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Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:

What is your main browser (engine)?

Re-running a poll I saw on Mastodon a while ago, before various migrations. Just collecting numbers, not seeking advice or anything. Please boost for reach.

Anonymous poll

Poll

Chrome (any flavor)
1,322
14.3%
Firefox
5,459
59.1%
Safari
2,081
22.5%
Other
377
4.1%
9,239 people voted.
Voting ended 11 Sep 2023 at 5:03.
161 comments
Simon Eilting

@isagalaev FF, although Chrome at work for now.

Going to switch to FF at work when the number of open tabs goes down a bit. Privacy is not so much an issue there.

grifflion

@isagalaev I use Chrome for social media browsing, but I have turned off every cookie / tracking button I can find. I use Firefox for almost everything else, except streaming. where I use Edge. DuckDuckGo is my search engine. I don't put all my cookies in one basket. 🧐​

n3wjack

@isagalaev wow, so Mastodon is so NOT the general population then 🤣

sqrt(-1)

@isagalaev
firefox for work related stuff (occasional chromium for some tests)

librewolf for personal usage on desktop and mull on android (both Firefox forks)

musicmatze :rust: :nixos:

@isagalaev
Probably not representative, because this bubble is tech savvy, right?

Panama Red

@isagalaev I use Opera for personal stuff, Firefox for work stuff, and Chrome for everything else.

Panama Red

@mattias @isagalaev Right. But it is a different browser for the purpose of using two different logins on the same site. I have installed the containers plug-in on Firefox but same not sure I understand how to use it

Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:

@plwt @panamared27401 @mattias +1 to this. I use it whenever I'm forced to open Facebook: just right-click on the [+] button for a new tab and select a container for temporary stuff. Then when it's closed, I'm confident I don't have anything remaining from the site in my browser.

DELETED

@panamared27401 @mattias @isagalaev

Not only can you use the Multi-Account Containers extension, you can also use Firefox's own profiles feature (which is much older). You can launch new Firefox instances with a specific profile via shortcut / command.

Cyb3rDad

@panamared27401 @mattias @isagalaev I use Firefox profiles: one for my personal use and one for my work.

Panama Red

@Cyb3rDad @mattias @isagalaev Right; that is why I installed that new extension. Now I need to read the instructions on how to use it. 👍

flo

@panamared27401
It's easy:
Just create a new container and give it a name
(e.g. "Mastodon 1").
Do the same for the number of accounts you want to login
(e.g. "Mastodon 2").
Afterwards, open a New Tab in container "Mastodon 1".
Login with "Account 1".
Open a New Tab in container "Mastodon 2".
Login with "Account 2.

They'll be completely separated.

It's easy, really - give it a try :)

@mattias @isagalaev

@panamared27401
It's easy:
Just create a new container and give it a name
(e.g. "Mastodon 1").
Do the same for the number of accounts you want to login
(e.g. "Mastodon 2").
Afterwards, open a New Tab in container "Mastodon 1".
Login with "Account 1".
Open a New Tab in container "Mastodon 2".
Login with "Account 2.

MaZderMind

@isagalaev @viennawriter Firefox but not having „share Tab im Video-Call with Audio“ makes me go back to Chrome more often I‘d like.

Katerina Estl

@isagalaev
firefox, but due to problems with e.g. Deutsche Bahn website I regularly use 'Brave' (works fine and seems to be safe)

orizuru

@isagalaev
Considering how many FOSS fans exist on the fediverse, the poll is likely to be very biased towards Firefox.

Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:

@jaxwxboss correct. This is why the poll says "browser engine". It'd be impossible to list all browsers anyway.

jaxwxboss :opensuse:

@isagalaev I agree. I was merely stating what flavor for the record 😉.

Kumar Ghosh

@isagalaev
But if we're saying engine we should say Chromium rather than Chrome, no?

My current setup:
Vanadium on mobile (Chromium/Webkit/Blink)
Mullvad Browser on PC (Firefox/Gecko/Quantum)

CuriousApe2020

Technically LibreWolf but I guess that counts as "Firefox" (based) @isagalaev

Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:

@CuriousApe2020 correct. This is why the poll says "browser engine". It'd be impossible to list all browsers anyway.

Emelia 👸🏻

@isagalaev @jalcine it is now going to be Firefox, I've just finished migrating across

novatorine 🏴🏳️‍⚧️

@thisismissem @isagalaev @jalcine awesome, welcome to the fold!!

I don't want to overwhelm you, so don't stress too much, but Firefox *does* send a fair amount of telemetry by default — nowhere near as bad as Chrome, and it isn't actively getting worse like Chrome is, or being sent to ad companies, but it's there[1]. If you want to disable it, here's a simple guide that changes your browser's actual behavior as little as possible:

howtogeek.com/557929/how-to-se

And here's a guide on how to install a much more extensive configuration: spyware.neocities.org/guides/f

[1] spyware.neocities.org/articles

@thisismissem @isagalaev @jalcine awesome, welcome to the fold!!

I don't want to overwhelm you, so don't stress too much, but Firefox *does* send a fair amount of telemetry by default — nowhere near as bad as Chrome, and it isn't actively getting worse like Chrome is, or being sent to ad companies, but it's there[1]. If you want to disable it, here's a simple guide that changes your browser's actual behavior as little as possible:

Emelia 👸🏻

@anarchopunk_girl I looked at the telemetry and it seemed both anonymised and not to include specific browsing data, so I left it on.

novatorine 🏴🏳️‍⚧️

@thisismissem there are several things they send that are uniquely identifying (see the self-repair requests, or the stuff they send in safe browsing mode), but honestly yeah, it's totally up to you — they're not collecting nearly as much info as almost anyone else, nor are they using it for anything beyond improving the browser, so if it doesn't bother you, hey, who am I to tell you you're wrong about your own threat model!

Binyamin Green

@isagalaev Firefox on Linux, Edge on Windows, Chrome on mobile (android)

DELETED

@isagalaev

Edge on all platforms is my main, and Firefox is my secondary

Adrian Cochrane

@isagalaev A WebKit (Safari engine) browser with Firefox as a fallback, but building my own to dogfood.

Thus leaving those griping about how few webstandards Safari/WebKit implements complaining even harder...

DELETED

@isagalaev try running the same poll on big tech platforms. Is going to be the exact opposite. Intelligence varies by platform.

Tournesol 🌻

@isagalaev@mastodon.social fun how this demonstrate of the biais present on the fediverse as of now

Cassio Pereira

@isagalaev I try to use gnome web whenever I can. If I have any trouble, then I use Firefox

Matt Wilcox

@isagalaev @thisismissem For work; Chrome.
For personal; Firefox.

I’m a web developer.

Emelia 👸🏻

@mattwilcox @isagalaev I'm now deciding that that's not enough for me. Maybe I'll grab chromium for debugging, but I don't desire to continue to use Chrome & it's ad spyware thing

Emelia 👸🏻

@mattwilcox @isagalaev even turning it off, I don't trust google to keep it off.

Richard Creamer

@isagalaev thinking of switching to Firefox nowadays.

Schroedinger

@isagalaev Firefox at home, but it is Edge at work, because that is what we have to run on.

davidj

@isagalaev @film_girl I just cannot get into FireFox these days. Brave for the moment but Safari as a backup.

Ben Werdmuller

@isagalaev I think this says a ton about Mastodon's active userbase vs the wider web!

David Bradley

@isagalaev Firefox doesn't do search keyword shortcuts. No good for me

Future Sprog, XP

@isagalaev

A lot of my web browsing is at work so I’d say there’s a solid 8 hours in corporate mandated Chrome.

Then after that, Personal use on phone: Safari

Personal use on desktop/laptop: Firefox

Moe Lassus

@isagalaev Firefox + uBlock Origin makes for a weapons grade browser.

hgill

@isagalaev I‘m using ARC from the Browser Company. It ist chromium based. Highly recommend. Hop over to their youtube channel for a quick overview why they are building „another“ browser.

jvan

@isagalaev Librewolf since 6 months. A leaner version of Firefox.

JP

@isagalaev I’m *really* enjoying Arc from The Browser Company, it’s just a shame it’s based on Chromium! I’m throwing every cookie limiting, ad-blocking extension &c at it though!

DELETED

@byjp @isagalaev it ships with uBlock Origin by default. Add Hagezi Multi Pro blocklist and you should be golden.

DELETED

@isagalaev Waterfox. It’s like Firefox but without all the annoying stuff.

JeniParsons

@farrah @isagalaev same but we’re obviously pretty niche judging by the replies ☺️

Renée Joy

@isagalaev I just recently fully switched to FireFox

Michael Cook

@isagalaev Not the results I was expecting. Clearly this crowd skews more OSS.

Thanks for asking this. Would have never guessed so few Chrome votes.

Deus Ex MacGuffin :damnified:

@isagalaev

Edge. I loved Firefox for years, but there's just too much stuff that's busted in Firefox anymore.

I guess that counts as Chrome.

Tucker Teague

@isagalaev I mainly use Chromium on Ubuntu. I also have Firefox and Opera because they work better in some streaming situations. I have been using Duck Duck Go for search but am having limited success and frequently revert to Google.

I use Firefox on my iPhone.

Vincent Corlaix ⨳

@isagalaev thanks to a recend advise, I switched Firefox to Waterfox.

Sebastian Gfeller

@isagalaev @film_girl Safari at home, Firefox at work. Chrome somehow managed to not feel native on *any* platform, which is important for me and why I’m still using problematic Safari.

Natha

@isagalaev I would have said Firefox if Arc was not so freaking awesome

Dan Wright

@isagalaev Having a quiet moment as an Old, realizing that Microsoft has been relegated to the dustbin of “Other.”

DELETED

@isagalaev Main browser for what I have a different main browser for Mastodon, for example, than in general. And the device I'm on depends as well.

ʟ·ɪɴᴀᴅꪮᴩᴛé 🌴

@isagalaev
I use LibreWolf, based on Firefox and focused on privacy and security.

Harald_testet_Mastodon

@isagalaev I don't have a 'main browser'. I use various browsers from lynx and w3m to Firefox and variants (like Palemoon and Waterfox). For a while I preferred Conkeror but it's not really working anymore.

Harald_testet_Mastodon

@isagalaev Oh, I forgot to mention chromium (but not Google Chrome) and Opera.

Janis La Couvée

@isagalaev very interesting to see FF in the lead by a significant measure.

Jenny Fx

@isagalaev I've been using Edge more and more because Chrome is starting to suck except for Workspace. In work Firefox is blocked because they didn't complete the child data privacy paperwork required. Even though I mostly use a Mac in school Safari always baffled me.

OutOfExile_IDR § Voice ®™️

@isagalaev
I have never used chrome and used Firefox for years. Lately, I have been using the DuckDuckGo browser.

Kaito

@isagalaev Chrome, any flavor? Sorry, what? That's kinda misinformed

Tim ☑️ 🔭🌃📷🚴🌳

@isagalaev Brave here for everything. My ork instance lives on its own backed-up linux container so doesn't need sync, but the real me is multi-device and needs sync.

If this lets me down, it'll be back to FF - the Containers extension has some attraction.

Megan Lynch (she/her)

@isagalaev I've been using Brave. But unless I see better suggestions, I guess I'll need to migrate to Firefox?

Darth Moomin

@isagalaev Don’t forget to load uBlock Origin, Firefoxers!

unicorndeburgh

@isagalaev I use two on my work computer -- Firefox and Safari. I only use Firefox on my personal one.

DELETED

@isagalaev

I've been using Firefox since before version 1, with a few gaps here and there (especially before the UI was improved).

Braw :blob_cat_melt: 🏳‍🌈

@isagalaev Edge, because Read aloud helps me with my inattentiveness, which makes it hell to read stuff manually, especially stuff that I have to read, but not necessarily want to. Sleeping tabs also help, because I often can't track my open tabs. Love it's design, icons everywhere FTW. Oh yeah, and great font rendering on Windows. However Microsoft keeps ruining it, so I've been trying Firefox again, but I really dislike it for a lot of reasons, both as a webdev and as a user.

Veedems

@isagalaev safari only because I’m mostly on iOS and iPadOS

MobBarley

@isagalaev honestly, I prefer Firefox, but I'm using Chrome a lot on my new Chromebook
it's a pretty solid browser, although the extensions aren't as good, and it seems like Chrome OS tries a little too hard to basically do everything in the browser, which is just stupid, from a security perspective

Rob\ViewdataUK

@isagalaev
Opera... I tried @vivaldibrowser for a while, but there were too many odd quirks, and crashes..

misanthropic

@isagalaev Firefox for personal, but chrome with a separate logins for each academic work email and associated pages and bookmarks. and safari for yet another email I rarely use. And all color coded of course!

sgt1372

@isagalaev Brave is my main browser but, depending on my needs, I also use Duck Duck Go, Tor, Chrome & Edge which are all on my laptop & phone

The main search engine that I use is Duck Duck Go, regardless of which browser that I use.

Guitarsophist

@isagalaev I said Chrome because I use Brave, which I think is Chromium-based. I used to use Firefox, but somehow a Manjaro update made it stop producing audio. I have both Waterfox and Vivaldi on the machine, but I prefer Brave, which blocks ads and trackers by default. I would not at this point use regular Chrome.

KayeMac

@isagalaev
Mine’s been Duck Duck Go for years.

tqgibtngo

@isagalaev
Vivaldi on Android.
Firefox on laptop, usually.

Vitalii Rybachenko

@isagalaev What if multiple? Dev - brave, personal - safari

Dayton Lowell

@isagalaev Firefox on my dev machine, Safari on my phone and iPad.

Charles22a203

@isagalaev interesting that safari came out slightly ahead of chrome.

Holly🍁:mstdn:

@isagalaev Chrome for work bc they make me. Duck Duck Go and occasionally Firefox for personal use.

Charles J Gervasi ⚡🛡️

@isagalaev I changed from Chrome to Firefox in response to the stuff I've been hearing about anti-competitive practices of Chrome.

Marc Whitaker

@isagalaev

Firefox on Linux using a VPN with Pi-hole handling my DNS.

Bjornsdottirs

@isagalaev Firefox, plus another (Falkon) that's a mishmash of Blink (Chrome) and its ancestral Qt interface.

Big respect to any NetSurf drivers, who'd be counted as other. netsurf-browser.org/

Fox Lee

@isagalaev I was on Firefox for many years, but after they did that one update that killed most of the extensions I cared about, then followed it up with gutting the mobile version so my adblocker didn't work, I got jack of it and shifted to Vivaldi. My only regret in doing so is that in questions like this I show up as "Chrome" :p

Abhiseck Paira :gnu: :gnuhurd:

@isagalaev

GNU Icecat, which is a version of Firefox but undesired features are removed.

Merijn 👨‍💻:mastodon:

@isagalaev Chrome for work, Opera for private, trying to migrate to Vivaldi.

NaClKnight🧂⚔️🎮

@isagalaev The poll is hella interesting from another angle though.

Given how Firefox dominates this poll but occupies a miniscule share of the wider population's browser choice...

You can probably say that #mastodon is social media for the kinds of people who use #Firefox as their primary browser.

Bernd

@NaClKnight @isagalaev there is probably a significant overlap

MyD

@NaClKnight @isagalaev I was expecting Other to rate higher too. Certainly higher than Safari.

NaClKnight🧂⚔️🎮

@mysteriousyetdreary @isagalaev Safari is the Apple browser right?

I haven't used a Mac in like 15 years. Do they even allow you to use/download other browsers?

It's a stupid question but i actually don't know the answer. i just hear "Apple = Walled Garden," nod politely, and go about my day

♿🔞 Many the Mousetacular

@NaClKnight @mysteriousyetdreary @isagalaev They allow other browsers, but they all have to use WebKit so that the rendering is consistent with Safari, so... Effectively, anyone on an apple device is using Safari no matter what.

flo

@NaClKnight
With well over 7.500 votes, I reckon that #Firefox is not just the main browser on #Mastodon, but lots of other #FediVerse services as well.

@isagalaev

NaClKnight🧂⚔️🎮

@fasnix @isagalaev Sure! And i contend that THAT fact says something about the fediverse, who is on it, and who is currently served by it.

If that statement intentional, then it's chill. If not, someone should ask why fediverse mostly attracts Firefox users.

TacTac

@isagalaev Firefox on laptop & Duckduckgo on mobile phone

Kenny

@isagalaev wow. This is my first experience where I see Mastadon != IRL

Michaela

@isagalaev DuckDuckGo on my cell, Firefox on the computer.

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