I care an ideal deal about having management over my private knowledge, a lot in order that I used Linux for years. Now I primarily use Android—sure, my telephone is a PC alternative— however there are nonetheless methods I preserve management of my paperwork and media.

The following tips do not simply apply to Android. Preserve them in thoughts on any machine you employ, be {that a} Home windows laptop computer or an iPad.

1

I Solely Use Apps That Let Me Export Information

Software program builders love vendor lock-in. This apply is nothing new and never restricted to computing. It refers back to the apply of designing a services or products in such a method that the shopper is not capable of depart with out important burden. With software program, this typically means switching apps can imply dropping all the things you have performed contained in the app.

I actively search out software program that lets me export something I do. Obsidian, for instance, robotically saves all of my notes as plain textual content recordsdata and manage them into folders. It is easy to again up these recordsdata to an exterior SSD or to sync them utilizing an app like Syncthing-Fork.

Samsung Notes might not use a file format that different apps can open, but it surely lets me export all of my notes as PDFs with a single click on. Microsoft might not have the perfect observe report in the case of respecting your privateness, however no less than Microsoft Workplace gives you with full possession over your paperwork. You need not search out various apps if the defaults do not lock you in.

Streaming music can supply good worth for cash should you hearken to a number of music on a regular basis. However you are telling an organization each music you want and giving them free perception in your listening habits. Their algorithms can in all probability guess whenever you’re within the bathe or whenever you’ve had a break-up.

Plus, you may as well solely hearken to music inside their apps, and whenever you cease paying, you are left with nothing.

That is largely why I prefer to purchase MP3 files. I can hearken to them with any app I need, nobody will get perception into my habits except for the preliminary sale, and I can again up these recordsdata and know that I’ll have them for years to come back.

3

Search Out DRM-Free Choices

A lot of the main digital storefronts do not really promote you something. Whether or not it is shopping for comics from Marvel or buying a film on YouTube, you are simply getting a license that may be revoked at any time. That is the type of scenario that leaves corporations with management over the place and the way you learn what’s technically nonetheless their media, corresponding to how Amazon recently made it harder to export Kindle books.

If I’ll purchase a digital factor, I need possession over the file. For this reason I purchase eBooks and comics from websites like Humble Bundle and search out publishers that promote their work with out digital rights administration restrictions. I additionally get journal subscriptions that can present the complete PDF.

4

Again Up Recordsdata to Your Personal Exterior Storage

I’ve tried out cloud storage, however I am not a lot of a fan. Again after I was a passionate Linux distro hopper and changed the working system on my laptop typically (like many new Linux users), I used to be pissed off by how gradual transferring recordsdata from a cloud storage supplier may be. It was a whole ache to maneuver these recordsdata from one supplier to a different. It additionally grew to become rapidly obvious that I used to be really placing all of my recordsdata someplace that, surprisingly, was really extra weak to knowledge breaches and theft.

I’ve gone again to utilizing exterior storage as my major kind of backup. Space for storing has gotten bodily smaller and financially cheaper. It now not prices a whole lot of {dollars} for a 512GB flash drive. The best external sold state drives have gotten sufficiently small to slot in a pocket. Switch speeds are quick sufficient that backing up all the things now not takes hours. I merely plug in an exterior SSD to my telephone and use FolderSync to verify my backup is up-to-date.

I typically flip outdated telephones into wi-fi exterior exhausting drives, syncing recordsdata between my new telephone and my outdated telephone. This is only one of many ways to make use of an old phone.

5

Deny Permissions At any time when Potential

One of many downsides to utilizing a smartphone is that apps request entry to absolutely anything and all the things. They need to observe your location. They need to see your contacts. They need to use your Bluetooth connection or see whenever you go by sure WiFi routers.

Some telephones can present a whole listing of the permissions and app requests. On a Samsung telephone like mine, navigate to Safety and Privateness > Permissions Utilization.

As a common rule, I deny apps permission till doing so breaks capabilities that I care about. I not often permit an app to robotically scan my contacts, and I often uninstall those who will not operate until I do.

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While you personal your individual recordsdata, you are much less weak to the ever-changing shifts through which apps can be found and the way they work. A streaming service elevating costs would not matter. If a note-taking app will get an replace that ruins the interface, I can simply use a brand new one. One other storage supplier suffers an information breach? My recordsdata weren’t there within the first place.

I can get pleasure from my digital life with rather less anxiousness and threat. I additionally find yourself with a extra optimistic relationship with the apps, companies, and firms that I work together with.