Privacy @lemmy.ml dethada @lemmy.zip 3mo ago

What browser do yall use?

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.

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138 comments

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
  
  Not op, but I've yet to encounter a website that doesn't work with Firefox. (In the last 5 years)
  
  I've had a couple sites break but idk if that's because of Firefox or because of my privacy add ons.
  
  Vast majority of sites work for me (librewolf), but for the few that don't I also have Vivaldi installed
  
  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.
  
  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.
  
  Domino's pizza website is super flakey on Firefox (on mobile) but it will work if you refresh enough times
  
  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.
  
  My car insurance does not work on Firefox. Bungie website does not work half the time. Maybe some others I can't think of. It really sucks. I just have chrome installed for when something breaks really sucks.
  
  I haven't really had any problems with any sites yet. Except for Google Meet. For some reason it's totally laggy and sluggish on Firefox but works perfectly on Chrome.
  
  Currently using Firefox since half a year for everyday stuff and work.
  
  I use Firefox, and have Brave installed incase I encounter a site that breaks. I havent had to use Brave yet because I never encountered any sites that break ....
- 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.
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.
- How up to date is that info about Brave? Because their default search is brave-search, not Google as claimed.
  
  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.
  
  I saw crypto from home screen to settings. While anecdotal, that made them very difficult to trust.
- I think Mullvad is great even if you don't use their VPN :)
- @JustMarkov @dethada
  
  Is Librewolf any different than Firefox with good privacy extensions?
  
  Yes
- 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
- i don't use brave but i tried it once when i learned that it's open source. google was not the default search and telemetry was off by default. also i don't think it auto updates on linux because updates are handled by system updater.
- 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).
Firefox with a handful of extensions, same on phone.

Last time a site "needed" chromium based a user agent switch did the miracle...
Just Firefox, I like the way it looks, and it's open source.
firefox on desktop: to keep away a browser monopoly for another day.

iceraven on mobile: more extensions.
Librewolf is pretty good, i like having privacy features out of the box
Zen browser. Its a browser that looks like arc browser but its based on Firefox and has tracking removed. Its really nice. They also have their own theme system to change how the browser looks and acts
- Oh cool, I'll have to switch. I've been using Arc for a few months now and really like it, but would rather move away from chromium. I'd been using Firefox for years before that
  
  The say zen is suspicious. Brand new and not really tested. Keep an eye on it.
Zen Browser, love the split view feature, and native vertical tabs !

https://zen-browser.app/
Firefox for most things, but I keep a copy of Vivaldi installed because sometimes my firefox setup breaks capcha.
- I have the exact same setup
Zen Browser since last week. Is a Firefox fork.
- I love the split-screen feature.
  
  For the unfamiliar, here's their home page: LINK
- Does it have a mobile version with sync?
  
  It works with firefox sync so you can use firefox mobile and sync with it
Mullvad Browser when I'm on my Desktop, which is basically the Tor Browser but without the Tor network. The Mullvad Browser is instead designed to be used with a VPN.

Vanadium when I'm on my phone, which is is a hardened variant of Chromium providing enhanced privacy and security, similar to how GrapheneOS compares to AOSP.

And when I'm at work or using any other computer I try to mainly use Firefox.
LibreWolf.
Mull on mobile, mullvad and Firefox on desktop
Librewolf for anything that does work, Brave for anything that works only on Chromium based, and Mullvad for all the crazy.

On Android it's Mull and Mulch.
- 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
  
  I use Vanadium for that level.
  
  They use Adblock Plus though. Would not recommend.
- 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.
  
  Most Firefox forks can use Firefox sync but that also has privacy implications
  
  Use Mull (made by the DivestOS developer) on mobile. It is available through the dev's f-droid repo. It is hardened Firefox mobile similar to Librewolf and supports sync because it is a Firefox mobile fork. It is also fully open source and doesnt come with proprietary dependencies (unlike standard Firefox mobile)
Firefox because of extensions on mobile, literally the only browser capable of that
- Kiwi does extensions, too. Do not use it, though.
- Waterfox will too. Big fan of it.
Librewolf. whatever you end up choosing, don't install brave
- Brave is better than Chrome, Edge and stock Firefox
  
  no it really isn't
firefox with no script.
- plus "I don't care about cookies" and "Cookie AutoDelete" for my sanity...
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.
Vanadium on grapheneos
Firefox then additional hardening through arkenfox.js, minimal extensions - uBlock + Bitwarden.
Edge isn't private so you have plenty of ways to improve
If you want to stick with Chromium-based browsers, you could try Vivaldi. I am a Firefox user myself but Vivaldi is my backup browser for those rare occasions where I have issues. 95% of the browser is open source, with the remaining 5% being comprised of the closed source UI. Vivaldi has a pretty reasonable privacy policy, an inbuilt ad-blocker and is a 100% employee owned company. It supports all major operating systems and has a sync feature so you could use it as your main browser across all devices if you wanted.
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 :) ).
Librewolf + uBlock Origin on desktop. Mull + uBlock Origin on mobile.
- This. Thread can be closed
Just Firefox, and gnome web sometimes.
Firefox with plugins. If we want there to be anything but Chromium and Safari in the future it's simply what needs to be done. Forks of Firefox will disappear when Firefox does ...
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/desktop-browsers/
Firefox on desktop and Mobile. To keep browser monopoly away. All settings set to max strictness except no DNS, because I have a VPN. Firefox works on 99.9% of sites. You can use a script called Arkenfox, to harden FF even more, almost to Librewolf, but with the advantage of updates coming directly from mozilla. I love the sync function across FF, so that's why I have it on my mobile as well, it's seemless.
Firefox with Betterfox user script. Then from there is a bunch privacy focused/oriented extensions. I also harden my DNS with custom host files from StevenBlack. I also point all my devices to NextDNS as another catch and also to standardize things as I use NextDNS to manage my kids access to the world.

I do need to create a private VPN (of my own) still so my mobile devices can be setup behind StevenBlack host entries.
Currently using Firefox but I'm also keeping an eye on Ladybird.
- The founder of Ladybird said some questionable stuff that he walked back. You be the judge: https://text.tchncs.de/latenightblog/ladybird-browser-and-drama
  
  There is absolutely nothing questionable about what he said, that article you linked just says they tried to dig up dirt on him and what they found was ridiculously unscandalous
- Never heard of ladybird looks interesting thanks
Firefox (well, librewolf, but forks are a matter of personal preference).

Chrome (Ungoogled chromium) is used as a fallback for the occasional site that doesn't work with my restrictive FF configuration.

Both have uBlock, though they're configured differently to suit their individual purposes.
i use hardened firefox but i also use vivaldi when i need to use chromium for whatever reason
A combination of Zen-browser, Firefox and Librewolf.
Depends on which computer I'm using. Netscape 4 still works relatively well, as long as you're selective about which sites you try to access.
Firefox on mobile, desktop and iPad.
waterfox
Tor Browser
On my laptop, Brave for non-"personal" things (such as fediverse, SoundCloud, AI tools, daily browsing, etc) and Firefox for "personal" things (such as WhatsApp Web, LinkedIn, accessing local govt. services, etc). On my smartphone, Firefox for everything (I disabled the native Chrome).

I've been using Brave in a daily basis because it's well integrated with adblocking tools, especially considering the ongoing strife regarding Chromium's Manifest V2 support, where Brave nicely stands keeping its Manifest V2 support independently of what Google wishes or not.

Firefox is also good, but I noticed that, for me, it has been slightly heavier than Brave. So I use it parallel to Brave, for things I don't need to use often. For mobile, it's awesome, as it is one of the few browsers that support extensions, so I use Firefox for Android, together with adblocking extensions.
Use more than one.

On PC, my daily driver is Firefox Developer, patched with my CSS along with Betterfox for enhanced privacy over ArkenFox. I am an Admin and run a number of sites, so this helps.

Librewolf as general backup. Mullvad as second backup but I find that I am not the best use case for it, on top that I use different VPN services. It is for non-tech users, is not bad, just not the best tool for me but it is what I will tell people to use when using my PC since the other two have very UI minimal, heavy keyboard-centric setups. Tor for when I need more privacy/testing. Keep a copy of ungoogled Chromiu, mostly vanilla, only uBlock, again for testing and the off-chance fuzzy site but barely ever use it. They all, aside UG, sync bookmarks via Nextcloud instance so I do not need to sign into FF sync.

On Android, Mull, or CookieWeb Preview because the excellent extension management due to their pop-up window. Great for things like uBlock on medium mode, otherwise medium mode on mobile is a pajn to use, on Mull I keep it on Easy mode. Nevertheless, uBlock is a must in today's internet. Tor for when travelling abroad and do not need to sign-on to anything. Keeping extensions to a minimum. Each browser connects to different DNS services to minimise overlap, along rotating VPN servers from non-5 eyes countries as the minimum. Sounds like a lot but once you set it up, it is mostly set-and-forget.
- Betterfox isnt more private/secure than Arkenfox. Betterfox is actually softer in its security and privacy approach. Its goal is to cause the least site breakage, which means more data leakage and softer defaults. Not a bad thing, just not true about Betterfox.
  
  Fair. should have been more clear. I use Betterfox with my own tweaks, essentially a mix of AK and BF. Since BF is just based off AK. The AK maintainer has stated in the past that he just steals it off him. However and as you said, when jumping to site to site, AK is more likely to break things, which requires a bit more troubleshooting. Which I do not need for work since I know most of the sites I will be on. So outright privacy is not the primary goal there.
  I used BF and tweaked upwards, rather than to undo AK settings. It's just less of a hassle.
  
  If I want AK, I use LIbrewolf since it already uses a lot of Arkenfox, along with my own tweaks for personal use, where I take privacy more seriously. Each browser has different uses.
Floorp
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 on desktop—fennec on mobile (tho I should consider Mull, my history is already in Fennec). Back desktop is Brave—with backup mobile being Mulch + Fx Android Beta (to handle DRM). In the terminal, w3m picking up a new possible maintainer means it will stay my favorite.

I want to follow Ladybird, but man is that hype way overblown relative to where the project actually is & you should not trust leadership that locks communications to US-based, proprietary services (Discord + Microsoft GitHub).
A customized copy of ungoogled chromium
Since I have not seen it yet in the comments, I use Floorp, a Firefox fork with some nice UI improvements (and apparently some performance improvements, but both are very fast for me).
Falkon on my Surface Go and Firefox on my Desktop.
PC - Firefox with ublock, multi container extension Android - Mull with ublock extension, i delete data on exit
On mobile the only choice is Mull. And on desktop even you could use Arkenfox, but recommended to you to use the Mullvad brower
Desktop, Librewolf

Mobile Brave, Mull
Brave

Firefox
Since you're using Edge, I'll assume you're running Windows. In that case, I'd recommend either Librewolf or ungoogled-chromium.

I, myself, use Mullvad Browser and Links2, but they're not quite as good for new users.
Tor Browser on both Linux/Gnome and Android. I believe I get not only the benefits of ad-blocking and anti-tracking measures but also IP-obfuscation through the Tor network. Sure, there are sites that won't serve content to the Tor network, but screw them!
Doesn't lemmy have polls?
- No
In descending order of good privacy:

Tor (not necessary for the majority of use-cases)

Hardened Firefox (you can find tutorials for this with a quick Google)

Mullvad

Librewolf

Brave (yes there's controversy about crypto and the founder being a dick, it's still miles better than Chrome)

Everything else

Chrome itself (seriously, don't use Chrome)

My number 1 recommended plugin for privacy and getting rid of ads is always ✨ uBlock Origin ✨ (not uBlock, that's not the one by the OG dev).
librewolf on my laptop, firefox with ublock origin at work and on mobile
- I’m using primarily LibreWolf at home too, but every now and again there are websites that won’t work with it. So I still keep Firefox around for that because I haven’t figured out how to add exceptions to specific sites for LW.
  
  Might actually be a good privacy strategy though. The sites that break are probably the most invasive. So it could be better to run them on a different browser that’s what you normally use, perhaps with efforts to spoof fingerprinting. Other than not visiting the site, of course, but it’s a decision you gotta make.
I've been using Kiwi for the last few years, as at the time Firefox didn't do extensions on mobile. It's Chromium based, and I've had no issues using it anywhere.
I'm on Librewolf but looking for an alternative now because it runs very poorly on my 10 years old machine.
- Try palemoon if on linux, try linux if on windows. Idk how palemoon is for privacy really but it runs on potatoes because that's what it is designed to do, comes preinstalled on antiX.
I'm using Brave cause I love and need Chromium. Firefox and Vivaldi are great options too.

You could use a PiHole or nextdns.io too as a DNS blocker against ads and trackers.
Firedragon on desktop( I use garuda Linux) and Mull on android
Violincello baby! No ads, fastest loads ever, and no ads.
Zen Browser on pc, and Fulguris on android.
Librewolf on desktop, Brave on mobile.
- How do you keep sync of bookmarks and session?
When I‘m on an apple device (my phone or work mac) I use Safari. On any other device: Firefox. And if the website doesn’t work properly in either one of those, ungoogled chromium.
On desktop I use Mercury Browser - a Firefox fork - but I'm not sure how " privacy focused " it is other than that it's Firefox based

On Android I use Brave Browser , because it meets my needs , while it was good compared to other browsers in privacy tests , I still won't recommend it 100% for privacy for the following reason ( unless you're ok with changing some settings to make it more private ) :

If you care about your privacy , you can read this browser check series for both desktop and mobile ( in German , you might need a translator ) by security expert Kuketz , the rest of the browsers are linked in the same page
https://youtu.be/2ssECcbhjJc
Brave and Firefox

138 comments