# Lets play pros and cons. Discord installed via 3 ways which is better for privacy? **URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/lets-play-pros-and-cons-discord-installed-via-3-ways-which-is-better-for-privacy/12987 **Category:** Questions **Created:** 2023-06-23T23:59:46Z **Posts:** 25 ## Post 1 by @Viper — 2023-06-23T23:59:46Z Way1: normal os install. Worst IMO Way2: webapp ( on linux mint you can create webapps, i assume its a profile specifically created in your browser of choice and only used for the 1 purpose, i.e. discord). I know firefox you can create separate profiles for this without using the ‘webapps’ app. Way3: flatpak ( linux only). Can use flatseal to restrict access to system. Way1 is the worst for privacy. Way2 or 3 i assume better upgrades of privacy. I dont know which is better 2 or 3. :person_shrugging: Way4 ? You tell me. Using alternative is not an option. Must be discord. Thanks for the read/discussion. --- ## Post 2 by @anon28734771 — 2023-06-24T11:14:53Z > **[GitHub - Discord-Client-Encyclopedia-Management/Discord3rdparties: A non-exhaustive collection of third-party clients...](https://github.com/Discord-Client-Encyclopedia-Management/Discord3rdparties)** > > A non-exhaustive collection of third-party clients and mods for Discord. --- ## Post 3 by @marsh — 2023-06-24T20:05:06Z I used to use webcord. It is basically a webapp with a lot of features! --- ## Post 4 by @Viper — 2023-06-24T21:30:12Z Tx 4 reply, that github wow. I am more after a discussion in general of the 3 ways. Dont care for the discord app. --- ## Post 5 by @InternetGhost — 2023-06-25T00:51:51Z I would assume that running Discord as a web app from a privacy-respecting browser is the most private. I assume that the flatpak is as close to running the install as it can get without watching for the invasive tracking that Discord may do. Brave or hardened Firefox would catch those trackers. It’s an Electron app so it should work similarly across all of those options. --- ## Post 6 by @Laitinlok — 2023-06-25T02:12:55Z BetterDiscord and use adguard for trackers filtering --- ## Post 7 by @Nostradamus — 2023-06-25T04:01:00Z With apps like Discord I use Firefox with a container tab, but there is the possibility of of using [a docker Discord image instead](https://hub.docker.com/r/kasmweb/discord) with [Kasmweb](https://www.kasmweb.com/) – This implies that you selfhost it somewhere. --- ## Post 8 by @Laitinlok — 2023-06-25T04:19:01Z Can you even use discord in tor and does it have an onion link, it’s the most private that way, ik reddit and twitter has an onion site too. --- ## Post 9 by @bashrc — 2023-06-25T12:34:34Z It’s worth noting that no matter what you do, Discord is fundamentally a privacy nightmare. They collect literally every message sent, all media you send. Absolutely everything they possibly can. I’m saying that as a regular Discord user too as all of my friends use it for communication. --- ## Post 10 by @Laitinlok — 2023-06-26T02:46:58Z The messages are not e2ee even worse than WhatsApp even with FB. --- ## Post 11 by @InternetGhost — 2023-06-26T02:48:07Z I think the goal is to contain Discord’s tracking to only itself and not let it get more information on you than what you volunteer. Of course folks should know that anything you do on Discord is tracked by Discord. --- ## Post 12 by @Laitinlok — 2023-06-26T02:50:17Z BetterDiscord stripped a ton of tracking and the adguard blocks some of the discord apis. --- ## Post 13 by @xe3 — 2023-06-26T20:54:18Z > I think the goal is to contain Discord’s tracking to only itself and not let it get more information on you _than what you volunteer._ I agee, this is the best you can hope for when using a privacy invasive/exploitive service. The only thing I would add to this is that when it is a messenger or social network or any type of 2 way communications, you can’t just contain it to the _“information that you volunteer”_, the information that your friends and acquaintances volunteer is a factor as well and that is largely out of your control. --- ## Post 14 by @Viper — 2023-07-16T08:56:24Z ok folks, to wrap up. tldr opensource apps \> webapp \> flatpak \> install no1 opensource install way ( if you have choice of foss apps i would look to how many contributers, which suggests more eyes on the code, as suppose to no contributors, and only 1 dude doing all the code) no2 webapps, can isolate trackers in that container no3 flatpak. can restrict through flatseal but still is a install. no4 install app. worst case. can use nextdns to restrict some trackers. --- ## Post 15 by @Mikibits — 2026-07-25T01:38:21Z I know, I’m 3 years late to the party, but critters like OpenSnitch (on Linux) and SimpleWall (on Windoze) I’ve found to be awesome help in catching and rejecting _any_ telemetry or tracking stuff I don’t like. Both notify of any new outbound traffic from any app and allow you to allow or restrict based on the app, target site, port, whatever. Then they just do their thing without bothering you about it. I was surprised by how many attempts Discord made to its telemetry sites from the app (all foiled, while it let through the good stuff), but so far my three tracking blocker extensions in LibreWolf haven’t caught any attempts from Discord yet in a browser. That almost seems too good to be true. o.o --- ## Post 16 by @JohnDose — 2026-07-25T03:39:09Z Using solely through a secure browser (like mullvad browser) and not installing anything seems the best. However, I experienced severe issues with calling via discord on Mullvad browser. Nothing wrong with text chatting tho. --- ## Post 17 by @Lukas — 2026-07-25T09:50:33Z > [@JohnDose](#): > > Using solely through a secure browser (like mullvad browser) and not installing anything seems the best. Mullvad Browser is not a secure browser but a private browser. It’s best suited for pseudonymous use when paired with a VPN. If one wants a browser for security, Vanadium and Trivalent are the best options, with Brave being a good backup option for those who aren’t using GrapheneOS and secureblue. --- ## Post 18 by @pine — 2026-07-25T13:02:59Z Agreed. Worth noting: > [@Lukas](#): > > If one wants a browser for security, Vanadium and Trivalent are the best options, with Brave being a good backup option for those who aren’t using GrapheneOS and secureblue. For Fedora-based distros, Trivalent is offered through [their repo](https://repo.secureblue.dev/secureblue.repo) (though officially “unsupported”[[1]](#footnote-161879-1)) [alongside secureblue’s SELinux policy](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/trivalent-secureblue-web-browser/33659/50). * * * 1. “Support” here refers to which systems Trivalent is tested against, i.e. only secureblue [↩︎](#footnote-ref-161879-1) --- ## Post 19 by @JohnDose — 2026-07-25T23:43:52Z well, I still consider MB to be relatively secure. It has all the patches from Tor, and saying Mullvad browser insecure is the same thing as saying Tor browser is insecure. Yes, I’m aware that firefox (specifically, firefox ESR) has vulnerabilities that chromium based browsers do not, but I assume it’s the same vice versa. It’s also worth noting that Mullvad browser is available on all PC platforms. As you’ve said, trivalent is limited to secureblue and vanadium is limited to graphene. Not really surprising since the trivalent was heavily inspired by vanadium(such as hardened malloc). Recommending these browsers is exactly the same as enforcing those OSes, which is not feasible to everyone --- ## Post 20 by @Lukas — 2026-07-26T06:47:27Z > [@JohnDose](#): > > well, I still consider MB to be relatively secure. It has all the patches from Tor, and saying Mullvad browser insecure is the same thing as saying Tor browser is insecure. Yes, I’m aware that firefox (specifically, firefox ESR) has vulnerabilities that chromium based browsers do not, but I assume it’s the same vice versa. Firefox is significantly behind Chromium when it comes to security. The situation with Firefox ESR is even worse than that. This is especially bad in the LLM age, where hundreds of vulnerabilities are being found everywhere and anyone can have access to powerful LLMs. While Mozilla got in bed with Anthropic to minimize the impact, this still does not change the fact that Firefox’s protections are lacking compared to Chromium’s. As for Tor Browser, anyone with a moderate or serious risk should run it in a Whonix VM, where even if the workstation is compromised, the host OS, gateway, and your IP should remain protected. > [@JohnDose](#): > > It’s also worth noting that Mullvad browser is available on all PC platforms. As you’ve said, trivalent is limited to secureblue and vanadium is limited to graphene. Not really surprising since the trivalent was heavily inspired by vanadium(such as hardened malloc). > > Recommending these browsers is exactly the same as enforcing those OSes, which is not feasible to everyone That’s exactly why I recommended Brave as a good backup option in my original comment. --- ## Post 21 by @username0990 — 2026-07-28T05:57:59Z > [@Lukas](#): > > Firefox is significantly behind Chromium when it comes to security. The situation with Firefox ESR is even worse than that. What exactly does this mean? So, if I visit a site that runs malicious code in a Firefox based browser, does that immediately put my social media accounts and online banking transactions in other tabs at risk? Or will my computer get infected with malware? If I were using a Chromium based browser, none of this would happen, right? --- ## Post 22 by @anonymous652 — 2026-07-28T06:03:40Z > **[Firefox and Chromium | Madaidan's Insecurities](https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.html)** > **[Firefox - Selecting a Browser - Chromium Hardening Guide](https://rknf404.github.io/chromium-hardening-guide/BROWSER_SELECTION/?h=firefo#firefox)** > > Summary --- ## Post 23 by @Expert4870 — 2026-07-28T09:36:38Z No. Mainly it’s cheaper/easier for an adversary to do that on Firefox than Chromium but that likely wouldn’t come into play unless you have state actors in your threat model. Also more likely if there’s an exploit to be start being used by script kiddies and ordinary cybercriminals. --- ## Post 24 by @anon19029103 — 2026-08-05T21:00:19Z Anyone have experience with third party discord clients? --- ## Post 25 by @Cobson — 2026-08-06T10:13:53Z Ive been using custom discord clients on both PC and Android for years and never had an issue. I’m currently using GoofCord, which claims to be a privacy focused client. They block discords telemetry while also being compatible with vencord plugins. On Android, [revenge](https://github.com/revenge-mod/revenge-bundle) seems to be the best one currently. It’s not privacy focused per se but they also block discords telemetry