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Why is fingerprint.com browser fingerprint working so well with iPhones?

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Re: Why is fingerprint.com browser fingerprint working so well with iPhones?

#11

Post by 4RealFreedom »

thdc wrote: post #4
throwaway202302 wrote: post #2

Dear HN, maybe you know. This is about precision of browser fingerprinting. fingerprint.com generates a hash from browser/os attributes to recognize users without cookies. I tried their demo using iphone and expected (because i use private mode and returned several times with hopefully different cookie) to see some entries from other iphones like my one pop up in my history (from the fuzzy matching; https://www.apple…

I tried it on an iPhone and noted that it said I visited several times before even though this was my only time. Previous instances varied in IP, incognito mode, and location. This was through the demo on their main page fingerprint.com > view live demo using Safari w/ private mode and some ad blocking extension.

Same. There were 4 entries that were not me listed - one was even an incognito visit. They were all from the same date about a month ago. Maybe this service works better on iPhones than Androids?

Edit: Reread your comment and you were on an iPhone.

Re: Why is fingerprint.com browser fingerprint working so well with iPhones?

#12

Post by aaron695 »

throwaway202302 wrote: post #2

Dear HN, maybe you know. This is about precision of browser fingerprinting. fingerprint.com generates a hash from browser/os attributes to recognize users without cookies. I tried their demo using iphone and expected (because i use private mode and returned several times with hopefully different cookie) to see some entries from other iphones like my one pop up in my history (from the fuzzy matching; https://www.apple…

[dead]

Re: Why is fingerprint.com browser fingerprint working so well with iPhones?

#14

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

jaimex2 wrote: post #13

It seems to have no idea on my Kubuntu desktop. Other sites seem to struggle remembering my browser too, i'm not doing anything special to my knowledge.

I'm on Windows 11 using Firefox - switching to incognito gave me a new visitorId. All I have to do is use my different monitors (each with a different resolution) and it has no idea who I am.

Re: Why is fingerprint.com browser fingerprint working so well with iPhones?

#15

Post by benmmurphy »

throwaway202302 wrote: post #2

Dear HN, maybe you know. This is about precision of browser fingerprinting. fingerprint.com generates a hash from browser/os attributes to recognize users without cookies. I tried their demo using iphone and expected (because i use private mode and returned several times with hopefully different cookie) to see some entries from other iphones like my one pop up in my history (from the fuzzy matching; https://www.apple…

there is nothing in their opensource version that would allow them to distinguish between iPhones running the same OS on the same hardware. for example apps can't add fonts globally. but they could be abusing a way of associating data with browsers that is not a cookie or something that is filtered by incognito mode in order to track users.

Re: Why is fingerprint.com browser fingerprint working so well with iPhones?

#16

Post by john20001 »

lwansbrough wrote: post #10
jonas-w wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have an iPhone so i can't test it, but one thing i would be interested in is, if you use another browser like chrome/firefox etc, do you also get the same ID? On my android different browsers yield different IDs but private mode or clearing browser data doesn't change anything.

There are ways to accomplish device level fingerprinting (cross-browser), though I don't know if it's offered by Fingerprint.com.

Curious. What are some of these methods and any background reading?
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