Brave vs Vanadium

OpenSource-Ghost

Brave is the most modified because of all the crypto revenue stuff. Bromite is basically hardened and tweaked Ungoogled Chromium + ad-blocking + anti-fingerprinting. I'd stick with Vanadium if security is more important to you than anti-fingerprinting features and anti-ad features. Otherwise I'd use Uazo's builds of Bromite. I don't like Brave.

trilogy6202

OpenSource-Ghost
I don't like Brave all that much either but it has in my mind at least one killer feature that Vanadium hasn't. The option to delete all content (history, cookies, etc.) when you close the app.

I really wish Vanadium had that feature.

[deleted]

I don't even know why bromite is mentioned, it is only in version 108! This is a joke

[deleted]

Some users are on the "unofficial" versions of one of the developers ( https://github.com/uazo/bromite-buildtools/releases ), who is still working on it and are up to date.

(Just to clarify, this is not my recommendation)

Themble

They have been lagging behind since last December.

Blastoidea

I was using it, but upon reflection, and reading posts here, I dumped it and went back to Vanadium.

Hat

About fingerprint Brave would be interesting keeping its settings to the default value, and if it grow much more.
Probably Vanadium have a better compatibility with more websites because no add filters.

matchboxbananasynergy There is somewhere a review checking if Brave still send unwanted data, user ID or anything when telemetry is disabled ?

The Brave search engine could be trusted ?

yourmother

i wondering, why is vanadium not mentioned in https://privacytests.org/android.html

[deleted]

yourmother Maybe because it's only available on GrapheneOS?

Sindaquil

Blastoidea a few people not from the GOS project have said here that you should use chrome to blend in, but given the feedback I understand that they have deleted their accounts. it's too bad. there are not many ways to make something understood. if you want to gain privacy, it's simple: it depends on what you do with it. you can have a very private life on chrome.

wjl

Hi guys,
interesting topic and discussion here, which got me curious, so I've made some tests. Please see my blog post for the results in case you're interested, it's all a bit long to post it here as a newbie I think...
And to the GrapheneOS team: thanks for your wonderful work!
Cheers,
Wolfgang

N1b

wjl thanks for taking the time to do some testing. Are you sure you want to share your IP and location that publicly? I don't know your threat model, but redacting IP and location wouldn't change the points you want to get across, so I assume it's unnecessary and potentially harmful data to share.

Edit: Unrelated, but you should check if your German website needs a site notice (German "Impressum"). I wanted to see if the location data you shared are consistent with your notice address, but didn't find any. Would be annoying if a greedy lawyer wanted to cash in on your hobby.

Themble

wjl Do you run a Pi-Hole or do you have a DNS based ad blocker set on your mobile? Otherwise I cannot understand the big amount of trackers Vanadium blocks in your setting.

GrapheneOS

wjl You should not be using a Pixel 3a anymore. It's a highly insecure end-of-life device not supported by GrapheneOS anymore. You shouldn't present it as if you're using official GrapheneOS anymore.

wjl

N1b Thanks for your concern. I use GMX as an email provider sometimes, so my/our IP is in those mail headers as well. That IP doesn't resolve very well via geoiplookup.net or even maxmind (mostly), so no worries. And even if that was all public, it's the same with about every company or privateer in the world... I guess the triangulation of LTE or 5G is more of a problem, so I'm grateful for such wonderful things like GOS...

wjl

N1b About the imprint: I have an "About" section which doesn't list our address but a way to reach me via email, so those greedy lawyers may come ;) I'm running that domain since some 20 years or so, long before those "must haves" were invented...

ivicaivica

Themble I'm also interested in this...

Also, it would be a good thing to test Brave on mobile as well.

wjl

Themble - sorry, my fault, and you are absolutely right. I have updated my blog post over at https://wolfgang.lonien.de/2023/07/curious-and-interesting-results/ - please see the updated part at the bottom.

ivicaivica - I have made a test with Brave on mobile as well while I was away, and after my new and additional tests with Vanadium I did another one with Brave and the same setting which I had in Vanadium. Please also see my updated blog post, link above.

Sorry for (my own) intial confusion - hope I could clear this up a bit by now.

Cheers,
Wolfgang

ivicaivica

wjl Awesome. Thank you!

I'll just keep on using Vanadium as my default browser with an DNS ad-blocker.

wjl

Thank you for your reply GrapheneOS

I know that the kernel and firmware updates from that Pixel3a were from last year August or so, and that it's not officially supported by GrapheneOS anymore - sorry in case it sounded wrong, never meant that.

And although it's a bit off-topic in this thread (maybe we can start another one for this?), I'm a bit reluctant to send perfectly working hardware to the landfill, and the same will apply to my daughter's Pixel 4a 5G coming November or so. We both love the headphone jacks, so for her a 7a wouldn't be a good replacement. So what would be your advice for older hardware, without kernel and firmware support from companies like Qualcomm and Google? "Giving away" such hardware only puts the problems on others' shoulders...

GrapheneOS

cgro0550 Canvas fingerprinting has absolutely nothing to do with the display. It's based on the browser and GPU hardware/firmware/driver. It does not vary across the same device model running the same OS version. It's the same between GrapheneOS and the stock OS within the same browser and is the same across most Chromium-based browsers since they implement the canvas in the same way.

Paflechien

Graph_Curious hi brave does nothing more than vanadium for privacy, it's the opposite: all grapheneos users have vanadium. if you were on Android you would have to use chome to be confidential and on iPhone you would have to use safari. however brave gives you a sense of privacy because it blocks ads. Keep vanadium and don't change anything in the settings if you want to be confidential

N1b

Paflechien brave does nothing more than vanadium for privacy, it's the opposite: all grapheneos users have vanadium. if you were on Android you would have to use chome to be confidential and on iPhone you would have to use safari

I disagree and think what you are talking about is anonymity, not privacy, and it is only true in case you don't give identifying data away in the first place. Using the Tor Browser and good OPSEC (like not changing Browser settings beyond setup or not logging in to any online accounts) could effectively make you disappear in a mass of identically looking users, but it's nothing that Vanadium, Brave, Chrome or Safari sets out to do. Vanadium is arguably the most secure browser out there by default, but not the most private or anonymous. Brave does block some ads by default, which in some cases increases privacy compared to Vanadium. Whether Braves anti-fingerprinting measures are really effective against modern tracking methods is also arguable. Personally I prefer Vanadium and DNS ad blocking via VPN, but different setups come with different advantages...

Here's a month old post of mine that tries to explain the difference between security, privacy and anonymity:
Security to me means protecting your data/assets against unauthorized access. Privacy means controlling the (meta)data you give away (and ideally giving away as little as possible). Anonymity would be the ability to hide in a mass and not be identifiable, even if some of your data can be seen. While all three can empower/enable each other, they are mostly independent.

Edit: Added information

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