The OS itself is private because it’s DeGoogled. I also installed GApps because I wanted the convinence of the App store and core feature I’ve been used to for so long.
I also knew the moment I did the google-fication privacy was out the window.
I was fine with LineageOS and would happily go back when my Pixel7a becomes EOL.
That’s a shame. I use FF most of my day for work and I’ve never had any issues like that. I was thinking of add-ons too, but since you uninstalled them all AND it carried to a new installation.
I use Brave for my personal stuff, but Brave has had some dodgy stuff in recent times and I don’t trust other browser’s than FF right now.
Telegram does give secret chats which are E2E encrypted. I do find more use WhatsApp over Telegram though.
WhatsApp is owned by Meta, so although messages themselves are encrypted they’ll still be collecting as much data from you elsewhere.
I prefer to use Telegram, it’s a much nicer experience and offers better UI customisation.
If you had to choose 1, I’d go for where most of your friends/family are as it’ll get the most use.
How does this differentiate between a user and a bot if the User Agent doesn’t say it’s a bot?