Posted on Oct 19 I recently had an eye opener moment when researching about Google and how they collect data to alter the things they recommend you and other things. And it was astonishing how much data they collect on you and how they track you every movement whilst on Google/Chrome/Other Google services e.g. Google PlayStore.I truly believe there are better alternatives out there than the default Google Chrome people tend to use. We now live in world of constant data breaches and online tracking, therefore protecting your online privacy and security has never been more important.I’ve recently deleted Chrome from my phone and computer and switched to FireFox and I’ll explain why!Firefox is the famous fox web browser! It is a free and open-source that is developed by the Mozilla Foundation. It’s designed to be fast, secure, and customizable, and is available for multiple operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.Firefox includes a suite of built-in features, such as enhanced tracking protection, custom themes (so important obviously) and add-ons, and a flexible interface that can be tailored to the user’s needs.There are a bunch of reasons why I chose to delete Google Chrome and why I prefer FireFox now, let me list some:PrivacyFirefox has a strong focus on privacy and security, with features like built-in tracking protection and a strict anti-tracking policy.In contrast, Chrome is owned by Google, a company that relies heavily on data collection and advertising for its business model.CustomisationFirefox has a much more flexible and customizable interface than Chrome, with a wide range of add-ons (equivalent to Chrome’s ‘extensions’ I believe) and themes available to personalize your browsing experience.Open-sourceFirefox is an open-source project, meaning that anyone can contribute to its development and review the code for security issues.Chrome, on the other hand, is based on the Chromium project, which is also open-source but is controlled by Google.Cross-platform compatibilityFirefox works on a wide range of devices and operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile devices.Chrome is also available on multiple platforms, but it’s more heavily integrated with Google’s services and ecosystem.PerformanceFirefox has made significant improvements in recent years and is now a competitive browser in terms of speed and efficiency.Still, Chrome is known for its fast performanceCommunity-drivenFirefox is developed by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, which has a strong focus on user empowerment and community involvement. This means that Firefox users have a voice in the development process and can contribute to the browser’s future direction.With all of that being said, there is one particular area that caught my eye that I mentioned briefly: the Privacy and Security.Firefox definitely has advantages in these areas than Google Chrome surprisingly!Enhanced Tracking ProtectionFirefox includes built-in tracking protection that blocks many common types of trackers by default, includingthird-party cookies, cryptominers, and fingerprintsThis helps to protect your online privacy and reduce the amount of data that’s collected about you. Below are the options for the ‘Enhance Tracking Protection’ in the settings:No Google TrackingOh boy, I like this one. So unlike Chrome, which is owned by Google and ties into its advertising and data collection ecosystem, Firefox is developed by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation and has no affiliation with Google or any other major tech company. This means that Firefox is less likely to collect and share your data with third parties.No Sign-In RequiredWhile Chrome requires you to sign in with a Google account to access certain features, Firefox does not require any sign-in at all. This means that you can still use Firefox without creating a user profile or linking your browsing activity to any personal information -Don’t get me wrong, if you want to use the Google search engine WITHIN FireFox, it might still prompt you to sign in but you still don’t have to! Also, the choice is there to create an account just to sync bookmarks and tab from one device to another e.g. phone to laptop.Private Browsing Mode(Another very important part!) Firefox offers a Private Browsing mode that doesn’t save your browsing history, cookies, or temporary files. This can be useful for browsing sensitive content or preventing others from seeing what you’ve been looking at.Firefox’s Private Browsing mode offers a more robust set of features for privacy and security than Google’s Incognito mode. Within the ‘Settings’, you can customise your privacy settings more extensively than Google Chrome. You can choose to block all third-party cookies, prevent websites from accessing your location data, and clear your browsing history and data automatically when you close the browser.Google’s Incognito mode does not block all cookies or prevent all forms of tracking.Open-Source SecurityLike I mentioned before, Firefox is an open-source project, meaning that anyone can review the code and contribute to its development. This helps to ensure that security vulnerabilities are identified and addressed quickly, and that the browser remains as secure as possible. You too can find something and report it to the repository via creating an issue!Of course, these are just some general reasons why you might prefer Firefox over Chrome, and the choice ultimately comes down to personal preference and priorities. I know with developers, they would prefer Chrome for the dev tools and I think it’s almost a standard to use Chrome (though at my workplace we use Microsoft Edge), anyhoo Google is just a default for web browsing and search engine. I also know it’s hard if you have a whole Google ecosystem set up like Google docs to Sheet to Slides, emails, calendar etc, you can still use them but on a safer browser.I would also recommend using ‘DuckDuckGo’ for a search engine as they too are really good with security and privacy but as a search engine (plus on their phone app they have a cool animation when you want to delete you browsing data from the tabs hehe)!Links to interesting pages for more information on this topic:YouTube videos: video 1 | video 2 | video 3 | video 4Articles: article 1 | article 2 | article 3Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. 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