With so much talk about the apps that can be invading your privacy big time and using your data to sell to advertisers (hello, Facebook), it’s important to remember that the web browser that you rely on each day is also worth considering because it can cause both battery drainage AND privacy breaches. If you can’t tell the difference between Firefox and Chrome or really don’t believe there is much of a difference, Tech Expert Danka Delic at ProPrivacy is here to set the record straight — this is the worst browser to use on your iPhone — and two additional browsers to keep on your use-sparingly radar.
Yandex
A while ago, Trinity College Dublin researchers ranked the most popular browser in Russia — Yandex — as one of the least private ones on the market, Delic explains. “Not only does it have a huge problem with data collection and sharing, it also sends persistent identifiers that can link requests to back-end servers,” Delic says. “There were even instances in the past when Yandex was transmitting a hashed hardware identifier to back-end servers via the search autocomplete function. Worst of all – the Yandex opting-out methods are completely unreliable. All in all, Yandex is not to be trusted on iPhone or any other device.”
And, a little closer to home, there are a few other browsers to watch out for.
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Chrome
“It cannot be disregarded that Chrome belongs to a company that became rich from gathering data about everyone and everything,” Delic says. “With all that data, the lack of privacy should be at the forefront of its users minds. Whether it's the automatic signup to the browser or its vague location history policy, Google always finds sneaky ways to snatch information about you and then monetize it. While Google has previously announced that it will eventually move away from the regular third-party cookies, one cannot be fully be certain if there is another data tracking scheme lying in wait for Chrome users.”
Safari
“Yes, you heard right, you should avoid your default iPhone browser whenever possible,” Delic says. “Safari may be the fastest browser across all Apple-based products (after all, it's optimized for them), but it's also the most notorious one when it comes to opening web pages in very unpredictable ways. Safari does not use open-source software, so aside from Apple technicians, nobody can inspect its source code for irregularities. Following on from that, despite being from one of the world's biggest technology brands, Safari offers quite irregular updates - which can leave users exposed to vulnerabilities. Finally, there are very strong claims from Google’s Information Security Engineering team that Safari's ITP anti-tracking system, that's supposed to help you stay anonymous online, actually leaks users’ web-browsing data.”
If all of this info leaves you wondering which browser you actually should rely upon, take a note from Delic:
“If you are looking for a browser recommendation, we strongly recommend Firefox,” Delic advises. “It was developed by the non-profit organization Mozilla and has an open-source browser that is very privacy-conscious, is regularly updated, and offers plenty of customization for you to enjoy on your iPhone.”
