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Whats do you consider the best choice for private mobile browsing? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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Hey everybody. I'm somewhat new to the field of privacy, but I am eager to learn. Right now I am wondering what mobile web browser to use for everyday activities. I'm running GrapheneOS. Options that often come to mind:

  • Tor
  • Firefox Focus (= Firefox Klar in German)
  • IronFox (formerly Mull Browser)
  • Cromite
  • Vanadium

I feel like I simply don't know enough about the underlaying mechanisms to elaborate which might be better and which might be worse. Feel free to teach me!

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[–] -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)

From the linked GitHub webpage:

All builds are experimental, so unexpected issues may occur. Helium Browser for Android only attempts to improve security and privacy where possible. For better protection on Android, you should instead use GrapheneOS with Vanadium, which additionally integrates patches into Android System WebView and provides significant kernel and memory management hardening on the OS level.

I wouldn't recommend browsers in an experimental state developed by a single person; this is partly why I don't recommend Cromite.

The original Vanadium is great, but the lack of proper content-blocker integration is a big privacy trade-off, in my opinion. Vanadium only provides a per-domain blocker solution, which is based on the very small EasyList.

A good Chromium-based alternative is Brave, as it has a solid content blocker that attempts to recreate the full feature set of uBlock Origin.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    I get your point. But if you check the source you'll notice that they don't add any code themselves, they simply take Chromium and apply patches from Vanadium (Helium is commented for now) and build an apk. Yes, they call it experimental. Use at your own risk. I have had a very good experience so far - but you may disagree. However, there may be other people like me out there who think it's a good value proposition.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    But if you check the source you'll notice that they don't add any code themselves, they simply take Chromium and apply patches from Vanadium (Helium is commented for now) and build an apk.

    Quote from the README from the repository it sources the Vanadium patches from:

    It depends on hardening and compatibility fixes in GrapheneOS rather than reinventing the wheel inside Vanadium. For example, GrapheneOS already provides a hardened malloc implementation so there's no need for Vanadium to replace it. Similarly, it can deploy security features causing breakage on other operating systems due to the ability to fix compatibility problems in the OS.

    However, there may be other people like me out there who think it's a good value proposition.

    I'm sorry, but it's an objectively bad recommendation. Vanadium is currently held intentionally exclusive to GrapheneOS by its team because of the reasons quoted above. Taking Chromium, applying Vanadium patches and extension support, and having one stranger maintain it is not a viable option. Even when he doesn't write code himself, regular updates are a must, and if he discontinues or can't keep up with updates for one of many possible reasons, all the people who relied on it will experience a massive security decrease if they don't migrate to another browser. Real examples would be: Mull, Mulch and Bromite.

    It's something fun to check out and play around with, but no one should use it as a daily driver unless they fully understand all the risks and can act accordingly.

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