It’s hard to make a poll when there are endless options, so just post what your setup is…
I’m using Brave with three profiles at the moment. Each one has a different search engine: Kagi, Brave, and DDG.
I also keep a VPN with a kill switch on at all times and haven’t really had any problems. If a service starts giving me trouble, I just stop using it.
As a follow-up question, how many email aliases do you have? I’ve got 63.
A cure for a boring Sunday.
One browser, Safari, one search engine, DDG, I use like 3-4 profiles maybe.
As for aliases I don’t really keep track most of my accounts are throw away but for anything related to PG I use the fria alias and for real life stuff like banking I just use my real name.
Of course, I also use permanent accounts created in Proton for banking and other official purposes, but for pretty much everything else, I use aliases.
Oh email aliases? Yeah I always generate a new one for every account, and for like online orders and things like that.
Yes, that’s what I had in mind. I need to specify the question a bit.
Right now I’m using safari and brave on ios, on linux I bounce around brave, librewolf, mullvad, and tor, and sometimes I play around with ladybird to see how their progress is coming. Ladybird is completely unusable for practical browsing but it’s really cool watching something monumental unfold in real time so I like to keep it around.
I use brave, kagi, and mullvad leta as search engines and only venture to google if I’m looking for a specific image because brave and kagi’s image search aren’t quite as good as google’s yet.
For email aliases, I have way too many to count and they’re spread across multiple services/accounts. My proton email & corresponding aliases are for official websites, like government sites, traveling, banking, other important accounts, etc. My old gmail hidden under throwaway hide my email aliases I use for online shopping/food orders. That keeps the inevitable tsunami wave of unstoppable marketing emails out of my proton inbox.
It would be really great if Ladybird made a breakthrough!
And Servo
Yes!
edit. I’ve read both of their sites but I haven’t tried either one.
Answers please!
Brave on Linux and GOS is for logins. I don’t search with this browser but the engine is set for Brave search. One profile.
LibreWolf and Ironfox are set to dump all browsing data. UBO on both. Javascript off unless a site needs it. One profile.
Search is Ecosia because it’s one of the few search engines that has AI results off by default. So far, I like the results. I’m sure there are other search engines but once I find something that is good enough, I stop looking.
On Windows: Mullvad to browse the internet without logging in. Firefox with containers for different accounts. I also sync my bookmarks with my MacBook via my Mozilla account. I only use Brave for PWAs.
On Mac: Same as on Windows. I don’t trust Apple. From time to time, I try Kagi’s Orion Browser and I like it, but I’m already happy with the ones I use.
On GrapheneOS: Vanadium to keep my logs (and its WebView, of course) and Brave for general browsing. I sync my Brave bookmarks with my Android/iPad tablets. From time to time, I use Ironfox, but it’s frustrating how slow it is.
On iPad: Only Brave. I barely use it for browsing, since it’s a device I use for taking notes, working, and drawing.
On Android tablet: I use it for reading and only use Brave.
Linux: Only Brave — I understand that Firefox is not very secure here (same as on Android).
In general, I try to use Firefox and Mullvad more on desktop, even though they are not as secure as Chromium-based browsers. If Brave didn’t have a CEO with a political ideology I find despicable, I’d use it more. As a search engine, I use DDG. As mentioned above, I occasionally use Google to search for images.
Thanks for the great answers! @LukewarmNinja @nicotiu @fria @baby_bat
Desktop:
One browser with one profile
LibreWolf
A few SearXNG instances and Mojeek
Mobile:
GrapheneOS: 5 device profiles with one main (non-admin) profile for a few apps I use constantly.
Vanadium browser with DDG and occasional Brave or Startpage if I need a different index.
I typically only use the really untrustworthy apps/websites in their own device profile, so I don’t use browser profiles much on Graphene.
Linux: 2 device profiles, separating “work” with “recreation”.
Hardened Firefox with ungoogled Chromium if needed. I try to avoid relying on Chrome’s browser engine out of principal, rather than privacy concern.
Search engines similar to my mobile setup, but I use Brave mostly. I like their indexing over DDG but I swap between the two fairly often.
If I’m not lazy, I’ll use or host SearXNG.
VPN always, password manager and alias for 99% of services.
I previously used Firefox to sync between desktop and mobile, but after switching to Graphene I found I actually didn’t need it. I’d rather spend less time on my phone anyway, so easily carrying my doom-scrolling over to my bed isn’t something I really need in my life… Plus, it probably makes fingerprinting harder if my browsing habits are diffferent between my devices.
Desktop:
Mullvad for browsing
Firefox for log ins, each in their own container
Librewolf for my social media/content creation
GrapheneOS:
Vanadium and incognito mode for general browsing.
Search Engines
I use SearXNG with one (self-hosted) profile/instance.
My normal searches include up to 11 search engines that I hand-picked for their reasonable privacy policies.
Browsers
For mobile, I have IronFox and Vanadium.
You learn something new every day. I guess because I use Windows, I had to look up Floorp, Falkon, and Konqueror online. I’d switch to Linux myself if I didn’t have to use Windows for work and because of my hardware…
edit. To clarify why I have to use Windows because of my hardware. My main rig has an Apex Encore, i9-14900KS, 5090, and 48gb at 8000Mt/s. It’s impossible to get the memory stable on Linux because there isn’t even a single proper stress test for it… My other rig has an i9-13900KS, Apex, 4090, and 48gb at 8000Mt/s, so it’s the same problem.
P.S. I don’t play any games. I just like the technology and need CUDA.
Linux:
I currently use 3 different browsers. For research and general surfing, I use the Tor browser on the safest option. For online accounts I use the mullvad browser with VPN, uBO and Noscript.
Very rare if I urgently need something and do not work both above options, then I still use Librewolf with UBO.
Android:
On my smartphone, I only use the Tor browser and if I do need to log in, I have the vanadium browser from GOS at hand. I don’t use different browser profiles, and I don’t see the point in my setup.
I currently use 13 aliases, one alias per online account.
Browsers: 80% Firefox (Arkenfox), 10% Safari (on iOS), 10% Brave (de-shittified)
Profiles: 1 primary profile in Firefox, ~5-10 secondary and single-purpose profiles for specific purposes, testing, etc spread across Firefox and Brave.
Containers. probably about a dozen that I use regularly, and another dozen or so that I use seldomly.
Search: 95% Duckduckgo, 5% Brave Search
Email Aliases: Too many to bother counting. Hundreds over many years.