Chrome
My previous main browser
Letās not be overly sarcastic about Chrome. You may not have been around when it was launched in September 2008, but it was a revolutionary bet from Google at a time when Internet Explorer held a 60% market share.
I loved Chromeās minimalist transparent design and lightning-fast speed. Also, the ability to synchronize your bookmarks, settings and especially browsing history across your devices was both innovative and a somewhat scary. This has now long become a double-edged sword: when connected to your Google account on Chrome, thereās hardly any aspect of your web activity that will not be recorded.
Eventually one day, like most privacy-conscious users, I decided to not use it anymore, and switch to another Chromium-based solution, much more compatible with privacy: Brave.
Brave
My new main browser
Brave has now become my go-to browser for personal use. While it feels familiar because itās based on Chromium, it has a lot of interesting exclusive features for privacy. However itās always a trade-off between usability and privacy, and I donāt have hardcore privacy needs.
Privacyguides.org provides recommendations on how to configure Brave, but hereās a few details on my personal config:
- Ad and Tracker Blocking: set on āagressiveā level, this killer built-in feature eliminates the need for an extension like uBlock Origin. Sometimes it does prevent website from loading properly (typically when a GDPR popup is blocked but needed an actual click), but itās easy to downgrade the protection level on a per-site basis.
- Disabled BAT and Web3 features: while they are innovative features, I have decided not to use them. My primary focus is on browsing with enhanced privacy and security, rather than engaging in crypto-based rewards or decentralized applications.
- Skipping Tor Windows, since I have no need for this added layer of privacy. It could even raise suspicion, and the browsing experience is much slower. When I really need an extra level of protection, I use Mullvad Browser (see below).
- Anonymous synchronization: I love Braveās sync feature based on a simple passphrase. This functionality allows to sync my bookmarks, settings, and extensions across my personal devices (including mobile and tablets) in a much more private way than Chromeās account.
- Search engines: itās very convenient to have the ability to select different engines for Normal and Private windows. I use Google in normal windows, and switch to DuckDuckGo in private windows.
š¼Ā On my work device, I donāt use synchronisation, and I configured a full erase my history and cookies when I quit the app.
Firefox hardened
My previous high-privacy browser
For a long time, Firefox was my āhigh privacyā browser, with a hardened configuration inspired from pyllyukko. I spent hours understanding and fine-tuning each parameter of the user.js file, and ended up with a custom set of rules.
user.js configuration file// From https://github.com/pyllyukko/user.js
// Extra hardened preferences (disabled by default)
//user_pref("pdfjs.disabled", true);
//user_pref("keyword.enabled", false);
//user_pref("dom.indexedDB.enabled", false);
//user_pref("dom.storage.enabled", false);
// User Agent override
user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/45.0");
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID", "20100101");
user_pref("general.appname.override", "Netscape");
user_pref("general.appversion.override", "5.0 (Windows)");
user_pref("general.buildID.override", "20100101");
user_pref("general.oscpu.override", "Windows NT 6.1");
user_pref("general.platform.override", "Win32");
// Locale
user_pref("intl.accept_languages", "en-US, en");
user_pref("intl.locale.matchOS", false);
user_pref("javascript.use_us_english_locale", true);
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "https://start.duckduckgo.com/");
// Proxy
user_pref("network.proxy.type", 1);
user_pref("network.proxy.socks", "10.64.0.1");
user_pref("network.proxy.socks_port", 1080);
user_pref("network.proxy.socks_remote_dns", true);
// Privacy and clearing after shutdown
user_pref("browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOnExit", true);
user_pref("browser.privatebrowsing.autostart", true);
user_pref("network.cookie.lifetimePolicy", 2);
user_pref("network.cookie.thirdparty.sessionOnly", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.cache", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.downloads", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.formdata", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.history", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.offlineApps", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.openWindows", true); // Causes 2 windows to open on startup
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.sessions", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.siteSettings", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.cache", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.cookies", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.downloads", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.formdata", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.history", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.offlineApps", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.sessions", true);
user_pref("privacy.firstparty.isolate", true);
user_pref("privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown", true);
user_pref("privacy.sanitize.timeSpan", 0);
user_pref("privacy.trackingprotection.cryptomining.enabled", true);
user_pref("privacy.trackingprotection.enabled", true);
user_pref("privacy.trackingprotection.pbmode.enabled", true);
user_pref("privacy.userContext.enabled", true);
// All other preferences
// Truncated but identical to https://github.com/pyllyukko/user.jsOne very important safeguard was to force the connection through a Mullvad SOCKS5 proxy, that reliably blocked Firefox from connecting to Internet if not connected to a Mullvad VPN server, as explained here.
But then Mullvad released their browser.
Mullvad browser
My new high-privacy browser
In April 2023, Mullvad introduced their customized version of the Tor browser, which actually doesn't require connecting to Tor (or any VPN, for that matter). The Tor browser itself is built on a heavily modified configuration of Firefox ESR.
Upon trying the Mullvad browser on its launch day, I was so convinced that I uninstalled Firefox just an hour later. The Mullvad browser now serves as my "extreme privacy" browser, relieving me from the task of continually customizing Firefox's hardening parameters to ensure up-to-date security. The Tor and Mullvad teams handle the job for us with each update.
I retain almost all the default settings, with the exception of adjusting my Security Level to Safer for a balance between privacy and usability.
Firefox Focus
My privacy browser on mobile
On my iPhone, alongside the Brave browser, I also utilize Firefox Focus as a lightweight and privacy-oriented browsing solution. Firefox Focus is specifically designed when you want a separate browser for private browsing sessions.
Here are the features that I like most:
- Automatic History Erasure: by default, Firefox Focus erases your browsing history between sessions, ensuring that your data remains private and secure.
- Built-in Tracking protection: it comes with a tracking protection feature, which essentially functions as an ad blocker.
- Face ID Integration: Firefox Focus can be automatically locked with Face ID, adding an extra layer of security from prying eyes.
- Speed: the browser's minimalistic design and focus on privacy result in a fast and efficient browsing experience, free from the slowdowns caused by excessive ads.
Firefox Focus is not meant to replace my default mobile browser, as it doesn't maintain login sessions between uses. However, this is precisely its goal ā to provide a dedicated, privacy-focused browser for sensitive tasks and browsing sessions where you don't want to leave any trace.
Safari
My fallback when a site blocks on Chromium
While I rarely use it, since I primarily rely on Brave for general browsing and Mullvad for enhanced privacy, there are occasions when I resort to Safari. This typically occurs when a website or plugin is incompatible with my favorite browsers.
Nonetheless, Safari can be configured to provide a reasonably privacy-friendly browsing experience. I my view, the easiest and most important setting to change is Safari opens with: A new private window. This way, any new browsing session begins in private mode, automatically discarding browsing data (history, cookies, downoad history, etc.) once the session ends.