Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#191

Post by jquery » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 1:48 AM UTC

byproxy wrote: post #64

There is also the Brave browser, which I believe covers the same ground : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brave.brow...

Brave goes further, it's https by default and even includes fingerprint blocking. It's been my default browser for while now and it's a joy to know I'm not feeding the beast.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#192

Post by tomfitz » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 1:50 AM UTC

speg wrote: post #190

This needs the ability to destroy pages when leaving the app. That way I can't accidentally leave my porn in a tab and have someone find it later

Pressing "Erase browsing history" in the Android persistent notification bar seems to do this.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#193

Post by geokon » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 1:54 AM UTC

What's the difference between this and Firefox Klar?

It's what comes up on FDroid and sounds identical.. though FDroid strangely doesn't host Firefox (Vanilla)..

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#194

Post by jasonkostempski » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 1:55 AM UTC

eli wrote: post #177

progval wrote: post #7

According to F-Droid [1], it contains `com.google.android.gms:play-services-analytics`. [1]: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/issues/171#note_30410376

Yes it collects anonymous analytics by default but you can disable it in the settings. It's not a conspiracy. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/send-anonymous-usage-da...

You can't advertise as a "private browser" an get away with that PR bullshit. "Anonymous" usage data is anything but when the server receiving it can easily tell who it's coming from. Mozilla is not the user, it breaks the entire idea of privacy.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#195

Post by kijin » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 1:55 AM UTC

speg wrote: post #190

This needs the ability to destroy pages when leaving the app. That way I can't accidentally leave my porn in a tab and have someone find it later

Firefox Focus has no tabs and no history. Just close the active window and it's gone.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#196

Post by geonnave » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 1:57 AM UTC

Oh, I don't believe they missed the opportunity to name it Firefocus.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#197

Post by quickthrower2 » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 1:58 AM UTC

geonnave wrote: post #196

Oh, I don't believe they missed the opportunity to name it Firefocus.

That's a terrible name

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#198

Post by hedora » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 2:00 AM UTC

chairmanwow wrote: post #122

progval wrote: post #7

According to F-Droid [1], it contains `com.google.android.gms:play-services-analytics`. [1]: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/issues/171#note_30410376

I think I'm only surprised to see this comment and not that Firefox bundled analytics into their app. What's controversial about anonymized usage statistics in 2017?

Windows 10 peed in the pool when it redefined "telemetry" to include core dumps, documents, keystrokes, and even remote terminal access for MS engineers.

Now, people are rightfully suspicious of any software that phones home at all.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#199

Post by quickthrower2 » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 2:01 AM UTC

endgame wrote: post #108

Is it just me, or does the article have a giant animated GIF of the word "simple"? Shouldn't it, y'know, have a picture of the browser or something useful?

Wow I didn't notice that the first time. Talk about ad blindness.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#200

Post by throwaway2048 » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 2:07 AM UTC

st3fan wrote: post #180

throwaway2048 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

show me where i can audit the google play store analytics code, or what is running on their servers.

Focus and Klar do not use the Google Play Store Analytics. Mozilla has their own Telemetry service. This documentation is a good start: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/focus-android/wiki/Telemet... You have to understand how extremely strict Mozilla is with using third-party services for things like crash reporting and telemetry. It is extremely difficult to find services that meet our very high standard for privac…

Yet this thread is about how the firefox APKs contain google analytics code....