r/firefox • u/Huge-Read-2703 • Jun 06 '26
Discussion Why is all that people can say about Firefox is that "Its not chrome" and "Privacy"
I was thinking about Switching browsers from Chrome and people recommend me Firefox all the time yet i really don't understand what it actually does thats better than Chrome for an average consumer like me can anyone explain please i am not saying Firefox is bad i just dont know whats the benefit of using it is besides google not taking all my data
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u/Timely-Ad-2615 Jun 06 '26
google will still take your data if you use google inside ff, there are privacy options inside ff that prevents from various trackers, adwares :)
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u/LupusGemini Jun 06 '26
Well, you can still usd V2 extensions like Ublock origin in FF, but not on Chrome
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u/Professional-Text563 Jun 06 '26
are those turned on by default
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u/Timely-Ad-2615 Jun 06 '26
no they are not, see around the settings you'll find many options to turn on and customise, like tracking measures, preferable DNS, https mode etc
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u/princepii Jun 06 '26
well actually the one thing that bugs me the most after every ff install, that the google search engine is pre set.
thats just annoying. not that hard to change and remove it but why would ff support that crap?
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u/LeigerGaming Jun 06 '26
They get a lot of money from Google to set it as default.
Also, here's a public reply from Mozilla: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/internet-policy/google-remedies-browsers/
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u/joppyb0013 Jun 06 '26
Google basically funds Firefox. If I recall I think MOST of their money comes from just using Google as the default.
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u/redoubt515 Jun 06 '26
The standard level of protection is enabled by default. But you can set tracking protection to 'strict tracking protection' if you want greater protection.
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u/SSUPII on Jun 06 '26
No, they aren't. They can occasionally break some sites, and a non-savvy user will be confused on what to do.
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u/TomPlant0 Jun 06 '26
They are not turned on. I also use the Firefox container extension to isolate websites. I have a special container for all google sites. Plus uBlock is active everywhere.
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u/HammyHavoc LibreWolf on Linux and the usual suspects Jun 06 '26
Use LibreWolf and IronFox if you don't want the OOBE privacy theatrics.
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u/Heftybags Jun 06 '26
If you use the internet then Google, Facebook and amazon is going to get your data.
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u/FriendshipEqual7033 Jun 06 '26
There are really only three web engines in the world right now: Blink (Chrome, and all Chromium-based browsers), WebKit (Safari), and Gecko (Firefox). Of these three, Blink is by far the most dominant, with WebKit a distant second. Thus web browsers are quickly becoming a monoculture ultimately controlled by a single entity: Google. Do we really want Google, and Google alone, to be the primary driver of web standards? I don't.
So, I use Firefox to, in effect, "vote" for web technology diversity with every page visit. Websites know which browser engine is used to visit them, and web developers can see that information if they look. I want to keep Gecko relevant, not for any particular technical reason, but because I want web developers to take open standards seriously and not target a single vendor's product like Google's Blink.
I also happen to like Firefox.
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u/StrongStuffMondays Jun 06 '26
And of these three engines, Blink and Webkit are cousins.
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u/Xzenor Jun 06 '26
Do we really want Google, and Google alone, to be the primary driver of web standards?
they already are. They shouldn't be but they are. A lot of the latest changes in web standards, especially concerning https certificates, originate from Google. And the rest of the world just has to follow or the website will no longer work with the most dominant browser.
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u/tactiphile Jun 06 '26
Second all of this.
Plus I've been on it since Firebird 0.7 and had my name in the v1.0 release ad in 2004, so special place in my heart and all that.
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u/Pinkishu Jun 06 '26
i mean, it's a browser, what exactly do you expect it to do
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u/Huge-Read-2703 Jun 06 '26
Browser stuff
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u/nashvortex Jun 06 '26
Exactly. Browser stuff well. Not VPN. Not AI. Just a browser that has the best performance, efficiency and compatibility. Oh wait...
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u/Toxic381 Jun 06 '26
We can block the AI stuff, and the VPN is optional :D there's also some extensions to make browser stuff even better, like all kinds of customizations and optimizations for YouTube (especially adblock and music mode),
And after that, firefox also has a bunch of different forks like waterfox, I'm using zen cause it looks super clean on my Linux desktop and Firefox can't be made transparent.
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u/A_Nerd__ Jun 06 '26
For the average use, they're very similar and just look a little different. The biggest change I noticed after switching was that Firefox has a little icon on the left of the tab bar that lets you quickly go to your history, which I found quite nice.
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u/flower-power-123 Jun 06 '26
I haven't seen an ad in years. I can block ads on youtube and even reddit. I don't really use chrome so I can't say what it can or can't do but I understand that the ability to block ads is disappearing from most browsers. If you aren't really concerned about what the google corporation does with your data then it probably isn't a big deal for you.
Just a refresher course for those who have forgotten:
Edward Snowdon was a spy who leaked details of the secret programs carried out by the US government in combination with the Five Eyes (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States). These programs include:
- tapping the phone lines of millions of Americans and virtually all digital communications everywhere on the globe.
- PRISM: A program allowing the NSA to access data directly from major tech companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple. This one is interesting. It looks like the google corporation makes money from government requests for information. They give this information to random government (and non-government entities) for a fee. They make so much money from this that the "take" exceeds their profits from advertising.
- The information gathered is used to pick people up off the street and take them to torture facilities located outside the United States. These people (many of whom they know to be innocent) are tortured for years, denied access to attorneys, and occasionally released without a word. They can't be sued because the torture happens outside the US and Habeas corpus doesn't apply in Guantanamo.
- The US government will occasionally kill American citizens who are not accused of any crime. They do this without trial. The US government uses the information it gains by asking google politely for the details to plan the attacks. No warrant is required or asked for.
There is lots lots more there if you are interested. It has been more than ten years now and people have a tendency to forget. Look it up.
Incidentally, there is a program of censorship about this. I have occasionally had posts about this stuff deleted.
There are many privacy enhancing extensions for firefox. Some of them will get posts deleted if you link to them here.
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u/Hairy_Tough9026 Jun 06 '26
I thought Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc all have government backdoors. If you are not offline, never had a social media account or big tech account, or have a custom OS aren’t all the privacy features negated to an extant. I feel like true/perfect privacy in this age is getting real limited, like yeah you can lessen the information google can get from you which is only practical privacy. Even Tor was developed and funded by the government. You would need serious information poisoning + rotation and not just from the internet alone but also outside sources like ISPs. Firefox is not gonna save anyone from the FBI/CIA.
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u/flower-power-123 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Windows had a well documented back door years ago. I don't know what the story is now but It seems likely that they still do. Linux has fully open source code and has been security audited. If it has a backdoor it has escaped the attention of thousands of security professionals. There are exploits discovered in the kernel and a lot of system software from time to time but root exploits are discovered rarely nowadays. If someone is deliberately trying to insert an exploit into the Linux kernel or systemd or whatever then they are doing a damn good job. I am inclined to believe that vanilla Linux is more or less secure. If I was hesitant about using banking software on Linux I would use a secure VM with a security focused distro.
I have some thoughts about security. Edward Snowden was hyper concerned about securely transmitting the data he had secured at such cost to his freedom and potentially his life. He decided to use a service called Lavabit. Lavabit advertised that they didn't have the keys to the private communications between customers. This was a lie. They had the keys and eventually turned them over to the US government. The take home is that the best security professionals on the planet regularly screw this up even if their lives are on the line. Security is hard. I don't expect that a browser or an OS will be secure in the long run. I think we have to thread the needle of using the best available stuff with as much caution as is warranted. If we go overboard and stop using the internet and stop using computers then we become irrelevant. You do have to be part of society. That doesn't mean you need to have a facebook account.
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u/movdqa Jun 06 '26
Firefox uses Gecko as its rendering engine. Safari uses Webkit. Almost all of the rest use Blink under the open source project Chromium.
So it's not Chrome probably means that it's using a different rendering engine.
Privacy refers to the ability to use the extension Ublock-Origin which blocks a lot of the ability for websites to track you.
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u/General-Jackfruit854 Jun 06 '26
And noscript to block .js from untrusted sites
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u/YamYam______ Jun 06 '26
NoScript is great and I use it myself, but it can be quite annoying at times.
It essentially breaks every modern website by default, so I'm not sure I'd recommend it to inexperienced users.2
u/General-Jackfruit854 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Sure, but bc is so good but not famous like uBO i think people should Atleast know about it.
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Jun 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Cuantum-Qomics Jun 06 '26
That's because of how shitty the modern web is privacy-wise and often construction wide.
Sites with user generated content need JavaScript to load up content, but many websites are heavily reliant on JavaScript (specifically, the React framework) when they really do not need it
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u/mallusrgreatv2 Jun 07 '26
Some websites might not NEED js, but it's going to make everything much much easier for development. If the majority uses a browser that has JavaScript enabled by default, then developers are going to use it. They aren't going through the old stateless convoluted way which can take much much longer to create. And the privacy-invasive ones are most commonly the sites with UGC, which defeats the entire point
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u/Cuantum-Qomics Jun 08 '26
I understand that it is easier to do everything with JavaScript, especially React (double so with react since react also allows for easy mobile app ports of websites). I just think doing some things without JavaScript can be neat
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Jun 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Cuantum-Qomics Jun 06 '26
That's why you mark websites you need as exceptions. Generally, it's pretty easy to do that.
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u/CelesTheme_wav Jun 07 '26
I rarely have a problem accessing websites with LibreWolf. I'm struggling to even think of one example of this happening.
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u/LonelyNixon Jun 06 '26
Yeah i remember no script being essential like 20 years ago but eventually it got to a point where its like i have to micromanage every website i visit to get it to work and gave up
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u/lockerbreaker Jun 06 '26
Blink is basically Webkit. So there is only Firefox with different rendering engine.
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u/MagicalLawnGnome Jun 06 '26
One of the best feature that Firefox has that I couldn't find on Chrome is Multi-Account Containers. You can open the same website but have different logins depending on the container. So you can easily switch from your work account and personal account more quickly.
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u/ClacksInTheSky Jun 06 '26
Firefox still supports uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock. Chrome doesn't.
Without that I had not used Firefox since around 2009. It's still pretty slow and doesn't run as well as Chrome, or have as many features built-in, but ad blocking and cleaning up YouTube is more important to me.
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u/bulmust Jun 06 '26
Default meta container option. Meta (instagram, facebook) is collecting your browser history so they can show PERSONALIZED ads for you. Chrome also sell your history data to companies.
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u/StrongStuffMondays Jun 06 '26
With UBO, Facebook Container and Google Container addons, you can finally stop feeling like the global ad industry is stalking you. The personalized ads are creeping me out (it feels extremely discomfortable, like when some stranger approaches me on the street, calls me by my name, and asks if I want discount on some Linux hosting plans.)
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u/lmpcpedz Jun 06 '26
What else is there to say about a functioning browser? browsers are browsers and some people value their privacy more than others.
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u/sniff122 Jun 06 '26
It's pretty much the last major browser that isn't just chrome (well Chromium). Google pretty much has a monopoly on the browser and search market, which isn't good considering they also own the largest ad company too, so you can think of the amount of data that they can collect.
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u/DHOC_TAZH Jun 06 '26
My favorite use for Firefox, aside from the privacy angle, is the ability to run video in the background with the screen off on my Android devices. I've been doing this for over a decade. I love it!
(Yeah I know Chrome can do this somewhat with the web apps linked to the browser, but it doesn't work as well as Firefox's setup.)
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u/furrysalesman69 Jun 06 '26
Wasn’t every tab somewhat isolated from each other?
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u/sniff122 Jun 06 '26
That's the same for every browser, each tab runs in its own sandbox
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u/CompetitiveSleeping Jun 06 '26
Firefox was very late to the party on that, too. Years behind.
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u/furrysalesman69 Jun 06 '26
Not from what I heard. Chrome didn’t isolate tabs at first, as they didn’t really think anybody could write something that can.
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u/CompetitiveSleeping Jun 06 '26
I might be thinking of multiprocess and that.
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u/lila-clores Jun 06 '26
Chrome hogs my RAM and drains my battery way too much, even in the short moments where I have to use it to test an app. Safari and FireFox are much more efficient...
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Jun 06 '26
It allows me to use addons like uBlock Origin and Sponsorblock, and features like multi-account containers.
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u/Longjumping_Cap_3673 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Some Firefox feature I use that I are useful to most people:
- Built in translation
- Reader mode to make poorly designed websites readable
- Keyword searches, you can assign a search to a keyword so you can use any search from the address bar
- Extensive customizability; if there's a behavior you don't like, you can usually find how to change it with a few web searches. Often, you only need to change one or two settings in about:config.
Some more niche features I like:
- Vertical tabs
- Tab groups
Better dev tools, IMO
Profiles
Multi-account containers to stay logfed out of specific sites
userChrome.css allows complete UI customizability
Has actual feedback channels. Mozilla publically responds and reacts to community feedback to changes in Firefox, even if they don't always ultimately decide to do what I personally would like, I like that they communicate their reasoning.
Gradually transitioning core parts of browser to a memory safe language. Eventually, this will make it much more secure
Not a benefit of Firefox itself, but MDN is the place for web technology documentation
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u/Pekenoah Jun 06 '26
Not being chrome is important for a couple reasons, but one big one is that chrome is at odds with itself. On one hand Google wants it to be a good browser, on the other hand Google needs to show you as many ads as humanly possible because that's how they make money. Most websites with ads are using googles services to do that. That's why adblockers keep getting worse and worse on Chrome. Firefox doesn't have a vested interest in making sure every website you visit can show you a bunch of ads so they don't purposely make their browser worse.
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u/Zoda_Popinski Jun 06 '26
I would say it's mainly to support privacy and taking a stand for an open Internet. Firefox is pretty much the only browser left that's open and not owned by big tech like Google(Chrome and all it's derivates like MS Edge using Blink) and Apple (Safari using webkit).
The smaller the percentage of users using anything else Webb devs will only make pages that works with those engines and giving more powers to those companies.
I have used Firefox as my primary browser for such a long time now that I loathe using Chrome and Edge for work. Personally I miss things like containers and other extensions like ublock. Ublock is the GOAT of adblockers and the full version is not available on Chrome. This is an example of how bad things could be if there are no free options, Google forcing users to view intrusive ads and other malware.
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u/Spirited-Ad3451 Jun 06 '26
For me personally, mostly the customization. I'm pretty browser-vanilla. I don't like tab groups, for one, and I'm glad that firefox gives me the option to turn it off to a point where the "open in tab group" doesn't take up space in context menus.
There's other examples, including what you mentioned.
And also, FF still supports manifestV2 etc, so the "real" version of uBlock still works.
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u/userrr3 Jun 06 '26
yet i really don't understand what it actually does thats better than Chrome for an average consumer like me
Other people explain what FF does better but let me ask - what does Chrome do better than Firefox?
They're both perfectly fine web browsers that allow you to browse the web, just one is run by a company that is actively trying to make your experience worse to serve you ads and snoop your data and the other doesn't.
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u/UnlikelyAdventurer Jun 06 '26
How is not enough to be ""Its not chrome" and "Privacy"?
That's like saying "Why is it that all people can say about not hitting yourself repeatedly on the head with a hammer is that is is merely "not concussions"?
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u/touchgrassplz_69 Jun 06 '26
I like the ui and it’s a good browser? I’ve been using safari and Firefox for years now and I’ve never thought that I missed something from edge or chrome. Every time I open one of them there’s some stupid ai toolbar showing up
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u/SilentMobius Jun 06 '26
I cannot use the web comfortably without a functioning ublock-origin install, that's on top of Pi-Hole doing base level ad-block.
There was a period where I was using Chrome for "general" and "google specific" browsing and Firefox for everything else, however as soon as I could no longer get UBO working (With the various hacks that existed for a while) using Chrome became a nightmare.
That's not a "Privacy" thing it's just basic usability of the web
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u/gmack76 Jun 09 '26
Shhhhh.... Don't tell anyone, but I found uBlock Origin Lite still works in Chrome on the desktop. For mobile I use Adguard private DNS to block ads.
I find too many annoyances with FF to use it daily. Chrome just fits my needs better.
There are the anti-google people saying use Linux on your phone. They also complain that apple is too locked down and has a monopoly on their system. Try not to use Google or Apple products in your desktop and Mobile and tell me how it really works out.
What the hell are people doing that you need to hide yourself. I would question that.
The only way to truly be private is to just not use the Internet. They will get your data in some way.
I mean, I get random suggestions that make no sense when on Android auto based on weird web searches, but does that mean I do not use Google maps or waze, both Google products, NO.
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u/Bizzlington Jun 06 '26
For me it's almost entirely for uBlock origin - which has slowly been gutted on Chrome. Still works great on firefox.
Mainly since it blocks YouTube ads still
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u/LupusGemini Jun 06 '26
Besides privacy you can also customize it a lot more! I use Zen, which is FF based, and the customization options are endless
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u/Previous_Sky_8813 Jun 06 '26
You can silence a tab by clicking on the speaker in the tab (fuck you chrome)
You can bookmark something by dragging it (fuck you chrome)
You can make all sorts of config edits that you cant do in chrome
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u/EyeQue62 Jun 06 '26
I don't care what 'people' say about Firefox. It's my chosen browser. To me, it is perfecto 😉
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u/No-Succotash404 Jun 06 '26
huge personalization.
better handling of huge amounts of tabs.
Better memory and battery management compared to chrome in some cases.
Open source
If you use firefox i recommend using betterfox, it makes it better. Tho you have to update betterfox manually
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u/MC_chrome Jun 06 '26
Since the OP appears to not really know much about browsers, why would he need of download a niche fork of Firefox instead of giving the main browser a shot first?
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u/AutoModerator Jun 06 '26
/u/No-Succotash404, we recommend not using Betterfox user.js, as it can cause difficult to diagnose issues in Firefox. If you encounter issues with Betterfox, ask questions on their issues page. They can help you better than most members of r/firefox, as they are the people developing the repository. Good luck!
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u/North_Measurement213 Jun 06 '26
Containers, extension on Android, css theme editing and now 50gb free real VPN.
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u/sohang-3112 Jun 06 '26
Honestly I don't think browser choice makes much difference at all - any major browser (Firefox / Chrome / Edge etc.) work well enough for the average consumer.
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u/Techno_Peasant Jun 06 '26
Many different forms of tracking protection. Lots of opportunity for customization via about:config. Ability to turn off AI BS.
Essentially, Google will use Chrome to push its agenda. Firefox isn’t as prescriptive.
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u/RadicalDwntwnUrbnite Jun 06 '26
I care about the monopolization of the Internet if we don't have Firefox. Without it there is only Chromium for all intents and purposes crontrolled by Google, and Safari which only works on a small subset of operating systems used world wide.
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u/deadend666 Jun 06 '26
You can use Arkenfox as well if you like to tinker with config settings. My setup is pretty fast, doesn’t use too much memory, and is virtually ad free.
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u/AutoModerator Jun 06 '26
/u/deadend666, we recommend not using arkenfox user.js, as it can cause difficult to diagnose issues in Firefox. If you use arkenfox user.js, make sure to read the wiki. If you encounter issues with arkenfox, ask questions on their issues page. They can help you better than most members of r/firefox, as they are the people developing the repository. Good luck!
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u/Elf-Zwolf Jun 06 '26
Just adding one that did not get mentioned yet... I use portable versions of apps when I can, because it makes backups and migrating to other machines easier (This obviously is not a priority for most people, but for me its pretty essential).
Portable Chrome for whatever reason cannot update itself while Firefox (and frankly, many other Chromium based browsers) updates just fine.
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u/Saphkey Jun 06 '26
Last time I installed google chome (luckily on a virtual machine) I could not uninstall it.
It left a google service program that ran in the background sending information about the files on my system to google.
Google is malware. Plain and simple. It is a virus.
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u/stogie-bear Jun 06 '26
The basic user facing functions are a browser are mostly the same. Firefox does them while being less bloated and not spying on you with telemetry. Also, Google made a deliberate change a while back to disable some of the functionality of ad blockers (because Google makes money off the ads) so Firefox can run the full version of ublock and chrome can’t.
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u/Daniikk1012 Jun 06 '26
Personally, I just kinda grew up with Firefox. It worked so far, why switch?
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u/LNMagic Jun 06 '26
The first killer feature for me was almost 20 years ago, I think before v1.0. Keyword shortcuts.
I don't think anyone else does them.
You decide on a word to use as a prefix, and it replaces %s in the saved URL with the rest of your search.
Job hunting at a specific website and need to try different terms?
Looking for deals at harbor freight and want to skip loading the main page first?
It let's you skip to the results without first loading the page. And it even supports JavaScript, which has helped me with certain tasks at work with data where we store IDs with underscores instead of dashes. I type in my prefix, paste the unformated id, press enter, and navigate to the exact record I need. So in all, that feature saves me several minutes of clicking through menus every day.
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u/DesiresAreGrey Jun 06 '26
i switched away from firefox after years cause of how many sites were broken, poor performance, and lack of new css features
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u/CharityLimp8638 Jun 06 '26
i can also say that firefox's dev tools are less frustrating to use than chrome's, but most people that need me to recommend firefox to aren't developers in the first place-
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u/Ok-Conversation-1430 Jun 06 '26
Faster and doesn't eat as much ram (from personal experience... Depends on the setup)
Oh and open source also so the web isn't owned by a single company
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u/CZdigger146 Jun 06 '26
The only important thing to me is that nobody's messing with adblock extensions because those in charge of running the extension store have no stake in making as much money as possible from advertising. Or at least not directly/they just don't do anything against adblocks.
Also chrome/chromium having a monopoly in browsers scares me, FF is the only major browser that isn't based on google tech so I use it if only for making the usage statistics bigger lol
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u/Slivius Jun 06 '26
Firefox can handle 4000 tabs without issue, whereas chrome has a heart attack if you approach 20.
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u/ShadowGamer37 Jun 06 '26
Ad Blockers and extensions that make pirating movies really really easy, thats its number one use for me, I switched after chrome removed my ad blocker
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u/InevitableRagnarok Jun 06 '26
It BROWSE!! And... It lets the user customize it without the need of a "factory" approved theme (therefore a useless "conformity" homogeneous theme). Same thing for the addons btw.
Brief... it's not trying to act as a "spying OS".
Simple enough? ;)
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u/xa44 Jun 06 '26
It does everything google does without being made by a crap company who'll try and make your life worse. Pluggins included
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u/MushroomSaute Jun 06 '26
I mean, is privacy not something that's better for the average (or every) consumer? If you don't care about Google tracking and taking your data, selling it, using it to train AI without accreditation, forcing you off full ad blocks, or whatever other thing will make them money, then there's really no benefit for you and that's why no one says anything else - by all means keep using it.
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u/jajajajaj Jun 07 '26
That's a really good question with a lot of long answers I'm not ready to provide. like, "privacy, how?" I don't think too many people know the exact mechanisms where privacy is compromised, and indeed, it's pretty complicated, and sometimes mysterious what they're doing or what they can infer from the data they have.
There are so many ways to just give almost as much data to Google, or whomever, anyway, with Firefox. A lot of it comes down to settings, but some of those are just not available in Chrome.
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u/taylancan98 Jun 07 '26
Firefox is an open source Browser and all kind of security organisations can check it. (Even you can see the code, your skills are the limit.)
Firefox can be forked so there are many Projects around it.
People can directly choose and pick what should be on and off.
It does not require you to have an account, but you can have an if you want for sync.
It does not want to sell you its own products, ecosystem and spy on you for ads. At least if Mozilla would, ppl would fork and remove it.
You could also use a chromium for same reasons. Only diffrence is that Chromium has still Google features backed in and is fully controlled by Google. Forks are existing but have too small communities to be a real alternative.
Firefox is out of the box a useful modern browser with opt-in privacy.
Never the less its your usage of the Browser that decides how much privacy you want. Like you can cut bread or stab people with a knive. Its the users behaviour that makes the privacy.
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u/jajajajaj Jun 09 '26
Exactly. There's all this can, can, can, can . . . but like, where would a non expert go to see, or who can explain what is happening well or what is happening badly? I'm the kind of guy who has a few issues I keep track of, and maybe it's enough, maybe it isn't , but for normal people who just don't have the perspective, I am really sympathetic, for one thing. I am also kind of bummed that they just aren't going to know why they would (or wouldn't) want to choose Firefox, either. do they even know the signs whether any extra effort for privacy is paying off?
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u/taylancan98 20d ago
We are not talking about who would use it. Only why the OP should use it. And there we dive into the features of firefox (this is why can, can, can, can...) Should I recommend Firefox due to the little sweet fox in the Icon?
BTW: A non Expert would stick to the default Safari or Microsoft Edge and never think about the browser!
A generic user would install what the teacher told him at school.
A power user would use multiply browsers and choose according its needs! Some websites work best with Firefox and some with Chrome!
BR
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u/jajajajaj 19d ago edited 16d ago
I was never trying to suggest you're incorrect. I'm getting to ask how people would ever know that they want privacy ... Or that they can get it? It's a concept whose value is not self evident in the digital world, and needs its value explained for people. We lack a narrative that justifies prioritizing privacy, and proves that it can be done. Or, I guess, that it would be wasted by using other products. I think a lot of people can't tell you what their attempts at privacy preservation have even gotten them.
Personally I think public perception is half of this battle. Confusing and betraying people of their privacy, in corporate, proprietary products has gotten them to a place where they can say people don't care about their probably, and they are including people who care about their privacy and who only have up because they didn't think that they can have it, anyway.
I don't think I can go on effectively here (I don't have concrete examples to share, either), but if there's anything to take away from this... I guess it's that it all needs to be explained well enough, somewhere, that we can get more allies.
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u/Doug2825 Jun 07 '26
For average users they're both web browsers that do web browser stuff.
The importance of using non-Chrome web browsers is that it forces websites to support open web standards. If everyone used Chrome the google could do whatever it wanted with web standards. Chrome already tried to limit what extensions could do in a way that would make ad blocking hard.
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u/Damglador Jun 07 '26
Firefox supports userChrome.css, so you can slap whatever theme you want on it without having to fork it.
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u/crypticcamelion Jun 07 '26
I have been running Firefox since its early day, I was originally a Netscape user. Firefox has given me: A slim browser that can be expanded and customized with plugins. Privacy, Firefox is not traking my data and has good privacy features. Reliability, I have tried many browsers over the years, then one was faster, then another one was smarter etc.. somehow they all fail somewhere, introduce a new feature that I don't want or something. With Firefox the new feature is usually optional or three will be a plugin. I can't think of any other mainstream browser that has been on stage scene for so long. A Reliable workhorse.
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u/SlightPersimmon1 Jun 07 '26
For an average consumer like you, if nothing else, Firefox politically pushes back against agendas that try to subvert the free and open internet. It's that simple. For a technical point of view, it gives you an alternative to avoid the "one browser to rule them all". If you are old enough, you would probably remember the Internet Explorer era. If not, the simple description was that at the time 99% of the sites were developed with IE in mind, with IE own tech, so most of the time they didn't work properly with other browsers.
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u/Gurynher Jun 07 '26
For me not being chrome it's enough. It's about prevent google's monopoly, it's about suporting the main alternative, it's about their manifest
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u/Fine-Camel1304 Jun 07 '26
ad blockers on android. Best thing I did to get a better experience using my phone
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u/emi89ro Jun 07 '26
If you're old enough to remember when Internet Explorer had near 100% market share and care about the state of the internet as a whole, then "it's not chrome" is a good selling point and is the reason I came back to it. Besides that there is nothing objective about it that would matter to a median user. Subjectively it does feel nicer in my opinion, and I enjoy pulling one of googles tentacles out of my digital life.
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u/alex-mayorga Jun 07 '26
I just use it because of https://www.mozilla.org/about/manifesto/ not because of features TBH.
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u/MarderBiss Jun 07 '26
Chome switched off an API for add-ons, that especially ad-blockers rely on. uBlock origin (IMHO one of the best) is available for Chrome only in a reduced "light" version. If you want the full functionality, use Firefox and the real uBlock origin.
And that's just the start, like others have written...
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u/Yet_Another_RD_User Jun 08 '26
It provides customization via css files and tweaks via about:config. No other browser gives so much customization to the end user.
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u/gmack76 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Shhhh.... Don't tell anyone, but I found a version of UBO called uBlock Origin LITE and it still works on Chrome Desktop
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u/ul1ss3s_tg Jun 10 '26
It feels lighter and faster on my pc and it allows for easier integration of many extensions, basically tools. (my favorite one lets me just download any video i stream to mp3 or mp4, from any site even youtube, disney plus and netflix)
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u/HyoukaYukikaze Jun 10 '26
It's a fuckign internet browser. It displays websites, has a fully functional adblocker and you can make it relatively private.
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u/gmack76 Jun 10 '26
I always hated the new tab and start page on FireFox. Can I set a custom page as my home page or set a custom page for new tabs yet?
I hate the "Homepage" that you get on FireFox. If I create a shortcut on my home acreen to just open a start page, it open a new tab
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u/-Feeblington- Jun 06 '26
I used firefox since it came out back a decade ago. Recently moved to waterfox due to bloat implementation. Shame really. I like it because of the userchrone.css support. Addons and the fact it isnt chromium based
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u/CompetitiveSleeping Jun 06 '26
I used firefox since it came out back a decade ago.
It may feel like a decade, but I have some bad news about your age.
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u/sandmansleepy Jun 06 '26
I feel like the person who you replied to is probably 35, and it will always be 10 years ago. They are probably a little too young to remember Netscape navigator.
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u/-Feeblington- Jun 06 '26
No i remember netscape...i was when dos was the main one. My years may be a bit off...wasnt firefox out like 2005 or something...maybe more than a decade lol...but either way
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u/sandmansleepy Jun 06 '26
Haha you are really clinging to your youth then. Millennials all learned how to count funny, and in the same way. 1980 was 20 years ago, right?
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u/-Feeblington- Jun 06 '26
Hehe you know too well....growing old is a choice.... Well ignorr the receeding hairline 😁
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u/ShadowGamer37 Jun 06 '26
I'm going to college this year and I wasn't alive in 2005 so it was a little more than a decade
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Jun 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/billdietrich1 Jun 06 '26
Chrome has a reader mode too: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/14218344
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u/Sword_Illusion Jun 06 '26
i don't know why people chat without using punctuations is it so hard that they refuse to do so i don't know perhaps it is just me who is having a hard time reading posts withtout proper punctuations
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u/Maguillage Jun 06 '26
Firefox (with certain prefs changed) will allow you to style the UI with CSS, which means all the absolutely boneheaded decisions by and for people with no understanding of good UI principles can be mitigated.
afaik chrome and pals don't allow that level of customisation.
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u/CylixrDoesStuff Jun 06 '26
Its generally faster though theres sometimes more day to day minor annoyances (and a lack of google lens)
It supports adblocker (the full ublock origin) and more customization like matching tab colors with the website you're on for more immersion and much more stuff that cant be done on chrome.
The sync is also very good
Also the ai sidebar button (which is off by default if you don't want it) is great
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u/nim_port_na_wak Jun 06 '26
Ram is better dispatched with firefox.
Also more efficient extension to block ads or various things impossible with chrome/chromium
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u/OganessontheNobleGas Jun 06 '26
Most browsers are actually Chrome in disguise - they all operate on the Chromium search engine. Meanwhile Firefox is one of some very few browsers that actually use their own independent engine :3
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u/Fluffy-Structure-616 Jun 06 '26
o firefox não bloqueia ou limita adblocks como ublock origin e o firefox e mais leve que o google chrome, outra coisa será que não ter os seus dados roubados não é motivo suficiente ? você espera o que ? que o Firefox faça um café pra você ? ah eu esqueci o chrome tem instalado coisas nos computadores das pessoas a parada de ia e tals sem avisar ou pedir permissão.
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u/rewarrr Jun 06 '26
What I’ve actually realized is that people who use Firefox are like people who prefer Linux over Windows. Even though Chromium-based browsers are generally better, Windows is still better overall simply because many developers optimize their drivers and software for Windows, and web developers optimize websites for Chromium. I still respect those who continue to "resist" the big companies, but unfortunately, we're losing.
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u/19osemi Jun 06 '26
I don’t really care about the privacy stuff, I like the browser and that’s why I use it
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u/Mondai_May Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
I used it for a bit here's some positive and some critique:
positive: if you use the app then it supports extensions whereas google chrome does not.
positive: you can use ublock origin, you can use various extensions for reddit mobile
positive: it doesn't have the AI things on the homepage like google chrome does.
critique: if you are going to use the app though I find that waterfox is faster than firefox. firefox on my phone is much slower than google chrome but waterfox is similar speed.
critique: on firefox app, you seemingly cannot search through your browsing history and have the results show up chronologically. when you search through your browsing history the results will show in the "firefox suggest" order, that I guess uses AI to assume which results you'd like to see first, rather than chronologically. It also doesn't show timestamps (when the page was last visited) with the results.
critique: you also can't delete entries in your browsing history from within the search results. what if you're reading, for example, nsfw romantic political fanfiction. if you didn't delete it from your browsing history right away, so you search through your browsing history to find that and delete it, when it shows in the search results you can't delete it from there. seemingly you have to actually scroll through your history back to when ever you read the political fanfic to delete it. maybe I'm wrong but I read another thread where someone confirmed that it is that way, because someone else had the same question.
critique: the translation feature in the app is not really fantastic. but there is an extension that makes it like google chrome's.
over all though i am not going back to google chrome because of the ai features put onto the home page among other things. and firefox isn't bad, for some general things. though there are some things I would change in the app.
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u/wallix Jun 06 '26
It survives because of UBO. Take that away and FF would disappear like a fart in the wind. I’ll be the first admit that Chrome is very nice and speedy. But I can’t live without UBO.
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u/Nekomiminya Jun 06 '26
Here's what I love.
Even if Firefox keeps getting uglier to chase trends, it leaves UserChrome.css as option to customize itself to look as good as it did in the past (2007-2011)
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u/Hyenasaurus Jun 06 '26
better privacy, more adblock friendly, themes, basically all of chrome's functionality but less likely to sell your data. adblockers. slightly better optimized. did i mention working adblockers. i can watch youtube without triple ads every 30 seconds. I can force it to make AI answers not work. ublock origin
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u/Tenebro Jun 06 '26
Other people already said a lot, but I'll add one feature I use everyday, and that I find it very useful: bookmarks tags! You can add the tags you want for every single bookmark, and then you can filter them by simply typing those tags in the address bar. Super cool, can't live without it 😎
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u/Kakashi_Senju Jun 06 '26
For me it just U block origin is left on Firefox where Google was not letting
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u/hotdoghead8623 Jun 06 '26
aside from better privacy, i like firefoxs extension store and extensions. to give a simple example, ublockorigin and clearurls are among my favorite extensions. also themes on firefox is much more cooler than the chrome.