Gear
A deliberately short list. Every item here does something real — and the takes tell you honestly when you can skip one. Recommendations don't change based on who pays.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Using these links costs you nothing extra and helps keep the site running without ads or trackers. Full disclosure. $ to $$$ is our own rough sense of what each thing costs — cheap, moderate, or a real purchase. Check Amazon for the actual price.
The single best security upgrade for the money. A hardware key makes your most important logins effectively unphishable — even if someone steals your password, they can't get in without the physical key. Buy two (one primary, one backup you keep somewhere safe) and register both on your email, password manager, and bank. Works alongside passkeys.
Unglamorous and genuinely effective. A thin sliding cover means a compromised laptop can't watch you, full stop — no software required, nothing to trust. They come in cheap multi-packs; put one on every laptop and tablet in the house. The tape-over-the-camera crowd was right, they just deserve a tidier version.
A polarized filter that blacks out your screen to anyone looking from the side — so the person next to you on the train can't read your messages or watch you type a password. Get one sized for your specific phone or laptop. Most useful if you commute, travel, or work in public a lot; skip it if you mostly use your devices at home.
The end-game move for phone privacy: a Pixel is the one phone you can wipe and install GrapheneOS on — a hardened, de-Googled Android that's the gold standard for mobile privacy. This is a real commitment, not an impulse buy, and it changes how some apps work. Only worth it if you're ready to go all the way; for everyone else, the free phone-settings audit gets you most of the benefit.
Data brokers and identity thieves love mail: statements, pre-approved credit offers, anything with your name and address. A cross-cut (or micro-cut) shredder turns that into confetti. Skip strip-cut models — the strips can be reassembled. This pairs naturally with the work of getting yourself off data-broker sites; stop feeding the paper trail while you clean up the digital one.
Blocks wireless reads of contactless cards and some ID/passport chips. Honestly, real-world "RFID skimming" of payment cards is rare and modern cards are well protected — so this is more peace-of-mind than urgent need for most people. Where it genuinely helps: shielding a passport card or an access badge you'd rather not have read from a pocket. Buy it if you like the wallet anyway.
Drop a phone or key fob inside and it goes radio-silent — no cell, GPS, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth in or out. Overkill for everyday life, but a real tool if you need certainty that a device isn't being tracked for a stretch (sensitive travel, protests, or just testing that "off" means off). Also blocks key-fob relay theft for your car keys. Buy from a maker that publishes attenuation figures.
Turns sketchy hotel, café, or airport Wi-Fi into your own trusted network, with a VPN client built in so all your traffic is encrypted before it touches their infrastructure. Your devices only ever see the router, not the hostile network. If you travel and care about privacy, this is one of the highest-value gadgets you can pack.
A tiny adapter that physically removes the data pins from a USB connection, so a public charging port (or a stranger's cable) can deliver power but never touch your data. "Juice jacking" is a niche threat, but the fix costs less than a coffee and lives on your keychain. Cheap insurance for anyone who charges from ports they don't control.
Notice what's not here: no gadget that promises to "make you invisible," no snake-oil signal blockers, no $200 "privacy phone" that's a cheap Android with a skin. Good privacy is mostly free settings and habits — hardware is the small remainder. Start with the checklist, not the shopping cart.