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Opera Touch is a solid alternative to Safari on the iPhone
- webdevetc 8y ago>and there’s the company’s usual protection from cryptojacking is this a common problem nowadays?
- em0ney 8y agoI know that nobody is asking for alternatives, nor my opinion, but Brave browser is great. Cool project
- app4soft 8y ago> but Brave browser is great For what platforms?
- em0ney 8y agoI use on Android and MacOS
- thrower123 8y agoIt's a must-have on Android. Makes the web actually usable on shaky mobile data connections. I tried it on Windows, but I have decent adblockers there, and need JS enabled for too many things to bother fiddling with whitelisting sites.
- app4soft 8y ago> It's a must-have on Android. So, if Brave is free & open-source, is "must-have on Android", why it still not added in F-DRoid repo? As for me, at this moment FOSS Browser with disabled JavaScript — is better option for Android users.[1] Fully must-have on Android should be links2[2] throw Termux[3] — this is what I claim right way for get "usable on shaky mobile data connections". Browsers with enabled JavaScript is much less secure than those without JS enabled.[4] > "Those browser's vulnerability to those attacks are entirely based on the fact that they execute JavaScript. Thus, if your browser doesn't execute JS, it's immune." © userbinator[5] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser) [1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.baumann.browser https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.baumann.browser [2] http://links.twibright.com http://links.twibright.com [3] https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/pull/2317 https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/pull/2317 [4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16191843 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16191843 [5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16192006 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16192006
- abhiminator 8y agoAnother great option is DuckDuckGo's 'Privacy Browser' (for Android AFAIK) that has tracking protection and ad-blocker baked right into browser's architecture. Thing I like about it the most is the minimalistic interface and no BS UX. Highly recommend.
- cryptonode 8y agoWhat about the issue that Brave is based on Chromium. And thus any privacy features are nullified because it essentially reports back to Google? Is there any merrit to this argument?
- brandnewlow 8y agoAll the Google reporting is stripped out. The Brave engineering team (I'm on the business team) is very serious about making sure that's all gone. Brave is open source so everyone can check their work.
- Namari 8y agoBut can you be sure there is not something hidden?
- lern_too_spel 8y agoBrave is worse than Firefox in every way. I don't want to use a browser that steals from publishers for the browser maker's benefit. If I'm going to steal from publishers, nobody should benefit.
- keypress 8y agoThis link is so bare. Can anyone improve on the horse's mouth: https://www.opera.com/mobile/touch https://www.opera.com/mobile/touch , which also says practically nothing. Opera seem to be great at adding features, and yet very poor at promoting them.
- reustle 8y agoIs Opera Touch also owned by Opera's Chinese parent company? I couldn't see anything mentioned in the few articles I checked.
- singularity2001 8y agoYes I would not trust them just as I don't understand how people buy Chinese spy phones
- dmpk2k 8y agoOkay, so there are a lot of accusations of spyware on Chinese phones. Can someone link concrete evidence of this? I ask this out of genuine curiosity.
- anonawayoct3 8y agoThey have adware, but spyware is harder to say.
- anonawayoct3 8y agoIt's cheap, good quality, and I don't live in China.
- chrisper 8y agoWhat's the alternative? American spy phones? I'd be more afraid of the American government than the Chinese one.
- IOT_Apprentice 8y agoGood thing you aren't a uyghur in China, but stay in your bubble.
- chrisper 8y agoExactly. If I were in China I'd not use Chinese Spy phones.... but thanks for the bubbles!
- albastru 8y agoThey rushed to get it out of beta without making sure that things like sites with self signed certificates are rendered. Just visit https://badssl.com/ https://badssl.com/ and see what happens when browsing that site.
- King-Aaron 8y agoI feel it's safer these days to assume any digital product that's owned by a Chinese parent company is compromised, than assuming it isn't.
- anonawayoct3 8y agoThe bigger question is if this means it would be harder for the NSA or other American government agencies to get my data? I assume a Chinese company would laugh at a National Security Letter? Since I'm an American, I don't worry about China having my data.
- uptown 8y agoIf China has your data they’re one step closer to having access to taking your money. Are you okay with them taking your money too? What recourse would you have?
- lev99 8y agoIt depends on _how_ they took your money, but there are several insurance options available for Identify Theft which includes unauthorized bank withdraws.
- maaaats 8y agoBut for many of us, the aspect of having a NSA backdoored US product is probably more scary.
- digitaLandscape 8y agoYou are a traitor and an idiot.
- maaaats 8y agoWhy? Please be more substantial, don't just insult. And I'm not from the US.
- pilif 8y agoOn iOS, there can’t really be an alternative to Safari because there is no way to change the default browser system wide. No matter how careful you are, eventually some app somewhere will open an URL, causing Safari to open, but now that it’s not your default browser, all your login state, your favorites and, heck, even just the familiar UI will be missing. No. Until iOS allows setting a default browser, there is no point to accept this kind of friction and at least I myself feel much better off just using Safari and getting a consistent browser experience even if an app opens an URL.
- nnrtw 8y agoI agree it's problematic, but there is one good reason to use alternative browsers on iOS — synchronization. Safari's sync with desktop is not really useful if someone uses Linux on their desktop/laptop.
- kennydude 8y agoAlso Apple doesn't allow any 3rd party browser engine in the App Store
- hmottestad 8y agoAnd the javascript engine that they provide is 4x slower than the one in Safari. Due to security I think. Maybe it's not like that anymore....anyone know?
- nizmow 8y agoThis changed in iOS 8. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/new-chrome-for-ios-is-finally-as-fast-and-stable-as-safari/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/new-chrome-for-ios-i...
- wlesieutre 8y agoIndeed. UIWebView, the slower version without the JIT javascript engine, has actually been deprecated in iOS 12.
- Paraesthetic 8y agoI love Opera, I've been using it for about a year now. Its leagues ahead in most things, although I've started using edge on android because its significantly faster load times.
- jxdxbx 8y agothis app does one thing I like—it launches with the keyboard active. at least sometimes. I use Drafts specifically because it has this feature. Firefox Focus does too. I wish the Google app would always launch with the keyboard up.
- dhimes 8y agoAnybody else trying Firefox Focus on iPhone? It seems pretty nice but I haven't used it much yet.
- del82 8y agoI've used it for a couple months now. It's great, and I can't remember any sites that plain didn't work, though some were pretty ugly. The one thing I miss is tabs, which FFF doesn't seem to have.
- dhimes 8y agoI'm glad to hear this. The "about" says it bans loading web fonts- which is good for speed and perhaps privacy but bad for pretty.
- newscracker 8y agoIt has (global) settings for a few things, and blocking web fonts is one of those settings. So you can turn that off and get web fonts to load. Sites don't have to be ugly if you prefer them otherwise.
- newscracker 8y agoFirefox Focus has been my go to browser on iOS since the time it launched. The premise is a single tab, which you use and then erase all data from once you're done. As it says, rinse and repeat! If you want multiple tabs, this is not the browser for you (though Firefox iOS could be). I use Firefox Focus more than any other app, including for browsing and reading through HN comments. It's got a good ad blocker (though not the fastest [1]), but no options to control ad blocking on a per site basis. The browser has been improving over time. It also includes an extra layer of passcode/biometric protection that can help prevent others from seeing what you've opened in it. The only issue I've noticed is that it sometimes forgets the page you've loaded after sometime (may be because it doesn't save them to the disk, and when iOS removes it from memory, it starts out again as a blank slate). [1]: https://brooksreview.net/2018/09/safari-content-blocker-evaluations-92618-edition/ https://brooksreview.net/2018/09/safari-content-blocker-eval...
- hidiegomariani 8y agoSafari iCloud Keychain sync makes the all browsing experience a beast compared to anything else
- newscracker 8y agoAfter the recent Chrome debacles, I removed it from my systems (not that I was using it much before). On iOS, my go to browser is Firefox Focus, a single tab browser that you treat as a private tab and erase quickly when you're done. It comes with a built in ad blocker too. Next in line for my use are Brave and Firefox. They're different, have good interfaces, and support multiple tabs. Last on my list is Safari. The only thing that sucks about browsers on iOS is that extensions are not supported by the platform. I'd love to have Firefox extensions work on it, but that seems as unlikely as having another browser/JS engine on the platform.
- ericlewis 8y agoIt is unlikely to have another JS engine. But the JS engine is exposed for WKWebViews, where creating a shim layer could work perfectly fine for many extensions.
- bgdam 8y agoThe issue is not the technical capability. It has been possible to inject javascript into web views in ios since ios 6 (at the least). The problem is that Apple App Store terms state that your app cannot download arbitrary pieces of code from the internet and run it, which is exactly what extensions are. The rule was relaxed recently, to allow for things like teaching programming apps for the iPad pro, but not for browsers.
- walterbell 8y agoiOS12 Shortcuts are a limited form of extension, they can parse JS from a web page and cause side effects. E.g. - extract URL and download youtube video to camera roll - move a running video out of browser into picture-in-picture mode for multitasking Content (ad) blocking extensions are supported in Safari.
- ghostly_s 8y agoShortcuts can "parse JS from a web page"? Can you explain how that's possible? None of the examples you listed seem to involve direct access to page content.
- space00 8y agoOpera is controlled by Qihoo 360, China a notorious rogue company.
- draw_down 8y agoI tried using it for a bit but I find the UI confusing and annoying. It puts a big button right over top the content when you scroll up, and tapping the button puts you into a mode with no obvious exit. Switching tabs is hard and weird. I couldn’t seriously use this, but then again I have never liked Opera browsers generally.
- ryanmarsh 8y agoI would love to use other browsers on iOS, including Brave, but I can’t. All the browsers on iOS suffer from one fatal flaw, they crash, often. As I have been told this may have something to do with the OS’s health & safety precautions by killing apps that run away with CPU or RAM use. I don’t know that for certain and I haven’t tried to dig into it further. Here’s a simple test, find a site that grinds safari to a near standstill, then try that site in Chrome/Edge/Brave on iOS. Chances are it will crash them. I’d really love to see a healthy ecosystem of browser rendering engines on iOS as well. I understand and have benefited from the walled garden that is iOS but I’d really like Apple to figure this out. Isn’t it ironic how Microsoft got in trouble for anti-competitive practices against Netscape but Apple can block other rendering engines?
- titusjohnson 8y agoIronic? No, not at all. Why would it?