I think there’s a plans in the future for recommending Vanadium as the mobile browser you should use if you use GrapheneOS and, as someone that is currently running GrapheneOS on a Pixel 7a I have a few questions to ask for people that might use it:
1- is there a way to make it clear your browsing history as you close? this is the only setting I still couldn’t figure out to change (based the settings a bit on the Brave recommended one)
2- do you use uBlock Origin with it or you just use something like a DNS with adlbocking? (like Mullvad) I’m currently doing the second approach as to avoid installing extensions for fingerpriting reasons however, I do find that often some sites do have annoying built in ads that ublock could filter while the DNS can’t.
Is Vanadium updated on your phone? It has a button in the main menu “Clear browsing data”. I think it’s a new option.
The content blocking, as far as I know, isn’t user adjustable. We get what GOS offers. As of last week ads on Reddit were getting through.
Edit: Vanadium doesn’t support extensions as far as I know.
One thing that really keeps me from using the browser is not being able to import/export bookmarks.
Edit: I’m poking around in chrome://flags to see what I can find.
Vanadium doesn’t and will not support extensions because of obvious security and privacy concerns. The best way to block ads would be to use a VPN that offers content filtering, and the second best way is to use DNS filtering. You might not need any of those because Vanadium has built-in content filtering, which is enabled by default.
But that’s just the same old line about security and privacy concerns to justify not supporting extensions and It’s a convenient excuse for not providing the functionality that users actually want
If Vanadium has such superior built-in content filtering then why are users still looking for more robust solutions like VPNs or DNS filtering? It tells you all you need to know about the effectiveness of these so-called ‘advanced’ features
Without the flexibility of extensions like uBlock Origin, Vanadium is essentially playing catch-up with user needs
Nobody has ever said that it’s superior or advanced. In fact, it’s currently just a basic implementation, and developers are working on improving it. It takes time to do things right.
As for the OP @estonians:
I use Vanadium for everything, in combination with iVPN. If I weren’t on iVPN I’d go the DNS Blocking route, enough providers to choose from.
I don’t think anyone has ever called Vanadiums content blocking “superior”, in fact Graphene dev’s themselves even call it “basic”. They are trying not to break sites for people and as someone above me already said, they’re working on improving it.
But not all users are looking for more robust options. I can’t speak for everyone but I’m perfectly fine with Vanadium combined with NextDNS, if you even wanna that a “robust solution”. I used to use Brave but I don’t see the point when I have Vanadium which is less bloated. I do agree uBO is the far better option for content blocking and I keep Mull around with it installed for some cases but for 90% of my mobile web browsing Vanadium is perfect.
So now you’re admitting that Vanadium’s content filtering is basic and far from superior, glad we’re on the same page
Therefore, If it’s so rudimentary why even bother bringing it up? Users are obviously looking for more robust solutions like VPNs or DNS filtering because Vanadium’s current capabilities just don’t cut it
If a feature is touted as a security improvement, it should actually provide a noticeable improvement, saying “it takes time to do things right” is just a convenient excuse for rolling out mediocre features and calling them progress, meanwhile users are left scrambling for actual solutions to protect their privacy and block ads effectively
Users want effective security and privacy features and not half-baked implementations and empty promises, If developers actually listened to user needs then we wouldn’t be stuck with these subpar solutions
People know what they need to protect themselves and dismissing their demands as unnecessary or misguided is pure arrogance, If Vanadium or any other platform can’t deliver what users want, those users will find alternatives that do, It’s that simple
If yes (or even if no):
So just use something different than Vanadium and get on with it?
But I don’t know who you mean by we are stuck using a sub par solution?
Actually I’m using the best solution (Vanadium) possible while I’m running GrapheneOS🤔
You can tell Vanadium to open external links in incognito mode and then when you exit the app it should delete all open tabs and there is no history.
Vanadium does not support extensions due to security concerns.
Personally I use Brave for most of my browsing on GrapheneOS as the Adblocking and the Paywall bypass functions are useful for me. For disposable browsing I do have Vanadium set as my default browser and so it will automatically open links there in incognito mode. If for whatever reason I want the tab to persist I will just copy the link over to Brave and use it from there.
If you would like to avoid using Brave for whatever reason Mull is a decent alternative since it does support extensions and you can use uBlock with it if you want.
