Which browser do you prefer and why?

[batman]

Desktop: Mullvad Browser, Brave and Tor Browser

Android: Mull,Brave and Tor Browser

[SkewedZeppelin]

@jcprivacyguides

available settings are changed for optimal

Optimal settings for many browsers are even noted here: Browsers - DivestOS Mobile

[gregandcin]

Any reason you recommend adding lists to uBO when PG tends to say not to? (I add lists, to be clear)

[SkewedZeppelin]

@gregandcin
because fuck those companies, give them as little as possible
strong fp mitigations + strong blocker is the way

[FlipSid]

Little OT but I sure enjoy reading your posts

[privacy3765]

Thx for this interesting post!!

I think I will go for this setup based on gecko (I don’t want to use chromium) :

Work desktop (Windows) :

• Firefox for work
• Librewolf (updated by windows store) for personal use

Home desktop (Fedora) :

• Librewolf. Maybe braced Firefox would be better?

Android (GrapheneOS) :

• Vanadium (and not Mull because it hasn’t dark mode )

[batman]

go to Extensions and add Dark Reader

[privacy3765]

Yes, I would like to. But I see that on divestOS site :

" * Dark Reader is known to be incompatible with the Mull changes and will cause significant breakage/slowdowns.

• Dark mode for websites is disabled due to resist fingerprinting. Please do not disable RFP."

[Lukas (Lukas Dutovas)]

@Anon47486929

Unless of course you want persistent cookies and history, since Mullvad is always on incognito mode (deletes history, cookies, site settings, etc. on quit).

Not for long: Draft Feature Proposal Document for 'Persistent Mode' (#300) · Issues · The Tor Project / Applications / Mullvad Browser · GitLab

[privacy3765]

@Anon47486929

I think you meant arkenfox js Firefox, right? What’s braced Firefox?

I don’t how to use it but here’s the link

[SkewedZeppelin]

@Anon47486929

Yeah, it’s the same thing

fwiw there are a handful of changes marked with //BRACE and //MULL
like disabling JIT
it matches the same as what is in Mull

[SkewedZeppelin]

@Anon47486929

Mullvad and Arkenfox seems to be to make every user look exactly the same

Tor/Mullvad Browser, yes.
Arkenfox, no, it is just a template.
Mull, yes, with other Mull users of similar enough devices.
Brace, yes, with other Brace users.

Brace doesn’t intend to be 1:1 with arkenfox, again arkenfox is intended as a template and meant to be customized as appropriate.
Brace is meant to provide some level of desktop equivalent of DivestOS/Mull but on Fedora & Arch.

Brace adds its Firefox changes to the system path so the user path will still take precedence. But users shouldn’t be using anything extra.

You should still be using Tor/Mullvad browser in addition to braced Firefox/Mull where appropriate.

As far as numbers game:

• Brace probably has <100 users.
• Mull on the other hand has 10s of thousands. Hard to measure without any telemetry, but here are download counts solely from F-Droid.org, no mirrors or DivestOS.org.
  
  

(other F-Droid app stats are here F-Droid Stats - DivestOS Mobile)

Last edit: While I use/prefer Braced Firefox, I’m not necessarily recommending others do.
Mullvad Browser is a really good choice for those who want privacy hardened Firefox.
I’d likely drop Mull if they brought it to Android and it was FOSS.

[SkewedZeppelin]

@Anon47486929

Are these unique downloads or just a aggregate count of hits on server?

Those are apk downloads from F-Droid.org, each peak largely corresponds with a new release.
And again that is only from F-Droid.org, not their other twenty mirror servers or the seven DivestOS.org repo mirrors.

I don’t see why users would uninstall/reinstall repeatedly.

@Anon47486929

make default brace preferences

I have no intent changing them from what they are currently, you can even see my reasons why next to the changes. They’ve been stable across Brace/Mull for a few years now.
Disabling the JIT is extremely valuable and even for Tor/Mullvad users I recommend using Safer at the very minimum.

Like Brace & Mull are probably the only Firefox variants currently enabling Kyber support, that is fingerprintable, but it is also beneficial enough to justify the change.

Ultimately Brace & Mull do not intend to be a replacement for complete solutions like Tor Browser.

[SkewedZeppelin]

@Anon47486929

more chromium

Brace does also provide changes to Chromium here fwiw: brace/brace/etc/chromium/policies/managed/brace.json at master - divested/brace - Codeberg.org

[xe3]

@SkewedZeppelin

Brace adds its Firefox changes to the system path so the user path will still take precedence. But users shouldn’t be using anything extra.

Could you break this down a little bit more. I was looking at brace the other day, trying to understand the difference between:

1. ~/firefox/distribution/policies.json
2. ~/firefox/browser/defaults/preferences/*.js

[JohnDose]

Desktop: Mullvad browser, nothing else unless the site breaks with FireFox.
Android: unfortunately, Brave. Can’t find a better one. But I seriously don’t expect much from android browsers, since all phones are basically horrible for privacy.
iOS: Safari

[anon41112412]

Brave as this just covers most of my needs. Chrome for business side of things.

[Average_Joe (Joey)]

@TartlyUnderwear

There’s no point in beta browsers unless you’re a developer and interested in doing some testing. Also not sure why you included Chrome as an option. Just because it’s beta doesn’t make it any less privacy invasive. The same criteria for browsers applies to the beta versions, and according to PG Chrome does not meet that criteria.

@HauntSanctuary

Monoculture is a cancer and the answer is simple enough: Firefox

Mozilla is a trash company but still people need to use it to stem the Chromium tide swallowing the entire web browsable internet whole.

If the sites you frequent isnt broken in Firefox, keep using it or its derivatives Mullvad and Tor Browser.

Unfortunately there is no decent alternative to Brave on mobile browsers.

I appreciate your reply!

It’d be great if you could mention the browsers you use since Firefox and Chrome are the only players in town at this point.

I was looking at a browser that is built from the bottom up and it’s only being released in 2025 and that doesn’t even include a Windows release…

One BIG thing nobody has mentioned:

Google itself uses beta versions of Linux for its OWN servers. This is where I got the idea of beta versions of web browsers being more secure.

[Lukas (Lukas Dutovas)]

@Average_Joe

Google itself uses beta versions of Linux for its OWN servers.

Google has multiple teams of security experts that are working full time. Regular users don’t have that.

[HauntSanctuary (Privacy is Undead)]

I use Mullvad for general browsing.

I use Firefox without extensions for sites that I logon with. One profile for each website.

I use Brave for whatever sites that are broken in Mullvad.

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For mobile I go by Vanadium for logged in sites and Brave for general browsing.

Also I will look into Mull because @SkewedZeppelin is an interesting guy and I appreciate his work.