Recently there has been controversy around Mozilla Firefox.

I’ve been looking for an alternative but really struggling, seems like every alternative has a downside:

  • Vivaldi: Uses some proprietary code and likely not doing much better on the user data side of things, also based on Chromium.

  • Tor: Uses Tor protocol and so is quite slow, my ISP would probably also think I’m a drug lord.

  • Fennec: Basically looks the same as Firefox but guessing less up to date, F-Droid has a warning about it’s using Mozilla services for tracking.

What are you guys using? Have you found anything good?

  • Sonalder@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    So currently this is my recommendation for web browsers for Android.

    Chromium based (best for security on Android)

    • brave, disable cryptocrap, telemetry sponsor background and you’re pretty much good to go.
    • cromite, an active fork of bromite which is basically an upgrade of ungoogled chromium
    • Vanadium, if you are using GrapheneOS

    Firefox based browser (none support per-site isolation as of today)

    • IronFox, a active fork of Mull, basically the most harden FF flavor on Android
    • Fennec, basically a fully libre FF flavor
    • CrayonRosary@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 days ago

      How do you feel about DDG browser? It’s another chrome based option. I’ve been using it when the some rare website won’t work in a Firefox fork, and I’m curious to hear other people’s opinions about it.

      I like their free email forwarding service for throwaway accounts. Obviously, the emails aren’t private in any way.

      • Sonalder@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        2 days ago

        I think brave provide a slightly better experience overall, and privacy is a bit stronger too. Cromite might be better in some areas but DDG has better tracking protection against analytics from companies such as Adobe, Faceboo, Google, etc… by default.

        DDG mobile browser had a contreverasy with allowing Microsoft tracking (DDG search engine is using MS Bing’s back-end) but in other hands brave is also quite contreversial with affiliate link injections, optionnal “private ads” with Web3 advertisement. Cromite seems cleaner but is a community run project and there is no company backing it.

        Honestly I haven’t used it in years but it’s definitely not the worst option you can choose on Android.

  • LWD@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    The nice thing about Fennec is you don’t have to accept a Mozilla license to use it, and those Mozilla services are (AFAIK) disabled by default. In fact, when I look at their settings menu, there is no “data collection” section to speak of.

    The not-so-nice thing about Fennec is a little while back, it just didn’t receive any updates. For something like a month.

    Just about every browser that’s based on Firefox is going to be slower to update than mainline Firefox, with perhaps the exception of Tor and Mullvad because they work hand in hand.

  • B0NK3RS@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    I’m using Vivaldi and I’d recommend it. Obviously nothing is perfect, and especially browsers, but I’d implore you to look further in to it.

  • SmokeyDope@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    I’ve been sticking with Ironfox as much as I can. It took up the mantle of Mull so Its based off fennec but got the security locked down and mozillas telemetry ripped out. Of course this means some websites don’t play nice so I need to occasionally use a less hardened browser like firefox or kiwi(chromium based that can install any desktop extension). You should be used to that situation if you’ve used a hardened browser before though.

    If I recall right you don’t need to use the Tor network on the Tor browser. disconnect from the network and see if you can use it as a regular clear web browser. Also your ISP don’t give a fuck whether you use TOR or a VPN, in fact they probably prefer it. As long as you pay them each month and they aren’t getting calls from DMCA laywers or Feds running a honey pot they dont give a fuck. Apparently Its when you start torrenting gigabytes of data off of cellular network that they start getting pissed.

    • sunset@reddthat.comOPEnglish
      0·
      4 days ago

      Interesting, seems you have to download the .apk directly from their repo though, rather than any store. So I’m guessing there’s no automatic updates?

      • Sophocles@infosec.pubEnglish
        0·
        4 days ago

        Yeah, but I see it as a pro and a con. With previous browsers I used like Mull, Fennec and Bromite, the store versions usually lagged behind, usually due to FDroid shenanigans, and downloading it from the source eliminates the middleman. While it is more work, I do use my browser for many important things, so I feel like it’s worth it for my use case.

    • Rose@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      4 days ago

      Switching from Firefox to Chromium because of the latest Mozilla policy changes is insane. Google is ten times worse in every relevant aspect.

        • Rose@lemmy.zipEnglish
          0·
          4 days ago

          If telemetry is the problem, the rational thing to do is to use a fork/build of Firefox without the telemetry, not support the Google monopoly or go for browsers that have had potentially problematic privacy policies for a lot longer than Firefox.

    • sunset@reddthat.comOPEnglish
      0·
      4 days ago

      I think I might give IronFox a go, just a bit weary as never heard of it before, not sure who is the owner of the project and where they are based, GitLab project only has ~125 stars.

      Have you ever used the Accrescent app store? That’s their recommended option for installing it.

      • sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.todayEnglish
        0·
        4 days ago

        I haven’t used Acrescent but I believe it’s made by the GrapheneOS team. It’s focused on security, rather than totally FOSS programs.

        • turtl@lemm.eeEnglish
          0·
          4 days ago

          I’m pretty sure the Acrescent store is independent from Graphene OS - though they just seem to like the project so much they made it available in their own “App Store”