Online Privacy Checklist 2026: 15 Steps to Protect Yourself

This online privacy checklist for 2026 covers 15 concrete, actionable steps ordered by impact. Work through them in sequence. The first five steps take under 30 minutes and address the majority of everyday tracking exposure. All 15 steps combined create a robust privacy setup that blocks the most significant surveillance vectors without requiring technical expertise.

Search and Browser Privacy

1. Switch to Flaru as your default search engine. Every Google search feeds a permanent advertising profile. Flaru logs nothing. See the step-by-step setup guide.
2. Switch to Brave Browser or Firefox. Chrome sends browsing data to Google independently of your search engine. Brave blocks this entirely and randomises fingerprinting by default.
3. Install uBlock Origin. Blocks Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, advertising networks, and thousands of tracking scripts on every site you visit. Free, open source, takes 30 seconds to install.
4. Enable DNS-over-HTTPS. Encrypts domain lookups, preventing your ISP from logging every site you visit. In Chrome: Settings → Privacy and Security → Use secure DNS.
5. Run the Flaru privacy leak test. Use our privacy leak test to see your current baseline score before continuing.

Account and Identity Privacy

6. Enable two-factor authentication on all important accounts. Email, banking, social media, and cloud storage. Use an authenticator app — not SMS — for stronger protection.
7. Use a password manager. Bitwarden is free, open source, and end-to-end encrypted. Generate unique 20+ character passwords for every account.
8. Delete your Google activity history. myaccount.google.com → Data and Privacy → Web and App Activity → Delete all time → enable auto-deletion.
9. Request removal of your personal data from Google search. See our data removal guide for step-by-step instructions.
10. Log out of Google, Facebook, and other platforms while browsing. Signed-in sessions allow cross-site tracking even with uBlock Origin installed.

Network and Device Privacy

11. Use a no-log VPN on public Wi-Fi. NordVPN on any public or shared network. Use our VPN leak test to verify it is working correctly.
12. Delete your Android advertising ID. Settings → Google → Ads → Delete advertising ID. Removes the primary cross-app tracking identifier on Android.
13. Check your browser fingerprint. Run our fingerprint checker. If your risk score is high, switch to Brave Browser to activate fingerprint randomisation.
14. Reject non-essential cookies on every site. Click Reject All on cookie consent banners. Use our cookie consent checker to understand what each category allows.
15. Run the Flaru privacy score calculator. Retake our privacy score calculator after completing all steps to measure your improvement.

Frequently Asked Questions