2d ago

After about 8 months, I love this Android browser. Not Chrome, FF, or Edge based.

A fully free (as in freedom) open source browser with a focus on a privacy.

UPDATE: THIS USES GOOGLE WEB VIEW. DO NOT USE.

I can't figure out why nobody talks about this. I see all kinds of alternative browsers on here, but never this one. I especially like the color coded bookmarks for different categories (my news is gray, my searxng/swisscows and other search engines green, my tech solutions purple). It has anti-fingerprinting and a quick toggle for if you need to quickly adjust javascript or cookie setting to make a quick exception. There are lots of features. If anyone else has tried it, it would be interesting to hear your feedback too.

27 comments

It uses the Android webview to render websites
So, Chrome-based.
- Is android webview literally using chromes engine?
  
  Yes. It is called blink
  
  Yes.

It uses Android Web view which is essentially just Chrome without the interface, and is entirely proprietary. It suffers from all the drawbacks of Chrome based browsers with the added problem of being an Android component so out of much, if any, control of the developers.
This app should not be a serious consideration for anyone who is privacy or security focused. The very first thing a secure browser should be providing is it's own rendering engine. Even providing it's own chrome based rendering engine would be more secure than this.
Also in terms of extensions, as it is Chrome based it's extensions such as uBlock will have the same privacy breaking restrictions as the rest of the chrome ecosystem with manifest v3 which favours Google's advertising business over user security and privacy.
- I think it's possible for a Chrome-based browser to have better ad-blocking than Google Chrome
  https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/ is something I agree with, but Brave does have better ad-blocking features than Google Chrome, despite using the same core engine
  
  Agreed with the dislike of Brave; but my reasons of not using it are because the person(s) running that project have proven that they do not have user privacy as a priority over their own ability to stay profitable enough to operate. This lack of principal I feel makes Brave privacy hostile at random times when their company runs low on money and is vulnerable to making deals with the devils they're trying to keep at bay. Usually these deals are horrific blows to user privacy, or introduce unwanted and unneeded bloat to the software.
- Holy crap. This is disappointing. I should consider editing the post so people know.

"Not chrome" ... uses blink engine...
- Now I know why nobody talks about it. I am just figuring out if it is still bad or do I need to make a switch immediately. I have tried as hard ad I can to get away from Google. They are like cancer.
  
  The only thing I find bad about using blink is that it gives google more power over the consortium. Things are added as a standard when they are widely used, so if google disables jxl functionality, they kill any chance of that becoming the new standard. The bigger the market share of blink is, the more power google has over what other browsers prioritize also.

Uses AdBlock not Ublock Origin...
Ty but I am fine with IronFox
- I use NextDNS so none of that shows up anyway. Or at least I can not recall it.

I tend to turn off JavaScript for most sites and I found enabling and disabling it on this browser to be a pain. Has that changed?
Also, it is webview, so you cannot harden it unless you root and download a hardened webview.
- Not for me, but since I have discovered it is based on Android View and therefore Chrome, I feel dumb and am trying to find something else.

FOSS browser, FREE browser, Privacy browser and monocles browser are all pretty similar to me.
For basic browsing I am sure they are all OK.
monocles browser will switch to a custom WebView called Privacy Webview.
https://www.stoutner.com/privacy-browser-android/core-privacy-principles/
I use the monocles browser (rebranding of Privacy browser) for quick searches with javascript and cookies turned off as default.
For instance, if I am searching git for something and I see what I want, I enable javascript with the button, to see the latest releases and download sections.
I like the turn on javascript button. and the selection of EasyList , easy privacy, fanboys annoyances list, Ultra list and Ultra privacy list for adblocking and tracking.
From what I remember they all have the Delete browser data on exit. Monocles Browser makes it easier to "clear and exit" for me.
To clear, history, cookies etc. The "CLEAR AND EXIT" button is at the top of the left side drop down menu, so it is easier to find. unlike the others where it is at the bottom of the drop down menu.
I suppose its all about choice and personal preference.
https://codeberg.org/monocles/monocles_browser
- So if I switch to Monacles, I will not be using Android Webview, which I just learned the Foss browser uses? I want to switch immediately.
  Edit: I guess the question is how much info is still sent since Monacle is based off android webview.
  
  Hey ScoffingLizard
  I am always the sceptic, but I have read that the monocles browser uses the monocles webview.
  https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.monocles.browser/
  It says here: In the defaults, the monocles browser uses the monocles webview
  here it is more in depth:
  basically they are saying that unless you are using an up to date custom rom, currently android 15 on my lineage phone, there maybe security issues with webview
  https://docs.monocles.eu/apps/browser.app/
  Limitations and Known Issues#
  Security Issues#
  As monocles Browser is based upon the WebView component, it is dependant of the underlying Android ROM and it's updates.#
  We thus recommend to use the latest available Version of Android for your device and - if necessary - upgrade to an aftermarket ROM like:
  DivestOS
  /e/
  LineageOS
  If a device has no modern firmware updates anymore and Aftermarket - Firmware is just not available, then please consider a different Browser like Fennec, which is privacy-enhanced version of Firefox for Android nee Firefox Mobile or Tor Browser which you can also get via F-Droid by adding or enabling the Guardian Project repository.

~~Can you use ublock?~~ built in. Im going to give it a go.
- Since it's actually chrome based in most cases, I guess unlock won't work

I've seen this when bopping around in the F-Droid catalogue. Never took it seriously because it didn't seem to communicate well what it was doing.
In general; I usually dislike using Chrome anyways....so much so that I hard disable Chrome on my device, oftentimes via ADB, and download a wide range of alternatives; Kiwi (Plugin enabled), Hermit ([Closed source] Forced Isolation of all domains/sites along a side of ad-blocking and web-app caching baked into the app wrapping it's renderer; which is, of course System Webview. Unfortunately this one is not open source, so I do not often recommend it here and while I trust it; your decisions may be different.) and Firefox (Plugins installed, seems to be replacing Kiwi because it's likely a dead/gone/depreciated/archived project.) I even use URLCheck from F-Droid itself as my "Default Browser" so that I have the power to review each URL and open it in a browser I feel is most appropriate to the context of my browsing and choose the browser I feel can best protect my privacy for a given site. One-off visits often go to Hermit; which promptly isolates away and forgets I ever visited the site while blocking ads with a lighter touch than most plugins I've seen that exist. If a site often breaks in Hermit; usually due to ad-blocking hostile scripts; I kick it over to Firefox where I have extensive plug-in tooling to defang the beast...including tools like JShelter, Canvas Blocker, LocalCDN, Chameleon, Decentraleyes and uBlock Origin.
What I do know is that Android System Webview is far more configurable than you might realize; and that it is absolutely possible to build a browser on top of it. Most importantly; Android System Webview IS NOT Chrome! Yes, it is extremely similar and it behaves mostly the same; but it is based on the Chromium project; which is basically what Chrome is before Google applies all of its own Branding, Customization, Policies and Application touches on it. Does Chromium project mirror what Chrome needs? Absolutely yes, but it does not follow Chrome exactly. In general; Android System Webview is a Web rendering component that other applications can call on and wrap their own code around. This means you are basically free to implement whatever other features you want around the webview; including adding plugins and other things like ad-blocking. My favorite closed-source lite-app browser Hermit does this; and I'm not seeing any significant privacy concerns with that one.

27 comments