As open source as Android is, it is very difficult to find a decent browser, let alone one that is privacy focused and also usable on daily.
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Almost all web searches point to site that shows stuff like : Chrome, Edge, Opera…etc. So this doesnt help.
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Play Store is full of shitty browsers. If you skip the usual DDG, Chrome, Edge, Opera…etc then you will see either:
a) browsers from random Chinese company (Via, UC Browser)
or b) browser that is coupled with other products, e.g. a video downloader with built in browser.
- After the recent fiasco with Firefox and their ToS, I saw a lot of posts saying IronFox / Water Fox is better. I’ve never heard of these Foxes variants before.
So I tried the following on Android:
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DDG: only good if you do basic search. It lacks a good adblocker. So very annoying if you are on a site with shit tons of popups.
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Brave: not a fan of the in your face AI tools. Overall it works ok though
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The Foxes variants: IronFox seems to be very good on privacy. It has its own DNS and most of the security is on by default. However, same as all Foxes, IronFox just doesnt play well on Android. There is a slight lag when you try to switch tabs.
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TOR: This would be the safest. But the poorest in terms of usability.
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Chrome w/o account or Chrome run from private space. Surprisingly, Chrome is still the one browser that runs the smoothest…
Any input is appreciated.
I find VIvaldi to be the most functional and its also my preferred desktop browser, It’s like brave but without the crypto non-sense, and much more focused on what users want rather than what will make them advertising money.
Firefox or Waterfox if you’re freaking out about Firefox.
Firefox. They’re still great, people keep freaking out over extremely benign changes.
Unpopular opinion: Quetta + uBlock Origin + NextDNS works really well. The interface is very configurable and clean. Good translator, background playback, extensions, DoH…
Mullvad browser and Tor browser are the only serious options for privacy on the internet. Librewolf, cromite, Firefox, brave, etc will get you fingerprinted. If you care about security more than privacy, use a chromium based browser. Personally, I use Mullvad browser with Vpn (use only protonvpn, mullvad, or ivpn, they have had security and legal tests) it’s the best combo of fast and private.
For mobile, the options are more limited. Ironfox, Cromite, and Vanadium (GrapheneOs) are the best bets for daily use. Tor Browser is the only one that actually stops fingerprinting however, but it is difficult to recommend it as a daily driver, it’s more of a tool.
Source: I actually help code security software and test it in real world scenarios regularly
I was about to ask, wasn’t Mullvad discontinued a few months ago? But I’m thinking of the Mull browser, right?
Yeah Mull is a different project. Mullvad browser is better than Mull (now Ironfox) tho lol.
People should be aware that Tor is gonna be quite a bit slower and isn’t practical for things like streaming.
Yeah it’s not really suitable as a daily driver. Mullvad is imo
firefox/fennec with ublock origin
I’m on IronFox on a cheap ~200$ Motorola phone and had no issues, runs like the old Mull used to
Vanadium along with Kagi Search engine and NextDNS is god tier
Brave with Orbot.
Cromite+Fennec
I use 3 browsers on my android devices. All 3 on all of them. That’s Firefox as the primary, and then Firefox Focus, and Firefox Nightly.
In the primary Firefox browser, I use uBlock Origin.
I have no lag - so why you talk about “all foxes” here, I don’t really know. Maybe you do know that Google, Like MS, Apple and others, always try to make it harder to use anything else, than their solution?
I use IronFox and have no qualms. Vandium on graphene is also popular. Buy apart from that I can’t offer up much more
I ran into some broken site issues with IronFox (which is completely understandable), but after tweaking every setting I could possibly find I couldn’t resolve them. Fennec is a good compromise for me
I’ve been running IronFox for a while and it’s been solid.
I’ve been using Fennec and it works 99% of the times and on the rare occasion I need Chromium based browser I use Brave. I don’t have any issues with either.
Usually the same. Except Brave I use Vivaldi.
Same except my alt is chromite
Chromite is on Android?
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According to the tests I’ve run, IronFox, Brave, and Tor Browser are the only options (in my opinion).
Cromite also works, as does Vanadium, but they’re… basic, and the fingerprinting resistance could be better.
