this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
558 points (97.3% liked)

Technology

78043 readers
3391 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Just pick one - All the Fox functionality without bloatware

Librewolf - https://librewolf.net/

Waterfox - https://www.waterfox.com/

Zen Browser - https://zen-browser.app/

More browsers here - https://alternativeto.net/category/browsers/firefox-based/

You can also use this add to disable the ~~shitload~~ ai function in many search engines in one go

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/disable-ai/

GitHub page - https://github.com/jruns/disable-ai

You can find all the links on Mastodon<

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] djvinniev77@lemmy.ca 87 points 22 hours ago (4 children)

Really hate how iOS has zero alternatives. Thanks apple for your stupid WebKit.

[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

Could be worse, seriously. Safari is not a bad browser and WebKit is the only engine since years that can keep up with chromium. I get that it is annoying to have leas freedom on iOS, but I also appreciate the increased security[1] and quality of life that comes with it.

[1] yes, I am aware that open source software tends to be more secure, as it can be reviewed by all. However, Android by default is way less secure than iOS, unless you use GraphiteOS or similar.

[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 36 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I also appreciate the increased security

This hasn't been true for a long, long time. Mac was only ever more secure than windows because not enough people used them to make them worthwhile attack vectors. Nowadays, iOS sees just as many vulnerabilities as every other popular OS.

[–] SaraTonin@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

Report after report finds iOS to be more secure than Android. Here’s just one example: https://www.rokform.com/blogs/rokform-blog/which-is-more-secure-iphone-or-android

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 11 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Without taking a position on the claim itself, this is a bad citation. It makes a variety of claims that either don't hold up to basic scrutiny, or aren't evidence that iOS has a security advantage. Here are some examples:

Open-source platform increases vulnerability surface area

This is perhaps one of the most thoroughly debunked pieces of FUD in the entire tech industry.

[Various claims about inconsistency between devices]

These are mostly true but largely irrelevant. You're not buying an aggregate of all Android devices that exist, but a specific device with specific traits. The Android phone you should actually buy will have a security chip and many years of updates just like an iPhone.

The rigorous app review process and mandatory App Store distribution (except in EU) virtually eliminate malicious app threats for average users.

This might be a benefit when the user has no clue how to use a computer, but I expect people posting in this community are past that stage. It's a big disadvantage for those who want to use something like Firefox (real Firefox, not a skin on Safari) with potential security and privacy upsides.

[–] SaraTonin@lemmy.world -4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Again, specific sources are more or less irrelevant, because all sources agree. Plus, the onus isn’t on me to provide a source which debunks the claim that Android and iOS are equal in terms of vulnerability, the onus is on OP to provide a source which supports their assertion.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Depends on whether you want to convince people of your position, or you're just explaining your own choice. The latter is fine, but the former won't happen without better sources.

[–] SaraTonin@lemmy.world -1 points 2 hours ago

Again, burden of proof is on the person making the claim. Whether or not you choose to believe them, when they have provided zero sources for their claim, is up to you.

[–] ADTJ@feddit.uk 12 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I wouldn't really call this a "report" when there aren't any metrics in the reasoning other than price.

Even in their own article, it mentions how support and updates vary by manufacturer so it's kind of meaningless to compare iPhone to the whole Android ecosystem. You'd need to choose one or more manufacturer in order to make an apples to apples comparison.

[–] SaraTonin@lemmy.world -3 points 7 hours ago

It was just the first one that came to hand. LOL at this source for another example: https://deepstrike.io/blog/Malware-Attacks-and-Infections-2025

That claims that Android devices are 50 times more likely to be compromised than iOS. Look at most reports from people like Kasperky & Malwarebytes and they don’t even bother to mention iOS in statistics and only occasionally mention the platform if there is a specific notable threat.

It can be argued that iOS isn’t as secure as Apple would like you to think or as a lot of Apple users do think, but it really can’t be argued that it’s equally as vulnerable as Android

[–] Kevlar21@piefed.social 11 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Safari on iOS is especially tolerable since they allowed uBlock Origin Lite onto the App Store recently.

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 hours ago

Wipr 2 is so great though. Indie dev, perfect streamlined implementation.

[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 12 hours ago

They whaaat? Finally!!

[–] mmmac@lemmy.zip 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

To be honest I don't use Firefox on android anyways because it's noticeably slower than chromium. Since I'm on graphene is I just stick to vanadium + DNS level adblocking.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago

There is actually a current Chromium-based browser for Android with Manifest v2 extension support and uBlock Origin.

spoilerIt's Microsoft Edge. No, I'm not advocating that you use it.

[–] nil@piefed.ca 8 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

I bought an old Pixel 7a with (new) case for less than $179 USD and put Graphene OS on it. Definitely cheaper than buying youself a new iPhone, and installation is easy af.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

There are some good iOS browsers.

At the moment, I use Orion (from Kagi) and Narrow32. Quiche Browser is good, DuckDuckGo is fine.

Discoverability on iOS is awful though. The store is just packed with SEO spam and corporate slop on top of all the passion projects or "benevolent" ones.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 30 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

At the moment, iOS doesn’t not allow any other browser engines. Every browser on iOS is just reskinned Safari.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

That's kind of a blessing in disguise; otherwise basically all web traffic would be Chrome.

Apparenty this is softening some: https://www.techspot.com/news/108965-japan-gives-apple-december-deadline-drop-ios-browser.html

And Safari is quite performant on iOS.

Maybe I'm too cynical, but I wouldn't mind if that continues, just so there's some chunk of traffic that isn't Chrome and that web development doesn't turn into a complete monoculture. A smidge of Firefox and Safari alone isn't enough for that.

(EDIT: My assumption is that if Apple allows Chrome on iOS, you can bet they are going to funnel basically everyone into it).

[–] pirateKaiser@sh.itjust.works 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

That traffic only skews the graph like a false positive. While WebKit itself is oss, apple's tendency to just separate itself from the rest of the world makes it largely irrelevant. There are very few alternative browsers based on webkit for other platforms and the expected benefit of developers having to cater to apple's choices are thus negligible for the rest of us.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Still. I don't want to be on an internet where Chrome is basically the only develoment target, and for most sites to work properly you have to be on Google's browser. Safari's mere existance forces at least some generalization, but that disappears if Google pushes most of those users to Chrome anyway.

That's the internet where Google has even more total control.

[–] pirateKaiser@sh.itjust.works 4 points 18 hours ago

I agree, my point is that safari's dominance on iOS is not the light at the end of the tunnel, it does very little to offer alternatives to chromium.

[–] redwattlebird@lemmings.world 0 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Yep. I really really want Waterfox on IOS but I've settled for Qwant. It's not bad.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 3 points 11 hours ago

Yeah but the problem with iOS is that all browsers must use the Safari rendering engine under the hood (except in the EU, but not many developers create a browser for just the EU)