I already use Firefox for browsing normally, but I have to test on a Chromium based browser too. One soft requirement is that it should be installable with Flatpak on Linux.
Unless something’s changed recently, you can just install the Chromium browser itself. And it looks like it’s available as a Flatpak. As a bonus this will eliminate anything extra added by browser manufacturers as a potential problem.
Yes. I’ve considered that, but does it still report back to Google? Even though that majority of what I visit will be “http://127.0.0.1:8080”, I’d still rather not be spied on by Google.
How about Ungoogled Chromium?
I though that was Linux only, but I just looked it up and it is also available on Mac.
It’s not available on Windows, but I’m ok with that.
I will add that to the list to try out.
Definitely available on Windows too, here: https://chromium.woolyss.com/#windows
That’s vanilla Chromium.
Ungoogled Chromium is not officially released on Windows, only through a third party.
I’m confused. In your initial post, the only OS you mentioned was Linux:
One soft requirement is that it should be installable with Flatpak on Linux.
But you don’t use/want a Linux browser…?
I mostly code on Linux, but I also code on Mac, since I have to test on Safari. I don’t really ever code on Windows. Windows exists on a separate disk in my computer just to boot into every 3 or 4 months when I release a new version of a desktop app and need to build for Windows.
So I want a browser that at least works on Linux and Mac. What I meant in my post was I wanted it installable through Flatpak rather than a snap or deb, since I use Fedora.
It does phone home, but with the right DNS settings you can block that. Heck, if you’re just going to localhost you can disconnect the machine from the network entirely.
I use Vivaldi because of it’s tab management.
I have it configured to put the tabs in a bar on the right side of the screen. That way you have full tab titles no matter how many you have open.
It’s also got a tiling window manager. So you can select two tabs and tell it to split screen them within the single window of Vivaldi. Or select 3, or 4, or whatever and put them in a grid. All sorts of options.
I’ve got big 4k monitors, so I’ve grouped up some pinned tabs to always be tiled (like my email and calendar)
It’s got lots of other nice tab features and just regular features, but those are the main selling ports for me personally.
plus 1 for Vivaldi. No complaints here.
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Yess! Came here to recommend Vivaldi too. I switched from Brave for same reason as OP, and looked at a few options… Vivaldi won. It’s been a couple months and I haven’t looked back.
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I don’t like Google trackers.
Does vanilla Chromium have Google trackers?
Yes. https://www.chromium.org/Home/chromium-privacy/
But not nearly as many tracking mechanisms as Chrome, because it lacks API keys for some services. By default, it will still send the URL of every page you visit to Google, though. At least that’s my understanding, reading their privacy policy.
But it also doesn’t update itself, doesn’t seem to have a working Mac build (the one on their website doesn’t launch), and doesn’t sync (which I can live without, but end-to-end encrypted sync is nice).
Thanks!
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Yeah, this is a contender. No Windows build and no sync are the downsides, but neither is a deal breaker, since I’m only testing with it, and I code on Linux and Mac.
If you’re using Windows, Edge is an option. You already have the Microsoft telemetry watching you regardless of using Edge, so you might as well use it if you need chrome for testing or a specific website.
I try as hard as I can to never boot into Windows. The only time I ever do is to build a Windows version of one of my desktop apps.
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You don’t want google tracking you while you test your website? Why not?
The best Chromium browser in terms of compatibility is of course Google Chrome.
The best in terms of privacy is Vivaldi. (and i hate Vivaldi).
I haven’t tried Vivaldi. Is it available on Linux?
Edit: Looks like they do with both .deb and .rpm packages. They’re not on Flatpak, but the rpm would work for me on Fedora.
I just saw someone on Mastodon saying they replaced Chrome with Vivaldi, so maybe that?
Vivaldi is pretty good. It’s my second choice of browser after Firefox
There’s Thorium… which is basically “The same thing but with lots of tweaks”.
Thanks, I’m gonna give it a try, but I’m a bit confused: why are there a public, webview and shell version to download (android)?
Maybe I’m out of the loop, but what did Brave do?
Their latest thing that pushed me to look for a new testing browser is installing a system wide VPN on your computer without your consent.
I think there’s no good option. Your best bet is probably to run chrome in some sort of temporary vm so there’s nothing worth tracking. Maybe there’s a docker image with chrome ?
I really like Vivaldi for sites that dont like to play well with Firefox.
I’ve just been using Edge when Firefox wont open a site. It’s installed by default and it’s just Chrome under the hood so it works. Plus, after Google’s new hostility to ad blocking I refuse to use any Chrome based browser as my default so one is as good as the other to me. They’re all just a temporary tool until I go back to using the only real web browser that I can, Mozilla Firefox.
Edge isn’t installed by default on any of the computers I use, and I’m not a huge fan of all the junk they put in it.
Also I just downloaded it on Mac and it’s a .pkg file, so that really sets off alarm bells.
It’s Chrome, it’ll be loaded with trash no matter what. There’s no clean version of garbage that you can install.
100% truth.
This page might be helpful.
This is awesome! Thank you.
Unfortunately, based just on this, Brave seems to be the best, but there’s additional stuff in Brave that makes it much less appealing.
Scummy actions?
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology
It’s like every year or so Brave does something new and shittier.
Apparently they installed a system-wide VPN without asking
I tend to use Falkon, which is developed by the KDE community…
I don’t see a Mac build. Are they planning to support Mac?
Oh, I rather doubt it.
It is built on top of Qt, so I assume, theoretically, it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to do the port, but you need someone who regularly tests+fixes it under macOS. And well, it’s a non-commercial project, so you need someone who volunteers to do that…
The KDE team is awesome, and they already have Mac devs. So maybe if people show support for it, they’d do it. :)
Possible, yeah. Falkon was previously an independent project (QupZilla). I don’t know how much they’ve intermingled with the other KDE devs yet, but that’s certainly no insurmountable problem either.
Does the DDG browser report back to Google?
No, they report to Bing. It caused a stink when “discovered” by the media, but it is part of their licensing agreement with Microsoft to use Bing results.
Their search is fine, but don’t use their browser.
I would assume not, but isn’t that a mobile only browser?
They have a Mac version and a Windows beta, but I don’t think there’s one for Linux available yet.
I didn’t know that! Awesome! I hope there’s a Linux version soon, then I’ll probably switch to it.
Tempest browser is basically Brave but without the Crypto stuff. It’s still in beta atm so take that as you will.
