Sites & Apps I Can't Live Without

Jan 04, 2026

Happy New Year! Here's what I actually use every day. Most of this stuff is free and privacy-focused.

Essential Sites

FMHY - Giant wiki of free stuff. I check this before googling anything.

DuckDuckGo - Search engine that doesn't track you. The email masking feature is great for avoiding spam.

LibreWolf - Firefox without the telemetry. Has uBlock built in.

uBlock Origin - Blocks everything. Required.

SponsorBlock - Skips the "this video is sponsored by" stuff automatically.

Return YouTube Dislikes - Brings back the dislike count.

Unhook - Hides recommendations so you only watch what you came for.

DeArrow - Replaces clickbait thumbnails with actual screenshots.

Bitwarden - Password manager. You can self-host it if you want.

Dark Reader - Forces dark mode on everything.

Sink It for Reddit - Removes app nags and login popups. Also blocks ads and adds color-coded comments.

Libby - Free ebooks and audiobooks through your library card.

Hoopla - Same deal but no waitlists. You get a monthly limit though.

Kanopy - Free movies through your library. Lots of weird artsy stuff.

Jellyfin - Media server. Like Plex but actually free.

Immich - Google Photos replacement you run yourself.

Navidrome - Stream your music from anywhere.

Home Assistant - Smart home stuff without the cloud.

Proxmox - Run a bunch of VMs on one machine.

*arr apps - Sonarr, Radarr, etc. Automates media downloading and organizing.

Karabiner Elements - Remap any key to anything on Mac.

Obsidian - Note-taking with markdown files and internal links.

Crossover - Run Windows apps without a VM.

Tuta Mail - Encrypted email.

Oversight - Alerts you when your webcam or mic turns on.

LuLu - Firewall that shows what's calling home.

Alacritty - Fast terminal. GPU accelerated.

Keka - Unzip anything.

KnockKnock - See what launches on startup.

LibreOffice - Free office suite. Opens Word/Excel files.

Grayjay - Watch YouTube and Twitch in one app.

IINA - Video player that just works.

Cyberduck - FTP client.

Cloudflare WARP - Free VPN that's actually fast.

BoringNotch - Makes the notch useful.

Raycast - Better Spotlight.

VSCodium - VS Code without Microsoft tracking.