this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
16 points (100.0% liked)

Firefox

1 readers
15 users here now

The latest news and developments on Firefox and Mozilla, a global non-profit that strives to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the web.

You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:

Related

Rules

While we are not an official Mozilla community, we have adopted the Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines as far as it can be applied to a bin.

Rules

  1. Always be civil and respectful
    Don't be toxic, hostile, or a troll, especially towards Mozilla employees. This includes gratuitous use of profanity.

  2. Don't be a bigot
    No form of bigotry will be tolerated.

  3. Don't post security compromising suggestions
    If you do, include an obvious and clear warning.

  4. Don't post conspiracy theories
    Especially ones about nefarious intentions or funding. If you're concerned: Ask. Please don’t fuel conspiracy thinking here. Don’t try to spread FUD, especially against reliable privacy-enhancing software. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Show credible sources.

  5. Don't accuse others of shilling
    Send honest concerns to the moderators and/or admins, and we will investigate.

  6. Do not remove your help posts after they receive replies
    Half the point of asking questions in a public sub is so that everyone can benefit from the answers—which is impossible if you go deleting everything behind yourself once you've gotten yours.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Alright, trying to leave both Chrome and Firefox at the same time is difficult, especially because I always use multiple browsers at the same time (to separate accounts for this or that without having to switch accounts constantly). My current browser number three is Opera and so far, I'm not touching it (we'll see in the future).

My questions are basically: are LibreWolf and Vivaldi viable replacements as main browsers?

My main concerns are whether LibreWolf is mature enough and if both allow syncing between different devices (as I regularly use three computers).

Any constructive feedback is welcome.

(suggesting me to use that another browser I haven't mentioning without explaining why in detail is not constructive feedback, thank you)

#internet #browsers #webbrowser #Chrome #Firefox #LibreWolf #Vivaldi

top 25 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] kitnaht@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Vivaldi is just Chrome. Opera is just Chrome.

Firefox forks just simply don't have the manpower to update as rapidly as browsers need updating on the web today.

So your only real option right now is Firefox unless you just want a differently skinned Google browser, or a less-secure Firefox fork.

Firefox has containers you can make to keep accounts separate, and colors your tab based on the container it's using.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Firefox forks just simply don't have the manpower to update as rapidly as browsers need updating on the web today.

In what way? I switched to LibreWolf a few months ago and haven't noticed anything. But admittedly I'm not asking much of it.

[–] kitnaht@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Say there's a Zero-day exploit that gets found. LibreWolf is going to rely on Firefox to patch it, they aren't going to have the resources and manpower to patch it themselves. That means they will always be behind.

Forks of the main project almost always lag behind the main project unless they somehow spin off and put more money/manpower into the project than the original author; and LibreWolf sure isn't doing that.

Additionally, depending on how they plan to operate - their fork could slowly drift away from the original firefox fork, meaning more and more of their codebase has to be maintained by their team with respect to security. This means more potential for their own unique security flaws.

Mozilla/Firefox isn't selling your data. This habit of Lemmy users to freak out and jump ship over every little thing is just silly.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

.so I should just switch back?

[–] kitnaht@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Only if you're paranoid about security. It should be fine, generally.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'm not, but also not sure what the benefit of LibreFox really is.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 1 points 3 days ago

@kitnaht@lemmy.world

@DavidBHimself@firefish.city @can@sh.itjust.works

the question is how do we get a fork enough developers that they can support themselves independantly

[–] ademir@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So your only real option right now is Firefox unless you just want a differently skinned Google browser, or a less-secure Firefox fork.

exactly this. This is the best we will have under capitalism.

[–] kitnaht@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Could we leave the political shit out of this?

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

That's economics

[–] ademir@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 3 days ago

lol it is just the reality. The system is built around profit, that's it.

i am syncing no problem with librewolf.

about Multi Account Containers extension, i also recommend this. however, it must be said this extension isn't compatible with android Firefox, probably not ios either but i haven't checked.

i am still researching Firefox forks on android.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 3 points 3 days ago

Librewolf is Firefox with all the stuff nobody wants removed. It's exactly as "mature" as the latest Firefox build it was based on. Slightly more so, really. It comes with more-secure settings which may or may not suit you, such as having fingerprinting resistance turned on by default.

Instead of using a completely different web browser, you could use a separate profile by starting librewolf (or firefox) with "-P" to select different profiles.

[–] moody@lemmings.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If you want to separate accounts, Firefox has an official extension for containers. Anything in a container is isolated from anything outside of it. You can be logged in to the same site in multiple containers, or multiple sites in the same container.

[–] DavidBHimself@firefish.city 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@moody@lemmings.world The last time I tried containers, I didn't find them very practical. But I'll try again. Still, I like using different browsers, it helps keeps things clear and separate in my mind too ("this goes on this browser, that goes on that browser")

[–] moody@lemmings.world 1 points 3 days ago

That's fair, and you also avoid opening things in the wrong window by accident.

[–] adnan@1210.nl 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

@DavidBHimself Vivaldi is my daily browser and it is very capable browser. You will be delighted.

Vivaldi does allow sync between different devices. You will need to create an account.

FWIW I am seriously considering shifting my Mastodon identity from my personal instance to their instance.

[–] DavidBHimself@firefish.city 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@adnan@1210.nl Thanks for your feedback. Why do you want to migrate your Mastodon account to their instance, though? My Mastodon account (not this one) is on a solo instance and I can't imagine moving it back to a bigger instance.

[–] adnan@1210.nl 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@DavidBHimself

Larger instance means that I can see all the replies in a conversation (thread)

I don't believe in solo instances for Mastodon. Instances should be shared by friends who know each other in real life. My criteria is that you’ll share an instance w/ a person only if you would invite them into your house. It has been three years, & almost none of my real-life friends have shifted from Twitter to here. Most gave up on social media altogether & only chat in large WhatsApp groups.

[–] DavidBHimself@firefish.city 1 points 3 days ago

@adnan@1210.nl I don't think that there is a "one size fits all" as far as instances are concerned. Solo instances serve a purpose, small instances with friends too (I've been trying to do that too, with little success too), as well as large instances. But after having tried all sizes, I like being in control of what's going on as much as possible, so being my own admin or know the admin more or less personally.

@DavidBHimself I use Vivaldi as my primary browser on Linux, iOS, and WIndows.

[–] 0xF21D@infosec.exchange 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@DavidBHimself
LibreWolf is mature enough that I use it as my main driver.

LibreWolf takes advantage of the Firefox extension ecosystem, and because of that there are two really nice extensions to get the functionality of multiple browsers in one. Multi Account Containers will allow you to define different account containers and then open tabs in a specific container. If you log in to the same site with different accounts this will allow you to do exactly that. You can also completely isolate a site in its own containers.

For tab organization I recommend Tree Style Tabs or Sidebery. Both integrate Multi Account Containers.

It is my understanding that LibreWolf supports rolling your own sync account. I have not tried that yet but I know it’s possible.

[–] DavidBHimself@firefish.city 1 points 3 days ago

@0xF21D@infosec.exchange Thanks.

[–] foaylward@genomic.social 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@DavidBHimself i switched from Firefox to Vivaldi and it went well. I haven't noticed any major gaps in functionality.

[–] DavidBHimself@firefish.city 1 points 3 days ago

@foaylward@genomic.social
Thanks.
Does Vivaldi syncs between devices? I tried it a while ago, but very briefly and it didn't seem to automatically sync (but maybe I missed something)