Good privacy focused browser

Mull is made by the same people who worked on Tor. Though it's a bit buggy.

becool773 said:

What's a good privacy focused browser for android phones? I found one a couple of weeks back on fdroid, which claimed to change the user agent and share fake details about the phone being used, os version etc. with the website but lost its link.

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Just use fennec fdroid with addons that you want.

becool773 said:

What's a good privacy focused browser for android phones? I found one a couple of weeks back on fdroid, which claimed to change the user agent and share fake details about the phone being used, os version etc. with the website but lost its link.

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Qubit said:

Firefox Focus: The privacy browser

Firefox Focus is your dedicated privacy browser with automatic tracking protection.

www.mozilla.org

The browser that puts you first | Brave

The Brave browser is a fast, private and secure web browser for PC, Mac and mobile. Download now to enjoy a faster ad-free browsing experience that saves data and battery life by blocking tracking software.

brave.com

Vivaldi Browser | Powerful, Personal and Private web browser

It’s a web browser. But fun. It comes with a bunch of clever features built-in. It’s super flexible and does not track you. Get the Vivaldi browser for desktop, mobile, and your car!

vivaldi.com

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Fennec Froid beats all of these in a heartbeat.

I personally prefer vanilla firefox. Has good features, plus addons like adblock

sabino said:

I personally prefer vanilla firefox. Has good features, plus addons like adblock

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Mate fennec has everything that vanilla Firefox has, incluindg addons support. You can login to the browser with your Firefox account credentials as well. Only the extra tracking and telemetry are stripped off.

awestorr said:

GitHub - uazo/cromite: Cromite a Bromite fork with ad blocking and privacy enhancements; take back your browser!

Cromite a Bromite fork with ad blocking and privacy enhancements; take back your browser! - uazo/cromite

github.com

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Lacks extension support. + Based on ubiquitous Chromium. Using FF means discouraging this unhealthy ubiquity.

No extensions but using something familiar is more convenient for me..

Brave. Nothing comes close. Have used nearly every android browser including Bromite/Cromite.

TinTinSnowy said:

Nothing comes close.

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Could you elaborate why exactly?

rootyme said:

Could you elaborate why exactly?

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Sure,

1) Brave has the best built-in ad blocker, so there's no need to rely on third-party extensions like uBlock Origin for Firefox or Kiwi (Chromium). Vivaldi and Cromite have weak built-in ad blockers. With Brave, there are no concerns about MV3 limitations or the update approval policy of the extension store.

2) Ability to play YouTube videos in the background out of the box.

3) Best out-of-the-box privacy settings with lots of flexibility in terms of how you want to configure them.


4) Brave, being based on Chromium, offers the best security on Android and compatibility with most sites. Firefox lacks per-site process isolation and does not use proper Android sandboxing. Progress on these security issues is too slow. Their team strength is not adequate.


You will need to add many extensions to make Firefox comparable to Brave, which will create a unique fingerprint for you (weakening your privacy) instead of blending you with other users. Additionally, using many extensions will increase the attack surface (increasing the risk of being exploited).

5) Brave and other Chromium-based browsers are more performant and battery-efficient on Android compared to Firefox.

6) Brave's tab handling is also superior to Firefox's due to tab groups.

Honestly, I don't see any point in using Firefox on Android right now. Multiple companies (Google, Microsoft, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, etc.) are working towards improving the Chromium base, which automatically benefits all Chromium browsers. Additionally, Brave is open source. The Google blobs used in Brave are only for essential functions, posing no privacy concerns, and you can disable all crypto-related features.

becool773 said:

What's a good privacy focused browser for android phones? I found one a couple of weeks back on fdroid, which claimed to change the user agent and share fake details about the phone being used, os version etc. with the website but lost its link.

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I don't think you need a privacy focused browser, chrome in incognito mode seems fine for most tasks.

If you were doing something really critical you wouldn't be looking for a privacy browser, instead you will go further and look into VPNs and all sorts of things like that.

Mull and Cromite are serious privacy oriented browsers. I personally use Mull and it supports firefox extensions. But, if you lean towards a browser that tweaks just about every setting to make it more private, it would make it easier to fingerprint the user due to their uniqueness. As already stated by the people above, Brave with default settings is often a great choice.

I don't see difference between firefox android, Fennec, Mull browsers. Extensions and features seems to be the same in all. Can anyone explain what's different ?

Chatgpt says:
"Firefox for Android, Fennec, and Mull are all browsers based on the same core technology from Mozilla, but they have some key differences:

1. **Firefox for Android**:
- **Developer**: Mozilla
- **Features**: This is the official mobile version of the Firefox browser. It includes support for Firefox Sync, which allows users to sync their bookmarks, history, and open tabs across devices. It supports a wide range of extensions from the Mozilla Add-ons store and offers features like Enhanced Tracking Protection, customizable privacy settings, and a user-friendly interface.
- **Updates**: Receives regular updates directly from Mozilla, ensuring timely security patches and new features.

2. **Fennec**:
- **Developer**: Mozilla (originally), but now often maintained by the community.
- **Features**: Fennec is essentially the open-source version of Firefox for Android before it became a full-fledged product. It's sometimes used by developers and enthusiasts who prefer to have more control over the software they use. It supports similar extensions and features as the official Firefox for Android.
- **Updates**: Community-driven, which means updates may not be as regular or prompt as the official Firefox releases.

3. **Mull**:
- **Developer**: Calyx Institute
- **Features**: Mull is a privacy-focused fork of Firefox for Android. It is designed to enhance user privacy and security by default, incorporating various patches and configurations aimed at minimizing data leakage and tracking. While it supports extensions similar to Firefox for Android, Mull typically disables or modifies certain features that are deemed to compromise privacy.
- **Updates**: Maintained by the Calyx Institute, updates might focus more on privacy and security enhancements rather than general features.

### Key Differences:
- **Purpose and Focus**:
- Firefox for Android aims to provide a balanced, mainstream browsing experience with a wide array of features.
- Fennec serves as a more flexible, open-source option often used for development or customization purposes.
- Mull prioritizes user privacy and security, making adjustments to the standard Firefox experience to enhance these aspects.

- **Maintenance and Updates**:
- Firefox for Android is updated regularly by Mozilla.
- Fennec updates depend on community contributions and might not be as frequent.
- Mull updates focus on integrating privacy enhancements and are maintained by the Calyx Institute.

- **Default Configurations**:
- Firefox for Android has configurations catering to a general audience.
- Fennec configurations can be more experimental or tailored by users.
- Mull configurations are heavily tweaked for privacy and security out-of-the-box.

While the core functionality and extension support might appear similar across these browsers, their target audiences and the emphasis on certain features (like privacy in Mull) set them apart."

This link mentioned by @TinTinSnowy above covers pretty much everything -

becool773 said:

Firefox (Gecko)-based browsers on Android lack site isolation,1 a powerful security feature that protects against a malicious site performing a Spectre-like attack to gain access to the memory of another website you have open. Can this be prevented using any extension/add on or is brave browser the only solution?

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Don't know if the info is outdated, but mull now seems to have site isolation baked in. I am on v114 (build 21140000) and I am able to set both "fission.autostart" and "gfx.webrender.all" prefs to "true" through about:config. But I can't confirm if the feature is functional as there doesn't seem to be any way to check. I am not aware of any extensions that can achieve this though.

becool773 said:

Which extension/add on prevents site isolation in ff in pc's?

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According to https://wiki.mozilla.org/Project_Fission#Enabling_Fission
To disable Fission, set the "fission.autostart" pref to "false" and restart Firefox.
Again, don't know of any extensions that can do this.

becool773 said:

As per this link https://privacytests.org/android brave is coming out to be better than tor, is that really so?

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That really depends on what 'better' means. If you are after complete anonymity (ie., you want to be untraceable by the ISP or the government itself) tor browser is your only choice. That's only possible because of the way it connects to the internet. Also note that tor enforces strict browsing configs right out of the box and it's not advisable to change those settings. So, a lot of sites (I mean, like 70-80%) will break. And not to mention, the drop in internet speeds are absolutely crazy due to the number of connection 'hops' being made between the source and the destination. Unless you are a whistle blower or a secret agent on an undercover mission sending data to their homeland, using tor does not make much sense. But do note that tor does have it's use cases. For example, it's useful for a journalist reporting from a country with high internet censorship, etc.

If your goal is to just safeguard your online data from being crunched on by some big tech, then limiting/obfuscating the data being sent is all that's required. In this regard, Brave/Mull/Cromite are all equally good. Just choose one that's upto your liking.

becool773 said:

Different question, is there a good foss email client for phones? Since it will be foss, so it will most likely store emails to the phone. Then it should have a feature to fetch emails related to xx days/weeks, right?

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Yes there is! Fairmail is a wonderful email client for privacy focussed peeps. It has the ability to fetch emails at specified intervals (daily, weekly, etc). The developer, Marcel is constantly working on improving it and he also provides timely security fixes via updates. You can also unlock the features of pro version for free by contacting the dev. K-9 is another great option. It looked like it's development had come to a halt, a few years back. But since it's now owned by Mozilla, it now gets timely updates.

becool773 said:

Edit- What are webview browsers as mentioned here? https://divestos.org/pages/browsers I mean how are they different than normal browsers?

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Android System Webview is the default webview that's baked into every android device. To see the webview in action, you can go to settings-->Google, the contents in that settings page are all rendered via the webview. Think of webview as a stripped down version of a web browser. It has small memory footprint, easy to integrate into native apps and does basic things like rendering a login webpage inside the app itself (so that the user is not redirected to their default browser). Most of the time, a webview is implemented in such a way that it only performs one action (eg., load a specific webpage). Webview browers utilize similar concept to trim down the bloat. But in that process, a lot of components which are required to leverage privacy enhancing features (eg., limiting cross site tracking, fingerprinting, etc) are also left out. Due to this, it's not advisable to rely on webview broswers for privacy. If your phone is rooted, there's a magisk module to change android's webview. But doing so might break a lot of things.