Firefox alternatives?
Firefox alternatives?
On Linux and Android. What are privacy oriented alternatives to Firefox now that it's no longer trustworthy?
The ability to sync between devices would be a huge bonus, even just on a local network.
56 comments
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LibreWolf finally has an account at mastodon @librewolf@chaos.social
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https://digdeeper.club/articles/browsers.xhtml has a somewhat comprehensive analysis of a dozen of the browsers you might consider, illuminating depressing (and sometimes surprising) privacy problems with literally all of them.
In the end it absurdly recommends something which forked from Firefox a very long time ago, which is obviously not a reasonable choice from a security standpoint. I don't have a good recommendation, but I definitely don't agree with that article's conclusion: privacy features are pointless if your browser is trivially vulnerable to exploits for a plethora of old bugs, which will inevitably be the case for a volunteer-run project that diverged from Firefox a long time ago and thus cannot benefit from Mozilla's security fixes in each new release.
However, despite its ridiculous conclusion, that page's analysis could still be helpful when you're deciding which of the terrible options to pick.
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Ironfox on Android, easily is the best.
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Depends on your specific case, but IMO in order of preference for deskop, Tor Browser as much as possible, followed by Mullvad Browser as much as you can, for scenarios where you cannot use Tor Browser, followed by LibreWolf for the few sites that require persistent logins (you'll need to enable setting cookies for those specific sites). There's also other Firefox forks like GNU IceCat (unofficial binary for it), Floorp and Zen Browser.
For a less complicated alternative, just swap out Firefox with LibreWolf. Just make sure to read the ENTIRE docs to save yourself from any nasty surprises. Especially about RFP (Resist Fingerprinting), WebGL, Canvas, etc.
On Andriod, again, there's Tor Browser, IronFox, Fennec F-Driod. Additionally if you want a browser based on a different engine, there's Cromite, which is based off of Chromium, but it's probably better to stay with a less commonly used engine like Firefox rather than keep using the mainstream monopoly of Google.
As an aside, this video helped me understand some stuff better and it seems to be less of Mozilla being untrustworthy and more about them being total losers in communication. I recommend checking it out.
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Oh also, Ladybird Browser, is being developed. It is not based off of Mozilla Firefox or Google Chromium or Safari. They're building their own browser independently without getting any code from other browsers. The Alpha release is planned to come out on 2026.
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I somehow missed reading about the part about syncing. Pretty sure LibreWolf and IronFox does allow that as well, you need to enable it somewhere in the settings and log into your Mozilla account I guess.
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librewolf, mullvad, zen browser? all fork of firefox
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Not really an option because he said Android
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You can use any firefox fork on Linux and any other firefox fork on Android. They sync fine.
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useful to me, a non-android user who clicked because the title doesn't say anything about it.
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So I haven't been following the Firefox thing that closely. Fennec isn't an alternative because it uses Firefox's Sync and Brave is out of the question because it's crypto Chrome?
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I've been using LibraWolf on desktop for several years now. It's just far simpler than modifying standard Firefox. for my personal needs.
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LibreWolf is great ! Coming from ArkenFox, I found LibreWolf's override cfg a bit easier.
They also have a pacdiff cfg to see what changes from version to version without the need to roam arkenfoxes github repo for hours to find what changed or what to change.
I installed it yesterday to see how it goes :) If it doesn't fit, will go back to Arkenfox.
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power of 'community-driven' projects
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Floorp :)
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I just installed Librewolf today, using it now. Being a fork of FF it makes a very smooth transition.
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If you want to keep the Gecko Engine from Mozilla to support an alternative to Google's monopoly here are a couple alternative for Linux :
- Librewolf
- Mullvad Browser
- Zen Browser
For Android you have to be aware that unfortunately every firefox based browser lack of per-site isolation unlike chromium browsers.
- IronFox (active fork of Mull by DivestOS)
- Fennec
On the dark side of the spectrum you have chromium browser such as :
- Brave (Linux & Android) (disable cryptocrap, sponsor backgrounds and it's quite good)
- Cromite (Android)
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I use ungoogled-chromium & thorium are worth a mention.
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For Android you have to be aware that unfortunately every firefox based browser lack of per-site isolation unlike chromium browsers.
Wait really? Its 2025, seriously, what is Mozilla doing?
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Collecting paychecks for being controlled opposition?
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Yes, I learned that thanks to DivestOS which was comming with Mull, they had a comparison table and yes no FF based browser support that basic security feature yet...
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I use a similar set up. Librewolf on Linux and IronFox on Android. You could still use a Firefox account to sync, but I wouldn’t. I’ve heard there’s a way to host an older version of Firefox sync locally, but I haven’t looked into it.
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This + xBrowserSync for bookmarks.
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Second the Ironfox recommendation.
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Not OP, but I've never heard of IronFox. Is it a comparable replacement for Mull? Gods I'm still a bit salty over how sudden that was...
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It's a fork of Mull, in fact!
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Yes IronFox is a fork of Mull, and though it does have a couple of differences in opinion on the balance of privacy and usability, it's very similar. I've been using it since shortly after we lost Mull.
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This is what I use.
And this is the latest sync server that doesn't rely on discontinued versions of Python: https://github.com/mozilla-services/syncstorage-rs/. It's not a full, plug and play solution, and it doesn't support PostgreSql so I haven't set it up in my self hosted environment yet, but plan to eventually.
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I made this https://github.com/jeena/fxsync-docker/ which supports PostgreSQL but sadly they broke the upstream images in newer versions.
Someone did the work to rebuild the images and fix the problems in new versions, looks promising: https://github.com/porelli/firefox-sync
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LibreWolf is what I use, but I heard Zen Browser is another fork that's been getting some traction. I don't use it though, but I've heard from someone who does that it works for them. thumbs-up
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Zen looks good, but being more unique couldn't it get fingerprinted more easily?
Also their community is on Discord, which to me is a red flag quite frankly. I realize it's separate from the browser, but still. Discord no good.
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Been using Zen for the past week. It takes some getting used to, but it's been great so far.
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Cromite
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Cromite is exceptional.
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Use any fork of Firefox without the sync option.
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Floorp and librewolf, among others.
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neither of them are aviable for android
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Ironfox for Android
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Zen browser is very good.
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that's desktop only
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Brave or LibreWolf.
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Just amazing how people wake up, watch a bit of YouTube and run to social media saying the sky is falling in.
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Or you can stay on a sinking ship convince yourself "It's fine !" until it's too late?
Whatever chose your poison 🤷
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Interesting metaphor.
At what point is too late ? What the consequences here, of giving it a few days? Of understanding to steps you can take protect your data ?
Because what you have now, is a bunch of idiots, running round yelling “Firefox is untrustworthy “. And jumping straight on the next fork of 20 million lines of code, because Internet bro says it’s better .
They havent the faintest, and I mean the faintest idea of what trust is,
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Is brave an option?
56 comments