WHICH IS THE MOST PRIVATE BROWSER?
GOLD AWARD Brave www.brave.com WHAT WE LIKE
Once regarded as an underdog in the battle of the browsers - or an ‘under-lion’, in keeping with its logo - Brave’s popularity has doubled in the last year and it now claims to have more than 50 million monthly users (see www.snipca. com/40717). Although Brave is based on the same Chromium code as Chrome and Edge, its focus on privacy makes it significantly different to those browsers and is a major reason for its success. It’s also why we believe Brave to be the most private browser available for everyday use.
From the moment you install it, Brave automatically blocks elements that track you online – unlike rival browsers, which require you install extensions to get the same protection.
It does this through its powerful Shields system, which “blocks the creepy stuff that tries to track you across the web”. By default, Shields provides ‘aggressive’ blocking of ads and trackers, cookies that follow you to other websites, and ‘fingerprinting’, which allows sites to identify you from the device and software you’re using. To configure these settings, and also turn on script blocking (to stop sites loading potentially dangerous scripts), click the three-line menu in the top-right corner of the browser and choose Settings then Shields.
Alternatively, you can choose what to block on a site-by-site basis by clicking the lion icon to the right of Brave’s address bar to open the Shields panel. This lets you adjust your privacy protection on the site you’re currently viewing, which is useful if you have problems seeing its content or using certain features – for example, if cookies need to be allowed or adblocking disabled.
For extra security, Brave automatically upgrades websites to their HTTPS connections to ensure that your data is always encrypted. This option has now been copied by Chrome and Edge, but Brave was the first browser to offer it, and enables the feature by default. It also lets you block social-media widgets to stop Facebook, Twitter and Google tracking you, and offers protection against websites, downloads and extensions that are known to spread malware and steal your data.
We particularly like that Brave’s New Tab page ‘dashboard’ displays the number of trackers and ads the browser has blocked so far (see screenshot above), and the bandwidth and time it has saved you. If some ads are slipping through, you can add more filters by choosing Ad Blocker in the three-line menu and selecting extra options in the list.
Brave’s private mode goes much further than that offered by other browsers by offering anonymous web access through the Tor network. This not only conceals your browsing activities, but hides your IP address from sites you visit, so that nobody can see where you are. Press Alt-Shift-N to open a private Tor window (see screenshot above right) or click the menu button and choose ‘New private window with Tor’.
To complement all those privacy features, last year Brave introduced its own search engine – Brave Search – to provide an anonymous alternative to Google. Similar to DuckDuckGo (which Brave uses in Tor mode), this lets you search the web without your queries or clicks being tracked or targeted by advertisers. You can set this as your default search engine by going to
Settings then ‘Search engine’ and selecting Brave in the dropdown menu. The browser even has a private videochat tool, Brave Talk, which you can launch by clicking the camera icon in the bottom-right corner of the New Tab page.
WHAT WE DON’T LIKE
Although Brave blocks ads automatically, it has its own advertising system called Brave Rewards. In fairness, this is disabled by default and, rather than monetising your personal data, lets you support your favourite sites and content creators by giving them tokens you earn by viewing ‘privacy-respecting ads’. But if you’re completely anti-ads, you won’t welcome this feature, especially because a Brave Rewards ‘card’ appears on your New Tab page, along with cryptocurrency information, an ad-supported news feed and shortcuts to your most visited sites. Thankfully, all these elements can be hidden if you prefer – just click the Edit Cards button on the right.
OUR VERDICT
Brave’s amazing array of privacy options make it by far the best choice for browsing the web anonymously. It’s also fast, easy to use and supports standard browser features such as extensions, password storage and syncing your data with its mobile app.
SILVER AWARD Tor Browser www.snipca.com/40722 WHAT WE LIKE
Although Brave’s private mode lets you access websites through Tor, it doesn’t offer the total protection of the dedicated Tor Browser. Based on Firefox code, rather than Chromium, this privacy-focused browser redirectsyourinternetconnectionthrough a series of ‘relays’ across the world. This encrypted ‘circuit’ prevents websites, hackers, government agencies and other spies from seeing your real IP address and location, and tracking you online. Unlike a VPN, there’s no central service you need to trust to enjoy the web privately, and no risk of your activities being logged and the details sold to third parties.
Tor Browser works in permanent private browsing mode, which means that cookies, site data and your browsing history are always deleted when you close it, leaving no trace of what you’ve been doing. To enable its maximum security, click the Security Level (shield) icon next to the address bar, click Change and select Safest (see screenshot below) – this disables all non-essential features on websites, including JavaScript, some images and auto-playing content – or choose Standard if a site won’t work properly.
If you’re concerned your privacy may have been compromised, click the brush icon and choose New Identity to start afresh with a new circuit of Tor relays.
WHAT WE DON’T LIKE
Because Tor redirects your connection around the world, it significantly slows your browsing and its blocking of scripts and automatic cookie deletion can make sites frustrating and even impossible to use. There are also concerns about the so-called dark web, which Tor allows access to. However, you needn’t worry – to access a dark site, you need to enter a 23-character onion address, so you won’t inadvertently stumble across anything illegal. Besides, many reputable websites, including BBC News, Facebook and the New York Times, now have Tor-only onion versions to help their visitors beat censorship and surveillance.
OUR VERDICT
Tor Browser keeps you completely anonymous online, but it lacks many familiar browser features, including data syncing, and you’re likely to find it slow and occasionally annoying to use.
BRONZE AWARD Firefox www.snipca.com/40723 WHAT WE LIKE
Unlike our Gold and Silver award winners, Firefox isn’t promoted as a private browser, but it does a brilliant job of stopping you being tracked, using a feature called Enhanced Tracking Protection. This automatically blocks social-media trackers, cookies that share information across websites, cryptomining tools and fingerprinting, but to browse completely anonymously, you should switch it to Strict mode.
Doing so activates Total Cookie Protection, which isolates site cookies so they can’t follow you, and blocks hidden trackers in adverts, videos and other web content. It also offers Enhanced Cookie Clearing, which lets you delete all traces of a website, including difficult-to-remove supercookies.
To enable Strict protection, click Firefox’s three-line menu and choose Settings, then ‘Privacy & Security’.
Select ‘Strict’ (see screenshot above ) under Enhanced Tracking Protection and click the Reload All Tabs button to apply the change. Alternatively, choose Custom and decide which elements to block.
Firefox warns that its Strict option may stop some websites working, but if you experience any problems it’s easy to tweak the setting. Click the shield icon to the left of the address bar (this also tells you what trackers have been blocked), click Strict and temporarily switch back to Standard mode.
WHAT WE DON’T LIKE
Although Firefox prevents trackers from collecting your data, it shares information with Mozilla about how you use the browser, in order “to improve performance and stability”. This includes your IP address, which is a privacy concern, so ensure you switch this telemetry option off. Go to Settings, ‘Privacy & Security’, scroll down to the ‘Firefox Data Collection and Use’ section and untick the options ‘Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla’ and ‘Allow Firefox to install and run studies’. To see what data has already been collected, type about:telemetry into the address bar and press Enter.
OUR VERDICT
Firefox offers much stronger protection against trackers than its more popular rivals Chrome and Edge, but make sure you lock down your privacy settings by disabling its data collection.