this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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24
Cromite and Vanadium (self.privacyguides)
submitted 1 year ago by Devjavu to c/[email protected]
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I am a newcomer to the space and want to know some stuff about the mentioned mobile browsers. Information on them seems a little sparse to me. I am aware of Brave, however on my current device it is very buggy and I do not like the company's reputation. I am aware of Firefox and it's derivatives and the benefit they bring against chrome's monopoly, however I believe that it's non existing sandboxing is an issue and would therefore like to exclude them for mobile use.

Bromite seems to have been abandoned as it's owner appears to be in a war zone (My heart goes out to you Carl!). As for this reason, Cromite was forked from Bromite by the main contributor to Bromite. This in itself raises several question for me:

  1. Is Cromite as good as Bromite was in it's golden age?
  2. Does Cromite have some catching up to do, before it becomes an alternative to other browsers again?
  3. Can the project be trusted under different ownership?
  4. Is it not listed on PrivacyGuides.org as it is "new", or as it's got an issue? I know that Bromite was once recommended.
  5. Would you yourself use or recommend Cromite? If yes/no, why so?

Also, how does Vanadium compare privacy wise? I know it's the bomb for security, however it's developer(s) did not specifically target privacy if I understood correctly. If I were to get GrapheneOS, I'd be happy to use it's stock browser.

What about a vm/cloud based browser? I have found very little about them, but could imagine they'd make it hard to track someone.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

  1. Cromite is an improvement to Bromite, so yes.

  2. There are some things here or there that could be added, but it seems like a good browser for now.

  3. The current developer has worked on Bromite in the past, so if you trusted Bromite I don't see a reason not to trust Cromite.

  4. It's not listed because it was just released and I believe it was mentioned on Privacy Guides forums that the team is looking into it and may consider adding it to the recommended tools at some point.

  5. Yes, I currently use Cromite as a back-up browser and Mull as my main browser.

Vanadium is built specifically for security. It lacks privacy features such as an ad blocker. It is also only available on GrapheneOS. Cromite seems much easier to recommend from a privacy stand point as the use case for Vanadium is very specific.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Vanadium is built specifically for security. It lacks privacy features such as an ad blocker

Currently I use the AdGuard DoH server. It's not perfect, but I don't do a lot of browsing on my phone. There were some plans to implement this in vanadium https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium/issues/10

[–] Devjavu 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

May I ask if you use a custom rom? And would you use vanadium if you could?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I have a Pixel phone, but I don't use a custom ROM on it. I still depend on some Google services and apps for school and work.

I use NextDNS to block ads system-wide so I would probably stick with Vanadium instead of Cromite just to save memory. However, I would still use either Mull or Fennec F-droid as my main browser on mobile.

[–] Devjavu 2 points 1 year ago

Exactly what I needed. Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cromite is a fork, so waiting a bit before using it would be helpful. Vanadium is a good option if you use grapheneos. Even though there are controversies around Brave, it does not affect privacy and security of it. Turn off crypto and other stuff and it’s done.

Firefox on android does not provide per site isolation. I don’t think it is significant as long as you know what you accept by using it. If you are willing to take this road, then Mull is the browser you are looking for.

https://divestos.org/pages/browsers

[–] Devjavu 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

First of, thank you. Second, could you expand a little more on why lacking per site isolation is not so significant in your case?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It’s kind of a vulnerability. Afaik, in case of a compromise on a website, it prevents being spread. For me, it’s an important security feature. Actually, it should be for everyone. But still, I use Mull on android activating https only.

Further info:

https://divestos.org/pages/browsers#processIsolation

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Related thread here https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/cromite-bromite-fork/13274 The main thing we find is Vanadium is not lagging behind upstream and it has hardening patches that a lot of other WebView implementations do not have. Whether you like a to "contribute to chromium based market share" you'll have a WebView implementation on your Android device used by apps you use. It's also worth noting that per site isolation doesn't seem to be a thing on Android for non-chromium browsers.

[–] Devjavu 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the related thread. Appreciate it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't use chromium based browser if possible, since it will indirectly support the monopoly position of the chromium engine

[–] Devjavu 3 points 1 year ago

I do not give two craps :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I use Vanadium as my main browser but I use Cromite to save my bookmarks because in Vanadium there is no way to backup my bookmarks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am using Graphene abd I disabled Vanadium due to it being Chromium essentially. I use Navi or Download Navi from F-Droid. It does not have as much web functionality as Vanadium, but I don't use phone for websites, I read websites on computer or laptop, but occassionally something might need a browser momentarily so that's what Navi for.

If you want a web browser for privacy, I would suggest use F-Droid and in Settings under Anti-features, turn off every option in there, do a search for browser and see what you think of the options. It's either cheap development or old. A mobile web browser that protects privacy doesn't seem to exist with the capabilitied of a Firefox.

I'm a strong believer that there is no such thing as a privacy respecting browser that is closed source. For that reason, I use IceCat on computer.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Download Navi from F-Droid. It does not have as much web functionality as Vanadium

From the looks of it Navi is just a download manager, not an actual web browser.

For that reason, I use IceCat on computer.

But do you actually compile those binaries yourself. A lot of browsers are open source.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Navi has a built-in download manager, it is not a standalone download manager. I use Navi as a light web browser for websites in case I never a browser on phone.

I do not compile IceCat, it's available in different repositories.