Looking for Privacy-Oriented Open-Source Android Browsers

I’m looking for a privacy-focused, open-source Android browser. Here are some options I’ve found:

  • IronFox
    • recommended by LibreWolf
  • Fennec
    • no repo
  • Waterfox
  • Vanadium
  • iceraven
    • most stars
    • https://lemmy.world/u/[email protected] - As far as I know ironfox supports any extensions normal firefox mobile does, but neither give you access to the full full extensions store. Iceraven is the only mobile browser I know of that lets you use all the extensions that you can on desktop firefox.
  • bromite
    • no longer maintained
    • Bromite has a fingerprint randomization and Vanadium doesn’t. But Vanadium has better security if you use Graphene. So yeah, for privacy Bromite might be better
  • cromite
    • Bromite fork
  • brave
    • controversial
  • duckduckgo

Is there any other browser out there that fits this criteria? Is there an even better choice? I’m particularly interested in ones that focus on privacy.

UPDATE: iceraven vs ironfox

https://www.reddit.com/r/browsers/comments/1lkagoz/iceraven_vs_ironfox_firefox_fork_for_android/

I use both! Ironfox is hardened to improve security as best as possible for a gecko based android browser and focuses mainly on preventing fingerprinting, similar to mullvad’s browser. Because of these extra privacy protections some websites will be more prone to break or render goofy on ironfox, but luckily I haven’t ran into that issue yet.

Iceraven just strips out mozilla’s tracking and adds tons of extra extensions and customizability, but doesn’t include the extra security hardening or fingerprint protection like ironfox does.

Both devs are very good at keeping up with releases imo.

So if you really need airtight fingerprint prevention, or want extra security hardening, I’d go with ironfox. Also just a note, even with ironfox’s hardening, it’s still not as secure as a chromium based browser. Some people have very strong opinions on the gecko vs chromium security debate so I’m just pointing that out as a disclaimer. If you’re gonna be treading into websites where there’s a significant risk of picking up something nefarious in the background, stick with a chromium based browser for those sites as a precaution. Just my 2 cents.

EDIT: in terms of popularity, privacy and functionality I guess the best choices are iceraven (based on firefox) as it has most stars on github and cromite (based on chromium) as brave is controversial

Solved Questions

I know that Brave is a bit controversial, but If Brave does something behind our backs wouldn’t we be able to know it since all the source code is out there? If it has some features we don’t like can’t we simply modify the source code?

@slackness

re: open source In theory: yes. In practice: maybe. It’ll probably eventually be caught by some researcher but unlike popular belief all open source code bases are not constantly being audited by the community. A random person can’t just read Brave source code for all platforms and accurately gauge if they’re doing something nefarious. It is very easy to hide stuff in code or misuse a protocol for evil purposes, etc.

You can modify the source code but as evident by the fact that there’s no Brave fork with crypto removed (there was one but their branding was too similar to Brave’s so they got sued), it’s not an easy feat to maintain that.

few questions

  • What is the difference between IronFox, Fennec, Waterfox and iceraven?

As far as I know ironfox supports any extensions normal firefox mobile does, but neither give you access to the full full extensions store. Iceraven is the only mobile browser I know of that lets you use all the extensions that you can on desktop firefox.