An expert asked to stop using WhatsApp and Gmail and recommended these European apps to protect privacy

The applications that are used every day to send messages, save files, or check email—such as WhatsApp o Gmail— began to come under scrutiny in Europe for a specific issue: what happens to the data they handle.

The proposal was made by technology and cybersecurity expert Ben van der Burg, which recommended stopping using apps like WhatsApp, Gmail, Google Drive or Dropbox and looking at European alternatives with another focus on privacy.

The issue is not minor. Many of these platforms depend on companies in the United States, even when users are in Europa or use servers located there. In that context, a more concrete question began to take shape: what options exist today to change those applications and what really changes when using them.

The recommendation of Van der Burg It’s not just about changing one app for another. Aims to reduce dependence on platforms such as WhatsApp y Gmailwhich concentrate contacts, files, emails and a good part of digital activity.

In emailone of the most mentioned alternatives is Proton Mail, based in Switzerland. It works with end-to-end encryption and, in practice, this means that not even the service itself can access the content of the messages.

Another option is Tuta, developed in Germany. It also works with encrypted email and is designed for those who want to leave the Gmail environment without losing basic functions.

Threema It allows you to use the app without linking it to a phone number, something that makes it quite different from the more widespread model.

Forgotfor its part, aims to reinforce user identity security and reduce exposed data to a minimum. It’s not that popular, but it’s in that vein.

To storage, one of the most cited tools is Nextcloud. It allows you to manage files, calendars and documents, but with a difference: control over where that data is saved.

The change does not respond only to one technological fashion. In Europe, data protection has a strong framework with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which regulates how data is used and stored.

The conflict appears when this data remains under companies that respond to other laws. This is where, for example, the CLOUD Act of the United States, that can force companies to deliver information under certain conditions.

That crossing is what pushes us to search alternatives. Not so much because of the app itself, but because of who is behind it and under what rules it works.

That is why there is more and more talk about “digital sovereignty”. It is not an isolated technical concept: it has to do with who controls the information and what real margin the user has over their own data.

Change, however, is not always immediate. Many people still use WhatsApp, Gmail o Drive because there are your contacts, your files and your work routines.