Least harmful backup browser for when hardened browsers break things?

Questions
1

I’ve been using privacy focused browsers (mostly Brave on desktop, Brave/Vanadium on mobile), but I am running into isolated instances where sites aren’t working properly - such as online shopping or trying to create a new account somewhere. I’ve tried creating guest profiles on Brave and turning shields off etc, but I guess there are still enough weird configurations that things still don’t work. I tried Librewolf and had the same issues.

Instead of de-hardening a privacy browser, I’m thinking it makes sense to just have a vanilla browser on stand-by for these one-off purposes. Everything worked with out-of-the-box Firefox, but I do get worried since people are quick to say it’s not as secure as a chromium browser. Does that matter?

Is there another browser, besides Firefox, than I should use instead for this purpose - like ungoogled chromium? Or is that even worse than Firefox?

I’m not looking for a browser to spend a lot of time in. Essentially, I’d just load up a specific site in a private window, do my thing, and then close the browser to return to Brave.

Also, if I’m just using it for this purpose, does it matter if it’s a flatpak, even though I know the rule is to install browsers at the system level? (Flatpak would make deleting app data and uninstalling it much easier).

I’m on Fedora and GrapheneOS.

1 Like
2

I like Mullvad.

3

I have a vanilla Firefox profile for such occasions, although for online shopping or registering new accounts, I haven’t had any issues on my current browsers (Arkenfox / Mullvad). If I did, I would try Brave, and if it still doesn’t work, vanilla Firefox.

4

In Brave on such sites Script blocking should be disabled. This is usually enough for normal display.

5

Disabling Brave shields should work the majority of the time when a site is broken. If you really want a dedicated browser, I’d just use Chromium with some customizations (like uBlock Origin Lite) on Fedora. I’m not sure of a least bad option on Android besides disabling Brave shields but you can also try Cromite? I’d avoid using Firefox-based browsers since it can sometimes be limited on features and some devs don’t care to test if everything works on Firefox which can defeat the point of installing a dedicated “just works” browser.

Just be careful with what websites you visit and you’ll probably be fine.

That’s even more degradation of security, but again if you’re careful with what websites you use it’d probably be fine. So long as you’re not using an atomic distro, I don’t see why RPM would be more difficult to use?