On Linux and Android. What are privacy oriented alternatives to Firefox now that it’s no longer trustworthy?
The ability to sync between devices would be a huge bonus, even just on a local network.
LibreWolf finally has an account at mastodon @[email protected]
I made the switch, its worth noting that there is some differences, like not keeping cookies by default, and you’re not able to set it dark mode etc. These can be fixed up through extensions or config changes.
https://digdeeper.club/articles/browsers.xhtml has a somewhat comprehensive analysis of a dozen of the browsers you might consider, illuminating depressing (and sometimes surprising) privacy problems with literally all of them.
In the end it absurdly recommends something which forked from Firefox a very long time ago, which is obviously not a reasonable choice from a security standpoint. I don’t have a good recommendation, but I definitely don’t agree with that article’s conclusion: privacy features are pointless if your browser is trivially vulnerable to exploits for a plethora of old bugs, which will inevitably be the case for a volunteer-run project that diverged from Firefox a long time ago and thus cannot benefit from Mozilla’s security fixes in each new release.
However, despite its ridiculous conclusion, that page’s analysis could still be helpful when you’re deciding which of the terrible options to pick.
Ironfox on Android, easily is the best.
So I haven’t been following the Firefox thing that closely. Fennec isn’t an alternative because it uses Firefox’s Sync and Brave is out of the question because it’s crypto Chrome?
librewolf, mullvad, zen browser? all fork of firefox
Not really an option because he said Android
You can use any firefox fork on Linux and any other firefox fork on Android. They sync fine.
I just installed Librewolf today, using it now. Being a fork of FF it makes a very smooth transition.
I’ve been using LibraWolf on desktop for several years now. It’s just far simpler than modifying standard Firefox. for my personal needs.
LibreWolf is great ! Coming from ArkenFox, I found LibreWolf’s override cfg a bit easier.
They also have a pacdiff cfg to see what changes from version to version without the need to roam arkenfoxes github repo for hours to find what changed or what to change.
I installed it yesterday to see how it goes :) If it doesn’t fit, will go back to Arkenfox.
power of ‘community-driven’ projects
Floorp :)
If you want to keep the Gecko Engine from Mozilla to support an alternative to Google’s monopoly here are a couple alternative for Linux :
- Librewolf
- Mullvad Browser
- Zen Browser
For Android you have to be aware that unfortunately every firefox based browser lack of per-site isolation unlike chromium browsers.
- IronFox (active fork of Mull by DivestOS)
- Fennec
On the dark side of the spectrum you have chromium browser such as :
- Brave (Linux & Android) (disable cryptocrap, sponsor backgrounds and it’s quite good)
- Cromite (Android)
Vivaldi is much better than brave, no ai or crypto shit and the CEO isn’t alt right
Yes Vivaldi doesn’t come with crypto bullshit nor AI. However by default it’s so badly tuned for user privacy… and sprobably even security. Honestly I would prefer having a Vivaldi AI Agent over a proprietary web browser (I know it’s mainly open but it’s not) It was not that well optimized on several of my devices when I tried it… I’m not conviced by their chromium proprietary fork even tho it’s not the worst alternative either.
I use ungoogled-chromium & thorium are worth a mention.
For Android you have to be aware that unfortunately every firefox based browser lack of per-site isolation unlike chromium browsers.
Wait really? Its 2025, seriously, what is Mozilla doing?
Yes, I learned that thanks to DivestOS which was comming with Mull, they had a comparison table and yes no FF based browser support that basic security feature yet…
Collecting paychecks for being controlled opposition?
I use a similar set up. Librewolf on Linux and IronFox on Android. You could still use a Firefox account to sync, but I wouldn’t. I’ve heard there’s a way to host an older version of Firefox sync locally, but I haven’t looked into it.
This + xBrowserSync for bookmarks.
Second the Ironfox recommendation.
Not OP, but I’ve never heard of IronFox. Is it a comparable replacement for Mull? Gods I’m still a bit salty over how sudden that was…
It’s a fork of Mull, in fact!
Yes IronFox is a fork of Mull, and though it does have a couple of differences in opinion on the balance of privacy and usability, it’s very similar. I’ve been using it since shortly after we lost Mull.
This is what I use.
And this is the latest sync server that doesn’t rely on discontinued versions of Python: https://github.com/mozilla-services/syncstorage-rs/. It’s not a full, plug and play solution, and it doesn’t support PostgreSql so I haven’t set it up in my self hosted environment yet, but plan to eventually.
I made this https://github.com/jeena/fxsync-docker/ which supports PostgreSQL but sadly they broke the upstream images in newer versions.
Someone did the work to rebuild the images and fix the problems in new versions, looks promising: https://github.com/porelli/firefox-sync
Floorp and librewolf, among others.
neither of them are aviable for android
Ironfox for Android
Use any fork of Firefox without the sync option.
Sorry I’ve been out of the loop, the encrypted sync isn’t safe anymore? I’m using forks since a while but I rely heavily on sync
You can also selfhost sync!
Yes, that’s a great idea. I’m tempted to do that but my old NAS is hardly keeping up with all the services I’ve deployed on it so far
Can’t trust Mozilla anymore with the data, so you’re better off finding alternatives. You can check out: xBrowserSync
You can also just selfhost Firefox sync!
Oh, I didn’t know that. Thanks for the suggestion. It’s gonna be on my home server soon! ✅
You can check out: xBrowserSync
I wish, but at 10MB size limit, it won’t do
LibreWolf is what I use, but I heard Zen Browser is another fork that’s been getting some traction. I don’t use it though, but I’ve heard from someone who does that it works for them. thumbs-up
Zen looks good, but being more unique couldn’t it get fingerprinted more easily?
Also their community is on Discord, which to me is a red flag quite frankly. I realize it’s separate from the browser, but still. Discord no good.
Been using Zen for the past week. It takes some getting used to, but it’s been great so far.
Cromite
Cromite is exceptional.
Brave or LibreWolf.
