Smartlab ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง

I think you meant StarLabs. I got one running Debian and I absolutely love it

[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Thanks, corrected it! I'm also considering that one.

Dumb question, but can Debian be made to look like Macbook? I think all Linux laptop OSes can, but I'm not sure.

[โ€“] hushable@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I'm not that much into ricing, but I bet it must be possible, specially since GNOME is already OSX-like

edit: you just made me check their website and the new StarLabs Horizon looks so tempting!

You can make Gnome look like MacOS but it doesnโ€™t really act like MacOS . I use VanillaOS which is based in Spain and is immutable A/B root is something Iโ€™m a fan of.

[โ€“] Masse022@piefed.ca 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Oof the smartwatch one hurts. Every endurance athlete has one. Step counting is a gimmick for me but I would really miss the GPS, mapping and recording all my runs/races swims and whatnot. Calories and all the rest I can go without but the GPS and mapping...

[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

To be fair, I used to have one, then realised that it was actually pointless and I didn't use it much. If you still want one, go ahead.

For GPS and mapping I just use OsmAnd/OpenStreetMaps.

[โ€“] Masse022@piefed.ca 1 points 3 days ago

I have a really good one I bought just before the USA meltdown. When it does, 7 or 10 years from now, we'll see! Norwegian or Swedes must have something for that lol they always do!

[โ€“] bdama@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I like the Fairphone hardware but can not recommend e/OS - Murena is making false privacy claims about their software and are not interested in fixing them. Sadly Graphene has stated that Fairphone will likely not be supported in the future as their current models are lacking necessary hardware.

I ended up with a used Pixel and installed Graphene, I'm happy with it as a daily driver and am doing my online banking in the browser on my PC.

Do you really recommend Android over /e/OS for Fairphone?

I think you're exaggerating with "Murena making false claims and not interested in fixing" - I think they're just lacking the resources to do what they want to do. I think they have a good idea to fix the lack of resources by making money by selling pre-installed devices.

Maybe Murena's few resources would have been better invested in developing a version of GrapheneOS for some European device.

[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

As far as I recall, if you're an ordinary everyday user, Fairphone should be fine - but if your threat model is too severe, a used Pixel (cleant) with GrapheneOS should be warranted, no?

[โ€“] bdama@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I dropped it as a daily driver when I noticed that Here We Go maps just naturally circumvents their advanced privacy location spoofing. Tested this with two devices and the issue appeared in both. Maps showed my real location.

Graphene might be a bit overkill for me, but I rather am too careful than rely on false advertising and leak real information unknowingly.

Yeah, I have that problem in my /e/OS 3.4 A15, and another one, also a failure of the main feature, privacy protection, this time with file permissions:
https://community.e.foundation/t/app-permissions-failure-can-see-all-files-despite-limited-access/69483

You shouldn't blame the whole forum when a dumbass goes off topic in a thread - it happens. Your title was clear, and the topic was clearly the privacy of /e/OS, one example application as proof of /e/OS's failure, and the dumbass started talking about the example application and alternatives to it...

[โ€“] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info -2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

These guides are getting a little repetitive on this community. They always say and recommend the same things. What new is being said here? What are the 80 upvotes for?

We should have a buyfromeu circlejerk community and just post "Bro did you hear about Fritz Kola" and "Bro I switched to Tutanota" continuously (I am not kidding)

[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Not everyone hasn't seen them often. We could use spreading buying European across more people, tbh.

[โ€“] bossito@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

If you're fighting against Google, Meta and Amazon these guides are definitely not enough and each of them should be promoted as much as possible. There are one million guides and suggested results and videos for each of these. Don't complain, applaud them instead.

the thing is that if there's only a single post, most people will just scroll by and say "well, linux has been promoted for decades, whatever, i'm not gonna switch now". if however there are all of a sudden 20 posts about it, people start wondering "why now" and realize there's reasons today that weren't there last year. and also it's nice to hear multiple journalists' opinion about alternatives or methods.