What is the best mobile web browser?
Displaying poll results.13896 total votes.
What is the best mobile web browser?
There is no opinion so absurd that some philosopher will not express it. -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, "Ad familiares"
There is no opinion so absurd that some philosopher will not express it. -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, "Ad familiares"
Most of those are chrome. (Score:2, Insightful)
Chrome is a privacy stealing Thug.
Firefox is still honest. Mainly because they are still small.
These are NOT the bests you are looking for! (Score:2)
The premise of this poll is false. There is no such thing as a good mobile Web browser, let alone a best one.
Least bad? Depends on how you want to be disappointed today.
Having said that, I guess I'm most often disappointed by Chrome on my current smartphones. Go with the flow strategy is to suffer the slings and arrows of whichever browser the maker has tried to optimize for the smartphone in hand.
But some websites deserve some of the blame, too. It's almost like they were designed for 2000-pixel 20-inch di
Re: These are NOT the bests you are looking for! (Score:2)
2000-pixel 20-inch TABLETS.
Those fucking things withe the single column layout, HUGE header image and no sidebars whatsoever, I mean.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly. I know people do it but browsing on the phone isn't what I buy them for. The browser on a phone is like a sniper: need the phone number for that restaurant ... and done. The site can and often does render as shitty as it wants on the phone's browser as long as I can get the one piece of info I need and be done with it I'm good.
Re: (Score:2)
Just curious, but that sounds like the kind of query that I can almost always handle with a simple voice query to the nameless Android assistant without invoking a browser. Is that how you handle it?
(However, I recently read that the google permits giving it a nickname somewhere in the settings. (But maybe not since the book was printed?))
(Did a bit of research. Apparently that's only for the Google Home app. For the Android assistant, you can only change what it calls you? "Call me anything you like, but d
Re: (Score:2)
Nope don't find it very reliable. More times than not I spend more times trying to dismiss the damn thing and search for the thing that I wanted than I'd save if it had typed it in. Doesn't help that the few times a day that I'm away from a desktop I'm in public often with background noise. Don't want another reason why I'm the crazy guy on the back of the bus apparently talking to myself.
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds to me like you should work on your tactics for wording questions? Now I realize that it's interesting that Talk to Me didn't say much about the technical aspects of refining the correction of the voice input. I've learned how to avoid starting questions with ambiguous words. If you can start with an easily recognized word, especially one that establishes the context for the rest of the question, then it's much more likely to get what I want on the first attempt.
By the way, have you downloaded the o
Re: Most of those are chrome. (Score:2)
Firefox was best until and including version 68, then the UI got FUBARed.
Re: (Score:2)
It was enough to push me to try Brave. I haven't looked back.
Re: Most of those are chrome. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Neither Safari nor Firefox is Chrome, anyway. But yeah, that's only 1/3 of them.
I'm not sure I'd use "best" for this choice - I'd probably have gone with "least bad". The mobile experience is not great... although at least some of that is the fault of responsive web design.
Re: (Score:2)
I was more or less happy with Firefox until a couple of months ago - using that for "normal" browsing and one "secure" browser (I tried a few) for sites where I felt cross-site protection was needed. Then they merged the two, breaking - or removing - several of the features I used. I'm not doing any traveling at the moment so I can't be bothered trying to accommodate to some new way of doing things.
Firefox, please, don't piss off the users. You've done this repeatedly over the years and it gets more and
edge? (Score:1)
Chromium based Edge? It works well for my work stuff.
Re: edge? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
I've been using Edge on Android as well. Firefox used to be my favorite, but I've put it on the shelf until it has the ability to close tabs on exit. Chrome is okay but I think they have enough hooks into my private life. I figure my web browser could at least be an island of privacy from Google in the sea that is Android.
Firefox 68.11 (Score:3)
The newer Firefox android version is broken on so many levels. The non-intuitive interface and broken add-ons are just the start.
By the time it gets fixed, if it gets fixed, they will have lost most of their install base.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't mind the UI, the main problem I have is that Slashdot doesn't render properly in it. That's probably an issue with Slashdot, clones like Srad and Soylent News are okay.
Re: Firefox 68.11 (Score:2)
I still haven't seen any major rendering issues with Firefox on slashdot. At least none that disturbs me.
Re: Firefox 68.11 (Score:2)
I agree, that's why I keep version 68 on the device I'm posting from right now.
Safari (Score:1)
Safari wins on iOS by default because of ad blocking.
Re: (Score:2)
Safari has its own ad blocker? Since when?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
In mobile Safari, I use a combination of Firefox Focus and Purify to block both ads and (even more importantly) scripts.
Re: (Score:2)
Now if only Appleâ(TM)s voice recognition wasnâ(TM)t 2 orders of magnitude worse than googleâ(TM)s...
?
Re: Safari (Score:2)
Don't be a dick. I didn't say it has an ad blocker, but it does allow you to install an ad blocker.
Re: (Score:2)
Safari wins by being the _only_ browser alowed on iOS, everything else are just fake reskins of Safari.
Re: Safari (Score:2)
Thank Apple for that.
By the way: MS was convicted for exaxtly that!
Re: (Score:2)
Except Apple has, by most estimates, something like 15% of the smartphone market. By contrast, Microsoft had upwards of 90% of the desktop OS market in the 90s.That somewhat of important to the outcome.
That and third-party browsers are not forbidden. They have to use WebKit, yes. Outside of that they can and do create competing browsers. There are tens of competing browsers available, many with unique features that distinguish them from Safari. Having to use Web
Edge has AdBlock too; YouTube without ads on iOS (Score:1)
Edge has built-in AdBlock Plus, even on iOS.
And for those who wonder, you can actually install AdBlock Plus app that integrates with Safari. It's on the app store. :)
And since you can "Install" web apps with safari as home screen apps, you can create a YouTube app free of ads this way. Your welcome
I actually use Firefox app since it's the only decent browser with dark mode on iOS (albeit not flawless), alongside that YouTube webapp for videos.
I don't care too much about the small mobile ads, and setting Fir
Re: (Score:2)
You know you can set all of iOS to dark mode, and it sets Safari to dark mode too, right?
Re: (Score:1)
I already am on iOS dark mode, but it's not turning the pages themselves to dark, only apps and maybe safari menus. There's the built-in smart invert, but it's not as reliable as Firefox's dark mode.
Safari with AdGuard Pro. (Score:2)
It can block ads in the web browser and DNSes. Too bad, it can't block online iOS app services that have ads in their same servers.
Which Opera? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Whatever happened to tradition? (Score:2)
I'm here for CmdrTaco!
Firefox (Score:2)
No backdoor Google sneakiness and lots of addons and ability to customize.
I see Brave is an option, I'm not too familiar with it, I vaguely remember that it's a Firefox fork and some of its highlight features are a sketchy ad substitution system and homophobia?
Re: Firefox (Score:4, Informative)
"Lots of addons."
Mozilla: "Not anymore! (Part deux.)"
Currently, there are exactly 18 add-ons for Firefox on Android. One dialog listing them. No search.
Re: (Score:2)
Wow, I knew the number had been cut down significantly again, but 18? Ouch. I just miss uMatrix.
Re: (Score:2)
I can live with the add-ons they have selected for mobile, would love to get Cookie Autodelete but compared to the alternatives it's not bad at all.
What keeps me from switching is that I keep finding sites that just don't render properly in Firefox for Android. I've been using the Nightly for a year and trying sites in both that and Chrome, and submitting bug reports as I find them. Things are slowly improving, some sites have got better, but it's frustrating how many are simply unreadable and unusable stil
Re: (Score:2)
It's a Chrome fork. I'm not aware of homophobia, but not saying it isn't true. It basically claims to be faster because it has a built in ad blocker. I haven't used it, mostly because it seems to want to do its own tracking and ad injection.
Why Firefox, why? (Score:2)
Firefox completely messed up the UI on phones and tablets. I could get over the breaking of extensions, but the UI is sacred. it's become horribly annoying to use for no good reason, and pushed me to Brave.
Adblock plus. (Score:2)
Vivaldi (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I find Vivaldi's built in ad and tracker blockers to be very basic and not all that effective. I wouldn't rely on them, they are no substitute for uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, Decentraleyes, Cookie Autodelete and Privacy Possom.
UC Browser (Score:1)
Re: UC Browser (Score:1)
That is a great and truly innovative browser but it is poisoned by an oppressive government.
Duck-DuckGo (Score:1)
Surprised this browser was not mentioned as it is the main one I use on all of my mobile devices.
I used to trust Google.
I hope Firefox can survive. It is my primary browser on my desktop.
I think Opera is the most powerful for my desktop, but I am not convinced regarding its "mobile platform."
Seeing as I refuse to use any Apple products, I cannot give any credence to Safari.
All the rest are derivatives of Chrome or Firefox.
Maybe I always cheer for the underdog. GoDuck-DuckGo.
Re: (Score:2)
+1 Relevant. Unfortunately, I don't have any mod points available today. DDG is my default browser in my phone.
I use Firefox in the other computers (Windows and Linux). Do hope it survives, because nearly everything else (except Safari) is Chrome-based. The FF-based derivatives are not worth the effort for most people, though it's sometimes worthwhile to drop back to the FF ESR release when things get a little strange in the mainline one.
When forced to use Chrome in a Windows computer because some necessary
Re: (Score:2)
On the other hand I use FF on my personal and work computers. Even with FF, I use DDG as my main search engine.
Duck Duck Go as Primary Browser, Vanadium otherwis (Score:2)
Duck Duck Go mobile app [duckduckgo.com] is my primary browser for mobile use. It is ideal for searching and links from feeds, bar code scans, email and other such things. Although it is fun to take a peek at the built-in privacy dashboard, I rarely use it. Most of the sites I visit do not even have a TOS;DR [tosdr.org] report, which takes some of the fun out of it. I have only ever used the flame button [spreadprivacy.com] to "burn" all the cookies and other private data, a few times, but it is nice to know the fire button is there.
However, for sites lik
Curious (Score:2)
Why did you used to trust Google yet refuse to use Apple products?
There isn't one. (Score:2)
Old Opera used to be pretty nice.
Everything follows the hipster mantra nowadays, "Good is bad. Bad is good.", and gets gradually more cumbersome, condescending, and disempowering.
I miss cowboy Neil? (Score:3)
I like his browser best. We really need to get him back hear more often.
They all suck. (Score:2)
Just like how all (most) mobile www sites are crap and are an inferior version of desktop websites, all mobile browsers are crap because they are an inferior version of the one on the desktop.
It's nearly 2021, yet mobile browsers that run on hardware that is 50x more powerful are less configurable and less user customizable than NSCA mosaic a generation ago. Sure, mobile browsers do much more than render html and images, but, for example, your choices of font size now are typically limited to "small" or "l
brave (Score:1)
100% (Score:1)
Edge! I am shitting you not. (Score:3)
OK, when our Linux admin told me to try Edge after complaining to him about how frustrated I was with both mobile Firefox and Chrome, I thought he was joking. He was not though, he just repeated that I should try it. Well, I can confirm, while it is based on the same engine as Chrome, it is actually much more stable and thus usable. What can I say! I am surprised it was not even a choice here, I've found many other savvy (and thus non-windows) people use it on Android!
Oh, I also used in the past Opera mini whenever I was roaming and wanted to use less data. It is pretty good, until you hit a website it doesn't work well with.
Don't care (Score:2)
Whatever comes with the phone.. I really don't care at all.
Re: (Score:2)
phones arw meant to be used as phones and if you need quick access to data it will save your balls , but otherwise browsing web sites and doing stuff on the net is the provonce of laptops and workstations A phone is a phone .
I want firefox to succeed, but (Score:2)
If edge were my only choice I would start programming my own browser and once I had something on par with lynx I would mostly stop using edge.
I do have a serious set of problems with mozilla that seem to violate what I am supposed to like about firefox. The puffy url bar that they make near impossible to make normal.That is asshole behaviour. The forced up
Re: (Score:2)
The "puffy" address bar in FF might be a side effect of the theme you're using. Mine is very square, almost Windows 2000ish. FF theme in use is "Valhalla Awaits" but the standard Dark theme worked too.
I agree that much of the rest is asshole behavior. Though mine usually does remember (except for that update brag page) my settings for home/new pages, no-Pocket, no recommended-by-Pocket, no-highlights, and no-snippets. Standard Win10 and Linux Mint; what's different? The memory usage is kind of piggy, that's
Re: (Score:2)
I've never seen any of that Pocket shit when using Firefox on Android, it seems fine.
I can't comment about Chrome - why anyone would use a web browser made by an advertising company is beyond me. If a website pulls any of that "will only display properly on Chrome" nonsense, well that is asshole behaviour too and I will take my business elesewhere.
I will take my business elesewhere (Score:2)
I suspect this is a side effect of developers just not testing on firefox.
As, I said, if I were forced to have just one browser I would choose Chrome because it is what developers designed their stuff for; not because of any love for Chrome.
Used to be opera (Score:2)
Roll 15years back and opera was the one that invented tabbed browsing and gestures, among many other features that are now mainstream. I actually paid for my version at the time. Then they did a redesign (2006?) that pretty much made it unusable, and i switched to firefox.
Firefox for dev & Safari for personal (Score:2)
I use both Firefox and Safari at the same time. I write apps, including web apps and use MacOS as my computing platform.
I've found Firefox to be far better for debugging web pages as it is just much more dev friendly.
However Safari gets my personal browsing just because it hooks into the MacOS Keychain I don't need to remember password or credit card numbers on all my devices.
Safari blocks trackers and, using a nice plugin called Dynamo (on MacOS App store) I can skip any video app just by pressing "E" on m
Re: (Score:2)
I use FF on Android. I have my complaints but it has some great features and I honestly prefer it to Chrome.
Mobile Browser? (Score:2)
I gave up lugging my desktop computer around years ago.
Lynx (Score:2)
Chredge (Score:1)
Edge (Score:3)
Edge
Kiwi (Score:2)
None. They ALL suck in their own unique ways. (Score:2)
Safari - Requires iOS. 'nuff said
Firefox - the UI could use some polish, and it can be sluggish
Opera - compatibility woes, but I haven't used this one in a while
Samsung Internet - Stop trying to make Bixby happen. Stop trying to make Samsung accounts happen. They are n
Firefox + uBlock Origin (Score:2)
Second best to me is Safari Mobile plus one or more good content blockers. Personally, I use 1Blocker.
Chrome is best mobile web browser (Score:1)
It's all just Safari on iOS (Score:2)
Apple doesn't let other browsers use their own rendering engines on iOS, so Chrome/Firefox/Opera/Etc are really just reskinned versions of Safari.
At least Chrome lets me sync my bookmarks and history with my desktop web browser.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
iCabMobile (Score:2)
DuckDuckGo and/or Firefox Focus (Score:2)
The emphasis on privacy is the most important to me.
Firefox, but v68.11 (Score:2)
None of them (Score:2)
Because HTML is an abomination and a scourge upon the face of computing.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Main reason for choice: battery life (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Best of the worst (Score:1)
DuckDuckgo (Score:2)
DuckDuckgo is a good alternative based on firefox with security and tracking protection