Feddit.onlineAndroid is now warning of Firefox sharing data
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lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e90bdf41-d570-491e-b0f…
Found this notification this morning on my pixel 6.
Does anyone know if Blockada mitigates this problem on Android?
"Quick! Jump to chrome instead!" - Google spokesperson
Google warning you about Mozilla is just peak fucking irony
FWIW I'm not seeing this on the Play Store for Firefox 136.0.1 on my Pixel 8a, and I'm not seeing any warnings on Beta or Nightly either:
I don't see it from installs direct via Obtainium, either.
i mean it's just because you can grant websites location data and toggle telemetry.
Isn't that just because Firefox got access to location data because some site asked for it?
Yep. Like a map website...
commenting cus I also have the same question
Google: "Forcing us to divest Chrome could have impacts on our ability to support Mozilla and their high executive salaries as we own the space with Chrome."
Also Google:
Okay, turned it off. If a site needs my location it can ask me and I can politely tell it to fuck off unless it has a warrant.
Even if this isn't entirely true, you know Google wouldn't pass up the opportunity to reduce Firefox market share to scare everyone back to Chrome.
There's no need to reduce Firefox marketshare. Most people don't even consider using anything else than whatever is default in their device.
Also, it's not a Google scare tactic or a flex. Every application on the Play Store must disclose the general outlines of their data policy, including the sharing of data. Lying with those checkbox is not a good idea but they are completely informative and put there by the publishing party, so the people responsible for publishing Firefox on mobile just updated these, and this is what is shown when an app publisher say their app is sharing data with third parties.
tl;dr: it's very likely that not a single soul at Google even looked at this, as this is just the regular behavior of the Play Store with apps that changes their data policy or indicate sharing user data with third parties.
Why the dichotomy between the chrome listing on the store then?
No idea, I'm not that obsessed with it. But do note that "The developers of these apps provided info about their data sharing practices to an app store. They may update it over time." and "Data sharing practices may vary based on your app version, use, region, and age."
The recent changes to Firefox terms of use (well, their introduction really) was supposedly meant to appease some regional lawmakers. Maybe it is a regional thing. Maybe they changed it again. Maybe it's, as often with store page update, rolled out progressively to people (in either direction, whether it's adding or removing these terms).
The point is, that's neither a "Google" operation to put Firefox in a bad light, nor a Mozilla operation to… do whatever it is they're doing these days. It's just a regular message. Which, reading a lot of the replies here, is something that have to be said.
I wonder if they say people should be careful with Chrome 😂
they don't have to! they microsoft explorered that shit
Like chrome does something different?
Yes, chrome is doing something different. It is even worse!
That's not the point they're trying to make I think. It's more of an attack on perfection. Like "the alternative is not perfect either so why not just stay with Chrome". It's not a very strong argument in general but it might be enough to keep people from switching.
It does work for a lot of people. Seeing they need to change and adapt if they do change, and it seemingly seems to be as bad as what they're using now, why change and face headaches and hassle.
exactly, when confronted with cognitive dissonance people look for any shitty excuse to avoid changing their minds.
No but where are you going to go. The options are shrinking.
Waterfox works great on Android.
Fennec on mobile. LibreWolf on desktop.
Iron fox is another option.
Zen browser is great on desktop
Zen, at least from the few times that I've tried it, also has some major issues that I personally find to be deal-breakers. Like forgetting tabs in a window that has just been closed. If you accidentally close a window that you're working, without quitting the browser, you lose everything in it. As someone who is prone to doing that when closing a tab, it's not ideal.
It integrates into the Google ecosystem well, and if that has value to a person it may just be enough to bring them back to chrome.
Who would use the Google ecosystem? Yuck. 🤮
Lol if Google really wanted to kill FF they would just stop paying them half a billion a year.
Firefox? You mean the company they give several hundred million dollars/year? Yeah I don't think they're too worried. They need some number of users on Firefox to prevent anti-trust issues. Which they're on the brink of right now.
you're right Google's not worried.
as for anti-trust, they're already in sentencing phase.
Given the current administration, I'd be very unsurprised if that disappears.
There isn't to much to reduce. I don't think Google is scared or afraid by Firefox, like at all.
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The story I heard was that by of California's definition of selling data, doing anything with user data that could benefit the company was considered selling data. So they updated their FAQ to be in line with that definition. But I could be wrong, if someone could point me to a good article I'd appreciate it.
Here's Louis Rossmann's wiki where he details it. I hope that helps.
Thanks! Sounds like limiting risk from the California bill is a plausible reason, but it isn't confirmed.
It sounds like a bullshit excuse, to me.
If they wanted to cover their ass, they could have changed their ToS any number of different ways than what they went with.
Let's not be naïve. All corporations are the enemy, including Mozilla.
To be fair they are a company with bills to pay and they have to shield themselves from being fined or sued. At this point I assume almost everything has been backdoored to hell and I'd rather use the product from the company with better overall terms and principles.
ACAB? C being Companies.
You're saying "exploiting" user data might have been more precise than "selling". Either way I don't want them doing it.
terrible choice of link. There was a stack of reporting from various tech-news sites and blogs; but you've given as the nazi site.
So you're advocating that Google _shouldn't_ broadcast that firefox is broadcasting your current location? Even though they do this for every other app available on Android, you're saying they _shouldn't_ do this for firefox?
Why?
This notice is effectively added by the Firefox developers when they select the ability to enable location services and also tick a box thay they collect data.
They want to scare people to stay on Chrome now that they discontinued support of uBlock (not that it was ever supported on Chrome for Android anyway)
So they do this for all apps. Every single app that is in the Android ecosystem. But in your mind they're _specifically targeting_ firefox with this to make people "scared" huh?
Must be nice to live in denial.
God damn why's the world so shit
My understanding is this is due to regions broadening the definition of "sell" to include any form of personal data transfer. So Mozilla giving location info (with consent if you enable "ask every time" in the permissions) to websites to look up local store hours or whatever is "selling data."
AFAIK, nothing has changed in Firefox.
It really is. Literally everything is shit and I'm so fucking over it.
i know, thats some really late stage capitalism bullshit.
This is the Bad Place
Society empowers and encourages shitty people that only care about their own kind/tribe, is why.
This comment is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Society empowers and encourages shitty people that only care about
their own kind/tribethemselves, is why.Do they mean “Firefox can get your location data to pass on to pages you give permission to, who we cannot guarantee won’t share it with advertisers” or “Firefox reserves the right to do a deal to monetise the tantalising firehose of location data coming from your device unless you specifically opt out”?
The former, but the language looks vague enough that they could do the latter eventually. My understanding is that they have to be vague in the language for legal reasons (e.g. to appease regulators in various markets).
Who can say
As of the latest Chrome update on PC, they have dropped support for uBlock. You can still technically enable it, but they disabled it by default once you update.
That got me back to Firefox with breakneck speed.
Hopefully soon Librewolf, Fennec F-droid and other forks will become mainstream.
I haven't switched to Librewolf on pc yet; hoping that turning off the telemetry/etc options in ff is enough, but I'm starting to think it might not be long.
I was that same way with Firefox for a while, but after I gave Librewolf a long-term test drive I stuck with it.
If you’re used to Firefox with the privacy stuff cranked up, from a user perspective Librewolf is basically just that. But I like knowing that some of the Mozilla stuff is actually removed.
They also roll out updates quickly. I’m pretty sure I updated Firefox and Librewolf to 136.0.1 today just hours apart.
I switched over to LibreWolf recently. I discovered Vivaldi just a few hours before I learned about the Manifest v3 stuff for Chromium (which is a shame because I actually LOVED Vivaldi). I really want to try Zen Browser, but I’m using old, 2011-era Macs (running Ubuntu 24.04 on one) and it won’t install. LibreWolf is great because of its clean, minimal design and absolute privacy-forward thinking. I’ve enjoyed it so far (and I’m only running it on the Ubuntu machine).
I want to switch over further but so far I've had so much else going on that data privacy hasn't taken a priority. Things are getting weird now so it is time for a priority change.
Frankly speaking, calling out Google and Chrome, then moving to Firefox while Mozilla have been doing it's best Google impression for years now is not that great of a plan.
I wonder how long Firefox will be ok with all that, since Mozilla bought that advertisement business a while ago.
The main problem is that building a web browser is extremely difficult and everyone else uses Google's version of WebKit. So there's no alternatives: it's either Google or Mozilla. Forks don't count because if some functionality that end users need is deprecated, nobody will maintain it and it will just disappear once it's removed from the main codebase
Yes, I agree. That's why I'm weirded out by people saying "Firefox bad, use Librewolf" and the like.
I still think a solution that relies on donation (maybe with some corporate support) would be very good for everyone involved. Unfortunately, Mozilla is not a player in this, so we're stuck with basically three engines, one that can't be used, one that's openly hostile, and one that's becoming hostile.
Not great.
You just described Servo. It will happen. The Linux Foundation is backing it up now... after Mozilla dropped it.
Hm. Did not know about that. Interesting, thanks.
Hopefully Servo will change that
To be fair it is based on KHTML. One of projects KDE can spend that extra money on and resurrect.
Bring back Konqueror too while at it!
Edit: Apparently it still exists, it just isn't the default on any mainstream distros anymore
Saying KHTML = WebKit is like saying a sponge is a killer whale.
"based on"
That's a regular notification, which would happen for any application whose data policy is changed on the Play Store page. These policy are as declared by the app publisher. This would be the same for any application that didn't check that "sharing data with third party" box earlier, then checked it later on.
I don't get what your comment is getting at. I don't view this post as saying anything special or unique about the notification. I see it as a warning that Firefox is now doing this.
The legal definition of "sell" has changed in several major markets, and that's (supposedly) why Firefox has recently changed their terms. The word "sell" is now ostensibly broad enough to include "give to anybody for any reason", including if you use Firefox for any reason where you would legitimately want and need Firefox to give ("sell") your data - for example if you use it for: literally any shopping or even just browsing store pages; any interactive (real world) maps where you may want to use your location; any searches where you want local businesses to be listed; any search engine that may want to use your location to aid in results; etc. etc. etc.
Any legitimate exchange of data can now be construed as "selling" because of the new legal definitions, regardless of if anyone is actually selling anything.
It's very possible that nothing has changed - that Firefox hasn't started selling user data, they're just updating their terms (and this app listing) to reflect the changes in the legal definitions of "sell".
The whole "legal definitions are why we changed" is definitely what they're rolling with, but I don't think a lot of what you said is correct. Websites selling data is not the same as firefox selling data. If a site sells your data while you're using firefox, that is in no way shape or form involved with firefox. That's also not what they are claiming. They are strictly talking about the data that firefox directly collects and distributes. It would include search results if you searched via the address bar, I suppose. They have sold data for a while, but it's anonymized (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sponsor-privacy).
Firefox is free to use, but it costs a lot of money to develop. They need money, nobody here is denying that. Many users on this platform have tried to avoid any form of data collection as much as possible (myself included) so they would rather pay to fund it (though many don't). However, most people would rather pay for the service with ads and data collection. Because to them, it's basically free. Most users would never even consider moving to Firefox if it was paid. They could offer two options, one paid and one "free", but they haven't done that yet and it's not clear if they plan to.
Most importantly, it's really about being transparent. If they need money, they shouldn't try to hide the fact they are selling anonymized data by saying "We never sell you data" or to be like "oh no, we are doing it because of legal definitions" when in reality they are selling data. I get it's a PR movement, but most of the people intentionally using Firefox are tech savvy people wanting to get away from Google's big brother approach. I get people defending Firefox, and I also get people hating on Mozilla, but we should also be clear about the reality. Firefox is, and has been selling your data (in some form), but now the laws are changing to make it more clear that what they're doing is in fact selling data.
Which parts do you disagree with? I'm not talking about websites selling your data after you access them through Firefox, I'm saying that now - with new definitions of "sale"/"sell" - that Firefox giving anybody any data for almost any reason can be legally construed as "selling". This isn't just the case for Firefox, it's the case for literally any web browser, and anything that can access the internet for any reason.
Yes, I thought about including the fact that Firefox does engage in ad-based revenue, and I suppose I should've, but Firefox is pretty upfront about this and allows users to opt out of targeted advertising - and this has been the case since long before this past week or two. These ads only appear on the "new tab" page, and only if you consent to seeing them. Anybody who's dropping Firefox for this recent controversy seens to be missing that. It's very possible (and personally I think it's likely) that nothing at all has changed from within Firefox.
This comment reads differently to me than the one of yours I replied to. When you said:
Regardless, I agree with what you've just said more. My argument is moreso that Firefox has been selling data (so nothing really has changed with them), but now they're being required to state that they're selling data. I get that Mozilla doesn't want to be lumped in with "selling data" groups, because it can be done in very extremely different manners with varying levels of invasion on privacy. But I also think they should have been more up front about where they get some of their revenue, and not tried to be like "We never sell your data" while literally having sponsored suggestions (both on the new tab page, and website suggestions in the address bar).
As for what the current drama impacts on this? Nothing, really. Other than they are being required to disclose that they sell data, and their getting backlash because they've been trying to pretend they don't. Now that they're lumped in with the "data selling" corporations in peoples minds (even though they're very different than google), who knows if that will give them the extra room to be a bit more invasive with their data collection. They've already crossed the largest PR hurdle, so the future incremental changes would be much easier. There's no guarantee, but with traditional enshitification, it wouldn't surprise me.
Have you read all the other replies? "Google mad", "Google putting Firefox in the dirt", "False info", etc.
I interpret top level comments as responses to OP unless they say something otherwise.
Get ironfox?
fennec vs ironfox opinions?
resistFingerprintingenabled); repoIronFox is more ambitious, which means higher maintenance load and more likely to fall behind. Fennec is much simpler, so less likely to fall behind, but also doesn't change much from Firefox.
I like fennec because the name is cute.
I would love to see a real comparison.
I've not heard of ironfox before this thread! Could you possibly link it? Doesn't seem like it's on FDroid or IzzyOnDroid
You have to add IronFox's repo in F-Droid before you can install it from there. This is their Github link.
Thanks
In addition to what others have said, it can be downloaded from the Accrescent app store:
https://accrescent.app/
Never heard of that, what's the benefit over F-Droid?
The main difference is of philosophy of trust. With F-droid you trust F-droid to build the binary from the developers' source code. With Accrescent, you trust the developers to build the binary from the source code.
So Accrescent is more like the classic play store or Obtainium?
In the play store you're trusting Google and the developer.
I'm not sure how obtainium works. But if you download binaries from GitHub, you're trusting the developer to accurately build their source code into the binary without adding anything. You're also trusting GitHub implicitly -- way back when, source forge was sometimes adding malware to downloads iirc.
F-droid is kind of cool in that they are saying, "we will ensure for you that the code you execute is the same as the open source code you can read". But this added level of insurance comes with downsides -- like sometimes it's harder for the developer to make their code build properly, or maybe updates take longer.
Not when using a self-hosted F-Droid Repo - which is the case for Ironfox.
I wish more projects hosted their own F-droid repo and kept it up to date. FUTO has one for their stuff (Grayjay, FUTO Keyboard, etc), but it's frequently outdated, whereas Bitwarden and a few others I use do a good job.
Maybe Accrescent is what I'm looking for. I just want a store that:
I basically want fdroid, but faster updates.
Yeah that's like any 3rd party repository
GrapheneOS posted this on Mastodon about a month & a half back:
https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/113900949999725460
IronFox is on F-Droid. That where I got it from at least
its for android, mobile.
Duh
Fennec is great on Android
I've been pretty happy with it as my casual web search browser, putting all my social media on a different browser. And it's in F-Droid, so that always feels good.
Great app also maintained by Mozilla
(wait, don't tell me y'all don't know lol)
Firefox is maintained by Mozilla, Fennec is a custom build that removes some stuff, and is maintained by some Russian person who I'm pretty sure isn't affiliated with Mozilla (get here by clicking the "Issue Tracker" link).
It's not a fork since it's built from Mozilla sources, it's just a build script.
The DDG app shows no 3rd party tracking attempts made by Firefox at all... So far...
Yeah. People can avoid all this nonsense by installing one simple app... Duck duck go browser.
You don't have to use the browser. It just sits in the background quietly blocking tracking requests from other apps.
It's absolutely horrifying on first use to see how egregious tracking is.
There's also the PersonalDNSFilter which does the equivalent while being a tiny open-source app that serves only for that purpose and also somehow still not getting banned from the Google Play store or AdAway which also has this feature or TrackerControl or...
That's not how it works. Apps cannot access the traffic of other apps, let alone decrypt it. There is no way DDG Browser does what you claim it does. They do not even claim that themselves.
EDIT: Unless, of course, it works as a VPN, which apparently it does.
It does in fact do what they claim it does, by functioning as a VPN.
You should probably try the app first before talking out of your ass.
I did have the browser app a few months ago, but didn't see any such functionality. Of course, by working as a VPN that works.
It's in the Settings, under "App Tracking Protection".
I don't even use the browser part of the app.
Crazy that I've been downvoted for offering factual help, while the comment which is provably incorrect is up voted
figured as much
They're making shit up. I can assure you that the DDG app does in fact block trackers in other apps, by functioning as a VPN. Give it a try, it really does work.
well damn now i dont know who to believe <:p
If the app works as a VPN as well, then that works. I was not aware that the DDG browser does that.
deadass? I just use adguard
I use both adguard and the DDG app. You should be using both too.
Pot Calling Kettle... etc... 🤣
I know, right, the fucking balls of Google to fucking say this
Because they are legally obligated to mention it?
Are they? What law?
...except they don't for their own browser.
It's literally there.
This is not at all a pot kettle situation, there is no reason to warn about Firefox.
There is: default search results on FF have always legally been sold to Google, the public didn't know since there were no terms of service or mention by FF whenever they uploaded the android version on the playstore that their users data would be collected and some be sold. Position is one of the data that may be sold as it could be used by Google to dermine which localised version of the search result is the best one to serve
And it's not going to be Google in the future: it could be Bing, startpage, ecosia, qwant etc... As long as someone pays, then the results are sold and there needs to be a warning to users.
That's not true, for many years Firefox was basically financed by Google for being the default search engine, because Google didn't want Microsoft to monopolize Internet Browsers. Everybody who had the slightest interest knew that.
But that's completely irrelevant, it's a very marginal source of revenue today, and Firefox does not sell user info to Google. So it's on Google to warn about using Google search.
The only reason for the change in Firefox privacy terms was for clarification. For instance any information given to Firefox, does not grant Firefox ownership of it. (opposite of for instance Facebook)
That's a guarantee of user protection, not the opposite. Firefox has a very limited scope of "using" user data, like for instance storing links with Firefox, so they work across multiple devices.
There is no "harvesting" of user behavior or information.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/03/mozilla-rewrites-firefoxs-terms-of-use-after-user-backlash/
Deactivate from settings
Have https always on, protection against tracking on strict, data collection and daily ping on off.
And that's it.
Pretty easy to disable the location app permission or set it to ask every time. Firefox hasn't asked me to enable it since turning it off.
Yeah I'm pretty sure Firefox won't ask for or use your location, unless a website wants it for some reason (which is almost never a good one).
and even then, for me at least, the dialog that pops up is broken and lot of times the "Allow" button literally does nothing
Didn't they also elude to collecting telemetry recently? I know it's up for some debate but, if true, I'm not sure that's a thing we can turn off.
Wait a second. You're expecting Google to not FUD? Ha ha ha oh wow. I mean I didn't actually expect them to do so, but yeah.
Wth is fud?
Fucking Ultra Demon
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. It’s more commonly used in crypto communities.
[stern stare]
Forgotten the history, have we? I was referring to Microsoft's tactics in the early 2000s.
Crypto bros have watered down the term and made it a laughing matter. They ruin everything they touch. Goddamn it.
Huh. I wasn’t even aware of it having that much of a history to begin with.
Oh the term has rich history! First used in modern tech sector sense in 1975 about IBM.
Elmer
Expected, no. Surprised, also no.
pot -> kettle
Explain?
NnnnnoooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOO
So if Mozilla wants to monetize location data, what does this mean for all the custom ROMs that use Mozilla's location provider instead of Google's?
This might mean that we would have no true free location provider left.
Edit: just was thinking, what does this mean for Firefox forks that also use Mozilla's location service?
Nothing, because they dont sell location data, this just seems like a routine warning that pops up when ToS and Privacy policy changes, and since they have clarified their position on this matter, (not to mention the lack of alternative FOSS web engines). We really shouldn't let this bother us
Of course i might be wrong and it may come out that Mozilla has turned heel(lot of heel turning happening lately)
No custom ROM use MLS anymore. It was shut down a few years ago.
Anyway, in general, apps get their location data from Play Services.
Apps that don't use Play Services get data from the default provider, which is always Google.
The successor of MLS is BeaconDB.
wait, mozilla has a location provider?
maybe there is open street map, idk what's the difference between a map and a location provider
Nah, open street maps is part of an open source map initiative with Meta and Microsoft, we're safe there....
so it's not an alternative
My (probably incomplete) understanding is: phones have a GNSS chip (such as GPS, Galileo, or Glonass), but getting location from that takes a long time and a lot of battery. So they estimate location based on other information such as what cell tower they are connected to and the list of available wi-fi networks. This requires a database with all that info, which Google built through its Street View cars.
So the location provider is a service to which your phone sends all the info it has and which replies with an estimate of your location; which means it handles a lot of sensitive data.
ooh
does openstreetmap have a location viewer? it would be better for privacy than mozzila and google
Fork it, split it off, share it.
Firefox engines have telemetry since old ages. Do you know what even crazier ??? even other firefox browser like fennec has Mozilla telemetry.
PSA : disable it with Blocker (ROOT) for more privacy
Sending telemetry like crashes and what features you use/don't use isn't really in the same category as using location data for marketing purposes. It's a very important distinction to draw.
It has a mozilla telemetry component, but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily reporting to mozilla - which wouldn't make much sense anyway - nor that it actually functions at all. Most telemetry components in Firefox can't simply be deleted because it causes stuff to break, so they are replaced with stubs that don't actually do anything.
Assuming that's all it's really doing.
For a novice, what exactly is Blocker (ROOT)? Is it an app, a setting, or a configuration?
Its app that you can downloaded in F-Droid, basically it's a app that can control other app components. But before that you must Root/Unlock bootloader
Thanks very much for the info!
Fennec is maintained by Mozilla
Friendship ended with Firefox. Waterfox is my new best friend ❤️
IceCat.
Unfortunately I am primarily an android user, as I always have my phone with me.
I shall give it a go for desktop at some point though
Waterfox is on Android too! I just installed it on both Mt PC and phone.
Ironfox seems to work well on Android.
So does Waterfox. :)
I had already downloaded and installed Ironfox (FF Android fork) on my phone and have been using it for a week or so. It works identically to FF for android. Ublock Origin is working in Ironfox too.
You know what they say about people who live in glass houses...
Don't advertise others' locations?
I stopped my donations to Mozilla.
Alright gang, what are some good open source Firefox forks available on Android and Linux?
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Librewolf for Linux. And ironfox on android
On Desktop I use Zen Browser. On Android I still use Brave, but I'm considering switching to a non chromium browser there some time.
I moved from Firefox on Android to Brave recently because it was too often breaking sites or taking much longer to load. Firefox just added a report broken sktes feature to the app though so maybe I'll go back. Be the change I want to see in the world and whatnot.
Waterfox
Sigh
use ironfox or fennec
Do they share location data without asking though? Google has an incentive to exaggerate.
Either die a hero……
How about turning off data sharing in whole android... Google...
Well, there seem to be some good safe alternatives. I am currently switching from Firefox to Vivaldi, for example.
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Isn't Vivaldi a chromium browser?
Hmm I didn't know that. I was looking for more data privacy. However, there seem to be good alternatives.
Been using Libre Wolf, no issues so far. Fuck Firefox
Does libre wolf have an android app?
Fennec but I think it still shares some data
Thanks for that
IronFox is the closest alternative. F-Droid repo here:
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.ironfoxoss.ironfox/
Thank you
Dead link 😢
Do you have F-Droid installed? Not to pull a docker, but it is opening for me on 2 separate devices.
You must add the repo first using this link
Librewolf is Firefox plus some light patches, and as such depends entirely from Firefox.
It looks like they have a team and it’s open-source. It’s a gamble, but I’m guessing the death of Firefox would probably be a boon, not a hinderance, depending on who supports what from there.
Looks like its enshittification continues unabated :/
How is Mullvad Browser? I know it's based on Firefox but wouldn't imagine they would tolerate this.
Fine. I preferred Fennec over the two for quality of life and ease of use balanced with privacy.
It doesn't exist on Android AFAIK, so it's irrelevant here.
Mullvad is really for anonymous sessions. It's meant to blend in with every other Mullvad instance on the Net so it helps make users harder to identify. It's not geared towards daily use.
On desktop, I switched to Librewolf and installed the Dark Reader add-on.
I will continue using Firefox on Android because I have absolutely no illusions about my privacy on this fucking thing.
GrapheneOS is pretty good, as a more private alternative to Android, though the downside is that it's only available for Pixel phones. I bought a used one on ebay.
I wonder if Square would still work, for example? I haven't flashed open source ROMs on my phone since like 2012.
Honestly though, I just consider the phone a lost cause when it comes to privacy & use it accordingly. Uncle Googs is always watching, even when the damn thing is turned off.
the thing about degoogled OS is lack of SafetyNet support and it is important for banking apps.
Thx, that's exactly my concern as I remember it being an issue when I was flashing ROMs in the past.
FWIW, banking apps work fine on GrapheneOS.
if you mean this list that is quite concerning because each individual have difference banking preferences and it looks like it depends on the bank to support GrapheneOS directly But, I don't think they bother because low market share (https://grapheneos.org/usage#banking-apps)
does anyone actually have a good privacy in mind alternative with sources to back it up?
Iceraven hasn't burned me yet
Any good browser suggestion??
fennec - it's foss firefox mod, without google and other tracking garbage
I like Zen. Waterfox is also good.
for android?
I like Vivaldi
Which is chrome in a trench coat.
Vivaldi
That's chromium based. Having more firefox based browsers helps take away the dominate control Google has on browsers.
Well, if there was any doubt before, with the weird ToS p.r. dance they were doing last week, now we know, for sure.
I've already switched to LibreWolf on the desktop. Is there a good non-Firefox browser for Android available?
This comment is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
IronFox, Fennec, Mull, Tor Browser
Mull is supposedly no longer being developed.
Good to know! I primarily use IronFox.
I don't use default firefox for this damn reason.. I hope that Mull Fork gets going soon.. I've been in refuge in IceRaven since that time..
Ironfox?
yeah that one, I forgot I have it installed haha but it looks promising if proven to be reliable in updating to new versions
calyxos here I come
Many Linux distributions will need to dig Firefox looks like . I use Fennec btw , and in desktop Libre wolf since a long time.
Are you aware of Firefox's changes to their privacy policy that has been in the news the past 2 weeks? If not you can easily find articles and youtuve videos on it.
That's why I'm posting this 🤷♂️
I didn't mean it to come across as insulting or anything. I meant it all genuinely to be helpful
You should just post the articles and videos.
They have been posted.
Edit:
Why would anyone here call you, and how would they even have your number in the first place?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdJbW8sKa9M
Or I was busy and gave a quick and still helpful response
Vivaldi is where it’s at
Nope. That’s still chromium based and further serves Google’s monopoly on the web platform.
That said I’m open to better alternatives. I’m working hard to protect myself.
I'm personally running on Librewolf, it strips out the Mozilla BS and gives you fairly strict default privacy settings. It's sad that the free and open web is skating on thin ice.
Fennec. Ironfox. Mullvad. Tor.
Thanks!
Strips out all the tracking bullshit
It's closed source and chrome(ium)(?) based. I'm not entirely convinced by Vivaldi.
No, it's really not. Fuck chromium of all flavors.
Fanboys of Firefox: "DUHB DUHB USE FIREFOX CUZ IT NOT CHROME DUHB DUHB!"
Genuine question to see if the downvotes are justified or not : are you implying Chrome is a good browser and if so, why?
Down votes are justified for acting like a douche
The downvotes are idiotic fanboys who faithfully clutch Firefox like rosary beads because it isn't chrome.
Why the fuck would anyone imply that I think Chrome is any better? It only tells me they're fucking morons.
An alternative explanation is that the trolling style of your post is attracting downvotes.
A more succinct explanation is that they are just an asshole.
That's indeed a natural conclusion about the kind of person who writes a post like that, but I didn't want to rule out other explanations such as drug consumption or stupidity.
I'm going to assume you're one of the downvoters and anyone else in this chain. I'm going to now auto-block. Bye.
ooh do me next!
(What's funny is that I went for writing an actual reply and did not downvote).
I think AugustWest's point kinda got proven just now.
Take your meds, you're spiraling
Just use chrome man, that will really take the fight to the next level
I personally don't want there to be only one browser engine - Chrome. All other browsers use their engine, or the one powering Firefox. That's actually my main concern. I don't know about you, but Chromium being the only web browser in the world is pretty fuckin scary.
Where did I ever say or imply that Chrome is the only option? A lot of you just misinterpret me on purpose, downvote parade galore just to stomp all over someone to make yourselves feel good about it. God, people really are this fucking stupid.