I want to switch to a more privacy focused browser, would like to hear what yall use currently and why.
Edit: I’m currently using edge.
Edit: Thanks everyone for your input. I have decided to go with floorp (a firefox fork) with betterfox. Here’s my decision process,
- Firefox based browser
- To help with browser monopoly
- I really like the sidebery extension
- I chose floorp instead of ff or other ff forks because of the ease of customization
- I also tried zen browser but experienced a bug just from my short usage so I think it’s not mature enough for me currently, but I do like the project.
- Betterfox + extensions for better privacy settings
- Ublock Origin
- ClearURLs
- Decentraleyes
Did not choose to go with LibreWolf, Mullvad etc because I’m worried about site breakages.
Librewolf + uBlock Origin on desktop. Mull + uBlock Origin on mobile.
This. Thread can be closed
i use hardened firefox but i also use vivaldi when i need to use chromium for whatever reason
more privacy focused browser
Librewolf is the best, Mullvad Browser is cool, if you use their VPN, ungoogled-chromium is good, if you need a chromium based browser. Despite its popularity among privacy-enthusiasts Brave is virtually a spyware.
Is Librewolf any different than Firefox with good privacy extensions?
Yes
How so? I already use both, I’m just curious
Based on their website i don’t see how.
Firefox with ublock (blokada on mobile), do not track, a few settings tweaks, and using ddg or startpage for search seems to be pretty much what librewolf is.
Do not track request makes you stick out which results in easier tracking.
It is not. It is pretty much a completely tweaked Firefox.
I think Mullvad is great even if you don’t use their VPN :)
How up to date is that info about Brave? Because their default search is brave-search, not Google as claimed.
I saw crypto from home screen to settings. While anecdotal, that made them very difficult to trust.
Not 100% up to date, of course, but for the most part, it still applies. And furthermore, trusting a company with that kind of reputation is definetely not a good idea.
What is their reputation? Genuinely asking, I’ve been ignoring Brave since ever, but lately I thought I should evaluate it for broken sites that depend on chromium.
[Brendan Eich, founder of Brave made a] 2008 donation of $1,000 to California Proposition 8, which called for the banning of same-sex marriage in California,[18]and donations in the amount of $2,100 to Proposition 8 supporter Tom McClintockbetween 2008 and 2010.
It also has optional ads to pay you in crypto. I view 99% of crypto as a scam btw
People who promote crypto are usually scammers (they also usually promote their own currency), but in general it’s a very useful tool. Considering you have to give up an arm and a leg to use SWIFT nowadays, crypto offers a fast and cheap way to pay someone across the border. The price is that you need to know a thing or two about the technology, else you’ll pay the same or even more than with traditional methods.
What the hell is wrong with tech bros and other people’s genitals? How hard is it not to be an asshole and leave people be?
Thanks for the info.
Good choices. I too run Librewolf by default, with ungoogled Chromium standing by for the occassional asshat website intentionally designed to work exclusively on Chrome
Cromite is a good brave alternative without crypto, built-in adblocking, secure defaults (better security hardening), and cross-platform (Linux, Windows, Android). Best experience is on Android. Cromite is an actively updated fork of Bromite, released by a former contributor of Bromite. Cromite also comes without any proprietary libraries on Android (unlike Brave, Mulch, or Vanadium).
I swear this question comes up everyday in Lemmy 😅.
Firefox, I just use Firefox because, it works, it has enough privacy measures, and everyone is looking at the codebase, something that cannot be said about most (if not all) forks.
Any issue with websites breaking? Since sites only care about chromium support nowadays
Vast majority of sites work for me (librewolf), but for the few that don’t I also have Vivaldi installed
Domino’s pizza website is super flakey on Firefox (on mobile) but it will work if you refresh enough times
Not op, but I’ve yet to encounter a website that doesn’t work with Firefox. (In the last 5 years)
I have been encountering it more lately, but that’s because of the types of sites I was using.
The ones that may not work tend to be; banking (usually okay though), work-related (ranging from applications to gig work to job specific), and then if you happen to run into something that requires chromium as a way to function, such as some specific extensions or most functional web music creation tools, like MIDI support.
B-b-b-buuuuut I only use Firefox and all my stock and banking sites work fine on FF, those job sites that needed chromium can get by with Edge, and if you’re using web browsers for MIDI tools, really, what are you doing?
when i do a lot of them are fixed by just making it pretend to be chrome
there are plenty, you just don’t happen to use them
Technically true
I’ve had a couple sites break but idk if that’s because of Firefox or because of my privacy add ons.
The only broken thing is very specific stuff like Slack calls. In fact, it’s the only broken thing I’ve seen in a long while. Also fuck Slack.
The pay bill button on my capital one CC account doesn’t work on Firefox. Once a month I have to use a chromium based browser.
valid question, idk why would people downvote it
broken websites on desktop are rare and not nearly enough to drive a browser change, but they usually fall into two categories:
-
websites that “break” on purpose for no good reason when they detect it’s not chromium. Either avoid the site or change the user agent.
-
websites that degrade some functionalities because they rely on newer features or on how things appear on chromium. They’re usually CSS breakages and do not affect browsing that much.
Support for manifest v2 greatly outweighs these potential issues imo.
-
Please stop recommending vanilla Firefox. Although you could argue that it is less privacy invasive than Chrome, Edge or at leat fucking Opera, it still invades your privacy WITH DEFAULT SETTINGS. For a solid out-of-the-box Browser you can choose:
- LibreWolf (Firefox fork that’s just plain good)
- Mullvad (based on Firefox and created in collaboration with Tor Browser devs - if paired with VPN (e.g. Mullvad) anonymity can be archived)
- Tor Browser (anonymity can be archived)
I’m sorry but I won’t bother switching to a ultra-minor browser for having to toggle something in the settings once every 2 years after 500 articles pop up about it.
Firefox then additional hardening through arkenfox.js, minimal extensions - uBlock + Bitwarden.
Zen Browser, love the split view feature, and native vertical tabs !
It’s a Firefox fork btw
Firefox with a handful of extensions, same on phone.
Last time a site “needed” chromium based a user agent switch did the miracle…
Firefox here
Hardened Firefox on my PC and Waterfox on my phone. Reason: mostly because I have been using Firefox for a long time and I want to stay away from Chromioum-based browsers (but not out of privacy concerns :) ).
Vanadium on grapheneos
firefox but hardened. dont want to use any chromiumed browser bc of the monopoly, and librewolf is just a fork of firefox so too little difference to switch
Librewolf for anything that those work, Brave for anything that works only on Chromium based, and Mullvad for all the crazy.
On Android it’s Mull and Mulch.
I second librewolf
Does either Librewolf or Mullvad have a mobile version with sync?
In all honesty, I am not sure if you can sync, but I think I’ve seen librewolf and Mull being able to sign in to a Firefox account. I don’t sync anything unless I self-host, so I have my linkwarden for all my bookmarks needs.
I’ve heard of a self-hosted alternative to Firefox accounts, but I would need to research that a bit.
It can sync, most if not all Firefox based browsers can sync
Instead of Mulch I would recommend Cromite. It is fully open source (free of proprietary dependencies unlike Brave and Mulch), has anti-fingerprinting (unlike Mulch), and has built-in ad-blocking. Browser comparison table made by the Developer of Mulch: https://divestos.org/pages/browsers
They use Adblock Plus though. Would not recommend.
You can install uBlock origin lite and the adblock plus engine is segregated by cromite
I was not able to install any extensions on Cromite, how did you manage it?
Sry, I should have mentioned I meant Cromite on desktop.
I use Vanadium for that level.
Vanadium does not provide adblocking/content-block, comes with proprietary dependencies, and provides no fingerprinting protection.
Zen Browser since last week. Is a Firefox fork.
Does it have a mobile version with sync?
It works with firefox sync so you can use firefox mobile and sync with it
I love the split-screen feature.
For the unfamiliar, here’s their home page: LINK
Librewolf on desktop, Brave on mobile.
Firefox with ublock origin for both desktop and mobile.
Those two programs alone block out like 75% of the annoyances and dangers of the modern internet. Near-complete removal of ads and a couple nice healthy adware and malware guards on top of that.
Add on a VPN and a few more Firefox extensions and I feel that I can browse the net anxiety-free.