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.
https://digdeeper.club/articles/browsers.xhtml has a somewhat comprehensive analysis of a large number of 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 is still useful in in deciding which of the terrible options to pick.
While it was an interesting read, the article is quite outdated and the author is overly negative of literally everything, not just privacy. If a browser has a glowy button, it’s horrible because it’s too fancy… I feel for the guy…
Just amazing how people wake up, watch a bit of YouTube and run to social media saying the sky is falling in.
Or you can stay in a sinking ship convince yourself “It’s fine !” until it’s too late?
Whatever chose your poison 🤷
Interesting metaphor.
At what point is too late ? What the consequences here, of giving it a few days? Of understanding to steps you can take protect your data ?
Because what you have now, is a bunch of idiots, running round yelling “Firefox is untrustworthy “. And jumping straight on the next fork of 20 million lines of code, because Internet bro says it’s better .
They havent the faintest, and I mean the faintest idea of what trust is,
I get you ! And you’re right. It’s never to late though, until it is. We/they have been betrayed more than once by big tech and monopoly, so I think it’s justified to feel a bit anxious when something out of bound to user’s privacy/consent is implemented in the only real alternative we have right now…
I mean, sure Firefox is the only last bastion against big tech’s monopoly and all forks are depending on Firefox… So that’s not truely a real long term solution as alternative (If something is going to happen…). But as a long term Firefox user, I also have the feeling they are slowly following a dark/uncertain path.
Sure, right now it’s not that of a big deal, but what if in 3 years it becomes a big deal? Imagine a scenario where all web browsers become controlled by one single entity? Wouldn’t it be good to have an alternative? (Yeah there is Tor already) This is only possible in this kind of “hysteria” where some people take the lead before it’s too late, otherwise we will be stuck for years without any working solution, while depending on big data’s scrapper/hoarder riddled with ads and privacy invasive browsing…
Hope it make sense and that my arguments are somehow comprehensible? Not my first language so giving my best haha !
Edit: It’s not a matter of if, but when (but I hope that doesn’t apply to Firefox)
Edit2:
Just think about the Linux kernel, right now it’s the only best alternative to Windows/MacOS and everything is perfect. But what will happen in a few years when Linus steps down? Will it still be as good as today? Will big tech take a step into the kernel? Will it become the next Windows/MacOS? Who knows… That’s why alternatives are always a good thing to have before it’s too late !!
Understood .
I’m sad to see Firefox moving in this direction - it difficult to deny any more - but I don’t like the drama causing everyone to dump it like it’s a virus !
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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
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You can also just selfhost Firefox sync!
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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.
these days if i find any project exclusively active on socials like discord and twitter, and github forge, i quit using it. i mean i wont be registering an account there just for community support.
Yeah I don’t personally like how unlike LibreWolf it doesn’t use ResistFingerprinting.
Being fair, just using a non-Chromium based browser these days kind of gives a major fingerprinting starting point.
United front.
Been using Zen for the past week. It takes some getting used to, but it’s been great so far.
Floorp and librewolf, among others.
neither of them are aviable for android
Ironfox for Android
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.
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…
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.
Is this the GitHub repo for it?
Yep
It’s a fork of Mull, in fact!
Second the Ironfox recommendation.
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.
Cromite
Cromite is exceptional.
Is brave an option?
I just installed Librewolf today, using it now. Being a fork of FF it makes a very smooth transition.
Zen browser is very good.
that’s desktop only
Floorp :)
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?
Fennec is a poor alternative because it connects to Firefox services. Sync is optional, but some internal components will talk to Mozilla, and Mozilla changed their mind about “never selling your data” recently.
Brave is Chrome with a history of suspicious moves, toxic leadership, involvement with crypto and AI
I remembered using Vivaldi a while back, I think I’ll look into it again.
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
Brave or LibreWolf.
Ironfox on Android, easily is the best.
