this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
8 points (68.2% liked)

Android

27700 readers
331 users here now

DROID DOES

Welcome to the droidymcdroidface-iest, Lemmyest (Lemmiest), test, bestest, phoniest, pluckiest, snarkiest, and spiciest Android community on Lemmy (Do not respond)! Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules


1. All posts must be relevant to Android devices/operating system.


2. Posts cannot be illegal or NSFW material.


3. No spam, self promotion, or upvote farming. Sources engaging in these behavior will be added to the Blacklist.


4. Non-whitelisted bots will be banned.


5. Engage respectfully: Harassment, flamebaiting, bad faith engagement, or agenda posting will result in your posts being removed. Excessive violations will result in temporary or permanent ban, depending on severity.


6. Memes are not allowed to be posts, but are allowed in the comments.


7. Posts from clickbait sources are heavily discouraged. Please de-clickbait titles if it needs to be submitted.


8. Submission statements of any length composed of your own thoughts inside the post text field are mandatory for any microblog posts, and are optional but recommended for article/image/video posts.


Community Resources:


We are Android girls*,

In our Lemmy.world.

The back is plastic,

It's fantastic.

*Well, not just girls: people of all gender identities are welcomed here.


Our Partner Communities:

[email protected]


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
8
Chromium shift (buddyverse.one)
submitted 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

After a lot of discussion i think I'll totally shift to Chromium based Browsers (on android side not desktop) I was using both gecko and chromium Browsers on my phone. So I need some suggestion to choose a chromium Browser . It should be open source and privacy respecting. Any recommendations ??

all 31 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 9 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

While chromium based browsers are more secure than firefox based browsers on Android, they are not as privacy friendly as firefox based browsers due to availability of unlock origin. Adblocking is superior using unlock.

For the average user, privacy is more important and firefox based browsers have enough security IMO.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 hours ago

This push for "secure browsers" (unspecified attack vectors) sounds like a good way to discredit privacy-friendly options and chrome alternatives. This gotta be a coincidence, all these "Muh security" out of nowhere. It can't possibly have anything to do with manifest v3, right?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Why not Firefox with ublock origin?

[–] [email protected] -3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Currently chromium is more secure than gecko on android side

[–] [email protected] 8 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Chromium browsers are not going to support uBlock or any other browser extensions like FF browsers will...

[–] [email protected] -2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

You don't need uBO that if your browser has a capable adblocker. It's been 3 years without uBO for me and I have seen exactly 0 ads.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Most "capable adblockers" do not work with a VPN. I have AdGuard Home and have used Brave but neither are able to block ads with an active VPN.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

You're talking about ad blockers that leverage a VPN connection, but Cromite is a hardened Chromium fork with built in ad blocking, including adding custom lists.

Other Chromium forks, including Mulch, also support browser level custom DNS configs.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

You're talking about ad blockers that leverage a VPN connection

I'm not. I'm talking about ad-blockers built into the browser. Specifically Brave. Haven't tried any others but I assume they function the same way. Brave also supports custom ad-blockers but they don't work. I'm not smart enough to understand why. I just know that uBo works and they don't.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

The paid brave VPN service? If so, I can't speak to it because I have never used it, but I assume it functions much like a normal VPN provider where they're running their own ad block lists on the exit node, but I have no idea what those lists are or their effectiveness. And yes, that would prevent your from concurrently running another systemwide VPN tunnel.

Firefox with uBo is good and not trying to convince you to abandon Firefox on Android, certainly not for your desktop OS.

The issue that thought is OP is referring to is about security, and while privacy and security aren't mutually exclusive, sometimes you trade off one for the other.

Personally, I prefer Chromium forks because I already take other privacy measures that I'm content with, and I would prefer the security advantages those browsers provide on Android.

But sometimes, if there's a website that I trust is not malicious, but there is an extension I prefer to view it with, I use Mull or Ice Raven. Both being Firefox on android forks, the former being a security/privacy hardened variant.

I want to reiterate, that this is only in regards to Android browsers and I'm definitely not saying to install Google Chrome, or even Google's own Chromium. I'm talking about hardened forks of their open source chromium project, such as Mulch and Cromite.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

The paid brave VPN service?

No I use Proton w/ Brave browser.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Regardless, most of those VPN-based ad blockers are just using their own flavor and combination of block lists. I'm sure some get a little fancier, but that's gist of it. Which is something, that ProtonVPN also offers I think they call it netshield or something like that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

As I mentioned earlier, I am not using any VPN-based ad-blockers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Check your proton VPN app, and look for the netshield setting. If it's enabled, you are using VPN based ad blockers, but if it's not enabled, you should turn it on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

It's off, because I use uBo.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago

You should enable it anyways. A lot apps, especially from big companies like banks, use DNS based telemetry and tracking services. Many of which will then be blocked by netshield, if it's enabled.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 15 hours ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Kiwi it's interesting not a security hardened Chromium fork, it is the only one to offer immediate access to browser extensions.

Should probably only use it the way you would use a Gecko browser, that is sparingly and when you need use of specific extensions for whatever reason.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

I only use ublock origin and dark reader. Looks like i can use dark webpage by enabling a flag. I think kiwi is not that secure

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

Kiwi is buggy and there are better options for privacy

[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

What about Vivaldi? It's not fully opensource though.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 14 hours ago

Not privacy focused compared to other options, it's more for those who want customization options

[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago

It's not that privacy focused like others.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

I'm going to be that guy and probably end up with downvotes. Brave browser. I know Eich is a shitbag but damn the browser is really solid. Adblocking and privacy are front and center and built in, no addons needed. I can think of maybe 5 times in the years I've used it that I had to use a backup browser.

I would like to use something else to not support him, but I have yet to find a turnkey browser that doesnt require tons of addons, compatibility issues or the quality of syncing across platforms that Brave.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago

Cromite and Mulch.

Bromite is dead, which is what I believe Cromite is based on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

Mulch or Cromite