So, first off, to make it for daily browsing use I did some basic alterations to the browser by allowing it to keep history, caches, cookies, disabling always-on incognito, and so on. I also installed my favorite addons (Dark Reader, Sponsorblock, I try to be as minimalistic in my choices as possible). This of course harms the privacy, but you can just ctrl+shift+p to basically turn all of that shit off when you decide you need to get serious. I kept the letterboxing on, its hard to get used to initially but after about a month of using Mullvad as a daily driver I got used to it. It seems most sites aren’t able to detect my alterations to the browser.
I don’t think any other privacy browser spin (Librewolf, Waterfox, Brave, Tor Browser etc) comes anywhere close to the snappiness and privacy intersection of Mullvad Browser. I’m able to skirt bans due to using anonymity services trivially and the captchas are short and quick and not a never-ending slug fest. Its good enough at faking a unique identity out of the box that most things cannot tell that its fake. I’m in such love that I’m going to swap away from my current vpn (IVPN, sub should end in November) to Mullvad due to how well polished this project is. I’m really interested if their multihop service can get around VPN IP bans better than Tor can.
Kudos to the Mullvad team 🥂 I hope you make an android version soon!
Running Librewolf myself and have done so for a while (at least before mullvad browser became a thing). I’m curious. How do they compare with each other? Mainly on the aspect of privacy.
Mullvad is much better privacy wise than Librewolf, its also snappier and has faster security and privacy updates. The only thing you really lose out on is Firefox sync (if you enabled it on Librewolf). The new identity button helps you reset to a stock state and allows you to circumvent fingerprinting (such as the fingerprinting used for enforcing bans) trivially. Mullvad takes Tor Browser’s approach to heart, while Librewolf takes Arkenfox’s changes to heart. Its factual that Tor Browser is the most private browser, so emulating aspects of it is certainly the way to go.
Some things you will probably find annoying:
Its so good at stock that you shouldn’t customize it much if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Letterboxing is hard to get used to
Without nonstock modifications, its not suitable as a daily driver in my opinion, its a privacy tool first and foremost with stock settings. When you make it nonstock, it becomes very good as a daily driver but you really must be as minimalist as possible in your alterations. Take only what you desperately need, and make sure your settings do not interfere with the normal function of incognito mode which will essentially set the browser back to stock for you fingerprint wise by disabling cookies, history, extra addons, etc.
Some things you will like:
Suppose I’ll try it then. Thank for the explanation! The privacy first and convinience when chosen is the approach im looking for personally.