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,

  1. Firefox based browser
    • To help with browser monopoly
    • I really like the sidebery extension
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

  • @[email protected]
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    1192 months ago

    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.

      • wazzupdog (they/them)
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        2 months ago

        Not op, but I’ve yet to encounter a website that doesn’t work with Firefox. (In the last 5 years)

      • AZERTY
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        92 months ago

        I’ve had a couple sites break but idk if that’s because of Firefox or because of my privacy add ons.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 months ago

        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.

      • @wulf
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        42 months ago

        Vast majority of sites work for me (librewolf), but for the few that don’t I also have Vivaldi installed

      • @[email protected]
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        22 months ago

        Domino’s pizza website is super flakey on Firefox (on mobile) but it will work if you refresh enough times

      • @[email protected]
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        22 months ago

        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.

      • Eager Eagle
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        2 months ago

        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:

        1. 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.

        2. 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.

      • Blxter
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        12 months ago

        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.

      • darkstar
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        12 months ago

        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 …

      • Hellstormy
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        12 months ago

        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.

    • EherNicht
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      2 months ago

      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)
      • @[email protected]
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        132 months ago

        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.

    • @[email protected]
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      132 months ago

      How up to date is that info about Brave? Because their default search is brave-search, not Google as claimed.

      • @[email protected]
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        172 months ago

        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.

        • @[email protected]
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          52 months ago

          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.

            • @[email protected]
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              12 months ago

              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.

            • @[email protected]
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              02 months ago

              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.

      • @SirDerpy
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        82 months ago

        I saw crypto from home screen to settings. While anecdotal, that made them very difficult to trust.

    • Bobr
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      62 months ago

      I think Mullvad is great even if you don’t use their VPN :)

          • EherNicht
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            12 months ago

            It’s just a hardened version of Firefox. You can archive this with Firefox, but it is a hassle.

        • Izzie🌴
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          12 months ago

          @EherNicht

          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.

          • EherNicht
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            02 months ago

            Do not track request makes you stick out which results in easier tracking.

          • EherNicht
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            02 months ago

            It is not. It is pretty much a completely tweaked Firefox.

    • @[email protected]
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      42 months ago

      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

    • @[email protected]
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      12 months ago

      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.

    • Lemongrab
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      12 months ago

      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).

  • @Tolstoy
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    212 months ago

    Firefox with a handful of extensions, same on phone.

    Last time a site “needed” chromium based a user agent switch did the miracle…

  • @[email protected]
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    152 months ago

    firefox on desktop: to keep away a browser monopoly for another day.

    iceraven on mobile: more extensions.

  • XNX
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    132 months ago

    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

    • jeff 👨‍💻
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      12 months ago

      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

      • geoma
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        42 months ago

        The say zen is suspicious. Brand new and not really tested. Keep an eye on it.

  • Angry_Autist (he/him)
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    122 months ago

    Firefox for most things, but I keep a copy of Vivaldi installed because sometimes my firefox setup breaks capcha.

    • hswolf
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      12 months ago

      Does it have a mobile version with sync?

      • XNX
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        52 months ago

        It works with firefox sync so you can use firefox mobile and sync with it

  • Antarktisgadse
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    102 months ago

    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.

  • Extras
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    92 months ago

    Mull on mobile, mullvad and Firefox on desktop

  • @sma3in
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    92 months ago

    Librewolf. whatever you end up choosing, don’t install brave

        • JackbyDev
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          02 months ago

          Specifically stock Firefox? Sure.

          I use Brave when sites don’t work on Firefox.

        • Possibly linux
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          02 months ago

          How so? Brave has strong fingerprinting protection and permission control

            • Possibly linux
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              2 months ago

              No one forgot about it. It just isn’t that big of a deal. You can turn it off pretty easily and it isn’t really forced. Still way better than Chrome or Edge as those browsers are designed to track you in order to show ads. I think the hate against Brave was blown way out of proportion. It is still better to use hardened Firefox but from a absolute defaults perspective Brave is better. As soon as you start hardening Firefox that changes of course especially with Manifest v3

                • Possibly linux
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                  12 months ago

                  Firefox has weaker protections out of the box. You are welcome to prove me wrong. Last time I tested that’s what I found.

  • youmaynotknow
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    2 months ago

    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.

    • Lemongrab
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      2 months ago

      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

        • Lemongrab
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          42 months ago

          Vanadium does not provide adblocking/content-block, comes with proprietary dependencies, and provides no fingerprinting protection.

        • Lemongrab
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          22 months ago

          You can install uBlock origin lite and the adblock plus engine is segregated by cromite

          • Pherenike
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            12 months ago

            I was not able to install any extensions on Cromite, how did you manage it?

            • Lemongrab
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              22 months ago

              Sry, I should have mentioned I meant Cromite on desktop.

    • hswolf
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      22 months ago

      Does either Librewolf or Mullvad have a mobile version with sync?

      • youmaynotknow
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        22 months ago

        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.

        • Lemongrab
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          22 months ago

          It can sync, most if not all Firefox based browsers can sync

      • Lemongrab
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        12 months ago

        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)

      • MightyCuriosity
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        2 months ago

        Most Firefox forks can use Firefox sync but that also has privacy implications