Ghostery releases Privacy Browser for Android
Android users have quite the selection of mobile browsers at their disposal. From stock browsers to Firefox and hundreds of other browsers.
A new addition to the list is Ghostery Privacy Browser, a browser created by Ghostery, a company best known for its privacy tool which blocks trackers and other elements on websites that you visit.
Ghostery itself is available as a browser add-on for Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera.
According to the company, Ghostery Privacy Browser is a full standalone web browser for Android devices that is based on Android WebView. The page on Google Play reveals that it requires at least Android 4.0.3 to run.
What sets the Privacy Browser apart from others is that it ships with Ghostery's tracking protection which means that users of the browser are protected automatically when they browse the web using it.
Privacy Browser requires a handful of permissions before it can be installed all of which are required for its functionality and none are used to track users according to the company.
When you first start the browser you are asked about enabling tracking. You need to flip the switch to enable it but if you miss that somehow, it is still possible to enable it in the program settings afterwards.
The browser supports tabs which you access with a tap on the icon at the right of the address bar. It lists all open tabs on the screen that opens up so that you can switch between tabs easily from there, open a new one or close an existing one.
Next to that is the tracker indicator. It lists the number of trackers found on the site and gives you options to allow select ones to run globally or only on that site.
The main feature that sets it apart from other browsers of its kind is the integrated tracker blocker which gets updated automatically on a regular basis (you can disable that in the options if you want).
All other settings are pretty standard. The default search engine is DuckDuckGo, and you can select to block cookies if you want.
The settings are not that extensive when you compare it to other mobile browsers such as Firefox or Google Chrome.
Closing Words
The main appeal of Ghostery Privacy Browser for Android is that it ships with tracking protection out of the box. It is possible to use different browsers with an ad blocker as well but that requires the installation of an extension.
It is a basic browser especially if you compare it to the likes of Firefox or Google Chrome which are more advanced. The comparison is not entirely fair though considering that the two browsers have grown over time while Privacy Browser is a new contender.
For now, it is one to keep an eye on to see how it evolves.
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?