Essential Privacy Tools That Everybody Must Have in 2025

When people think about digital privacy tools, they often imagine extreme scenarios like government surveillance or corporate espionage. While these are valid concerns, most “normies” - regular people just trying to live their lives and pay their bills - wonder if privacy tools actually provide any meaningful benefits for their day-to-day digital experience.

The answer is a resounding yes. Privacy tools offer incredible practical benefits that have nothing to do with hiding from the government. These tools can dramatically improve your digital life, save you time, reduce frustration, and provide genuine quality-of-life improvements that make technology work better for you.

1. Password Management: Never Forget a Password Again

The Tool: Password managers like Bitwarden (free and open-source) or 1Password (premium with advanced features)

The Privacy Angle: Protects your accounts from data breaches and credential stuffing attacks.

The Real-World Benefit: You’ll never have to go through the “forgot password” dance again.

Examples of Popular Password Managers:

• Bitwarden - Free, open-source, unlimited passwords across all devices
• 1Password - Premium option with Travel Mode and Emergency Kit features
• Proton Pass - From the makers of ProtonMail, includes email aliases

Think about how often you’ve sat there clicking “forgot password,” waiting for an email, creating a new password, only to forget it again next month. A password manager eliminates this entirely. It generates unique, strong passwords for every account and fills them in automatically.

Expert Tip: Start with Bitwarden’s free plan. It offers everything most people need and works across unlimited devices. You can always upgrade later if you want premium features like encrypted file storage.

But the benefits go beyond convenience. When you use unique passwords everywhere, a breach at one company doesn’t compromise your other accounts. When Equifax got hacked and exposed millions of people’s data, users with unique passwords shrugged and moved on. Users who reused passwords had to change credentials across dozens of sites.

Real-World Impact:

• Save 15+ minutes per week on password resets
• Eliminate the stress of account lockouts
• Automatic security notifications when sites are breached
• Share family passwords securely (no more texting Netflix passwords)

2. Ad Blocking: Make Ads Almost Non-Existent

The Tool: uBlock Origin for Firefox users, or Brave Browser with built-in shields

The Privacy Angle: Blocks tracking scripts and prevents behavioral profiling.

The Real-World Benefit: The internet becomes usable again.

Top Ad Blocking Solutions:

• uBlock Origin - The gold standard for Firefox and Chrome (while still supported)
• Brave Browser - Built-in ad blocking that works seamlessly
• AdGuard - System-wide blocking for all apps and browsers

If you’ve used the internet lately, you know how unbearable it’s become. Pop-ups asking for your email before you’ve read a single sentence. Auto-playing videos with sound. Ads that follow you around the page. Banner ads, sidebar ads, ads disguised as content, ads that reload the page when you accidentally click them.

A good ad blocker makes the web feel like it did in 2005 - clean, fast, and focused on content. Pages load 2-3x faster, your data usage drops significantly, and your battery lasts longer.

Important Note: With Chrome’s Manifest V3 changes limiting uBlock Origin’s functionality, Firefox users get the best ad-blocking experience. Chrome users should consider switching to Brave Browser for equivalent protection.

Real-World Impact:

• Websites load 3x faster on average
• 40-60% reduction in mobile data usage
• Significantly longer battery life on mobile devices
• Actually being able to read articles without distractions

3. Message and Post Cleanup: Take Control of Your Digital History

The Tool: Unpost - Bulk delete messages, posts, and content across social platforms

The Privacy Angle: Reduces your digital footprint and protects against future embarrassment.

The Real-World Benefit: Clean up years of old content without spending hours manually deleting.

Unpost is a powerful app that can bulk delete your digital history across Discord, Slack, Twitter (X), Reddit, and Instagram. It’s the essential tool that everybody should have for maintaining their online presence.

What Unpost Can Do:

• Discord: Mass delete DMs and channel messages in servers and chats
• Slack: Bulk delete direct messages and channel discussions for professional cleanup
• Twitter (X): Ultimate tweet deleter for removing old tweets, retweets, replies, likes, and bookmarks
• Reddit: Bulk delete posts, comments, and DMs across multiple subreddits
• Instagram: Unsend direct messages, delete comments, and remove likes

Practical Examples:

• Clean up your Twitter before a job search
• Remove old Discord messages that could be taken out of context
• Delete years of Reddit comments for a fresh start
• Remove embarrassing Instagram interactions
• Professional Slack cleanup when changing jobs

Privacy-First Design: Unpost encrypts and stores all credentials locally—nothing is kept on remote servers. Your data stays yours.

Freemium Model: Delete up to 100 messages/posts per day for free, or upgrade for unlimited cleanups.

Pro Tip: Set up regular cleanups with Unpost rather than letting years of content accumulate. Many professionals now regularly clean their social media as part of maintaining their online reputation.

Real-World Impact:

• Hours saved compared to manual deletion
• Professional reputation protection
• Peace of mind about old posts resurfacing
• Better control over your digital identity

4. Email Privacy: Reduce Spam by 90%

The Tool: SimpleLogin or Firefox Relay for email aliases

The Privacy Angle: Prevents companies from building profiles based on your email address.

The Real-World Benefit: Dramatically less spam and better email organization.

Email Privacy Services:

• SimpleLogin - Unlimited aliases, open-source, now owned by Proton
• Firefox Relay - Free service from Mozilla with premium options
• Apple Hide My Email - Built into iCloud+ for Apple users

Email aliases work like forwarding addresses. Instead of giving websites your real email, you give them an alias like netflix.abc123@aleeas.com. If they start spamming you or sell your address, you can disable that specific alias without affecting your other accounts.

This approach has multiple benefits. First, you immediately know which company sold your email when spam starts arriving at a specific alias. Second, you can organize your digital life by creating different aliases for different purposes (shopping, newsletters, social media, etc.).

Real-World Impact:

• 90% reduction in spam emails
• Instant identification of companies that sell your data
• Easy email organization by category or purpose
• Ability to “turn off” specific senders without unsubscribing

5. Secure Messaging: Better Communication Apps

The Tool: Signal for encrypted messaging

The Privacy Angle: End-to-end encryption protects your conversations.

The Real-World Benefit: Better group messaging and no more SMS limits.

Top Secure Messaging Apps:

• Signal - The gold standard for encrypted messaging
• SimpleX Chat - No user identifiers, maximum privacy
• Element - Decentralized messaging built on Matrix

Signal isn’t just about encryption - it’s genuinely a better messaging app. Group chats work reliably, you can send large files, voice messages are crisp, and you never hit SMS character limits or worry about MMS fees.

The app also works across all your devices. Start a conversation on your phone and continue it on your laptop. Share photos without compression, send documents, and create group chats that actually stay organized.

Real-World Impact:

• No more SMS character limits or MMS fees
• Better group chat functionality than SMS
• High-quality voice messages and file sharing
• Works on all devices with seamless sync

6. Device Security: Less Worry About Theft and Loss

The Tools: Full device encryption, remote wipe capabilities, and secure backups

The Privacy Angle: Protects personal data if devices are lost or stolen.

The Real-World Benefit: Peace of mind and easier device replacement.

When your devices are properly secured with encryption and remote wipe capabilities, losing your phone becomes an inconvenience rather than a catastrophe. You’re not worried about someone accessing your photos, messages, or accounts. You remotely wipe the device, restore from backup, and move on with your life.

Device Security Essentials:

• Full disk encryption (enabled by default on modern devices)
• Strong lock screen security (biometrics + strong passcode)
• Remote wipe capabilities (Find My iPhone, Google Find My Device)
• Encrypted backups to cloud services

Real-World Impact:

• Reduced anxiety about device loss or theft
• Faster recovery when devices are damaged or lost
• Better protection of personal photos and data
• Peace of mind when traveling

Getting Started: The Gradual Approach

You don’t need to implement all these tools at once. Here’s a practical rollout strategy:

Week 1: Password Manager

Start with Bitwarden. It’s free, and you’ll see immediate benefits. Let it save passwords as you browse, then gradually update weak or duplicate passwords.

Week 2: Ad Blocking

Install uBlock Origin if you use Firefox, or switch to Brave Browser. The difference is immediately noticeable.

Week 3: Email Aliases

Set up SimpleLogin and start using aliases for new accounts. You don’t need to change existing accounts immediately.

Week 4: Social Media Cleanup

Use Unpost to clean up your social media profiles. Start with your most professional-facing accounts.

Week 5: Secure Messaging

Install Signal and gradually migrate your most important conversations.

Remember: The goal isn’t perfect privacy - it’s better privacy with practical benefits. Each tool should make your digital life easier, not more complicated.

The Bottom Line

Privacy tools aren’t just for paranoid tech enthusiasts or people with something to hide. They’re practical solutions that solve real problems everyone faces in the digital age: forgotten passwords, annoying ads, spam emails, device anxiety, and digital clutter.

The time investment to set up these tools pays dividends in reduced frustration, better security, and a more pleasant online experience. You’re not just protecting your privacy - you’re reclaiming control over your digital life and making technology work for you instead of against you.

Start with one tool, experience the benefits, then gradually add others. Within a month, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them. Your future self will thank you for taking control of your digital life today.