Overview
docs.weblibre.eu
WebLibre: The Privacy-Focused Browser WebLibre is an independent browser project built on the foundation of Mozilla’s Gecko Engine and Mozilla Android Components.

I saw it on f-droid news and I’m surprised I haven’t heard anything about it. Probably because it’s new.

Most other browsers are Firefox forks, but if I understand this one only uses the engine. As such most other ones feel like just slightly different Firefox versions. But this one is very different, and I’m liking a lot! Many things on the UI are easier to use and many options I don’t see in Firefox. I specially like the options it give before you first use (search engine, ublock, block or not AI).

It’s also a lot faster, because I blocked many samsung services on my phone like face recognition and Firefox becomes super slow without it (Fennec keeps crashing).

The only thing I don’t like so far is that I don’t see how to hide the URL bar for fullscreen, and typing a URL is very weird in the middle of a bunch of options (very welcome options, but URL typing should be prioritized).

I highly recommend giving it a go. Specially the chromium browser people. I never experienced the complaints I see from them before blocking services on my phone, but those who had issues with Firefox clones might find that it’s better.

One question I have is how trustworthy is the developer. But he seems to not be based in the US, which is a big plus to begin with.

Are there other communities I should post this on? I think this project would benefit from more exposure.

I don’t see any donation option. And it’s annoying that the only communication is through microsoft’s github…

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    3 months ago

    Wow, comes with container tabs out of the box. That’s one of the most requested features for Firefox mobile.

  • limerod@reddthat.comMEnglish
    3·
    3 months ago

    The browser seems interesting and exposes many useful options to the user in settings.

    Container tabs is good.

    It’s currently in Alpha and has some noticeable bugs. I would wait a while before using it as a primary browser.

    • limerod@reddthat.comMEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      I also experinced some bugs.

      The notice says its in alpha. So, I would be careful about using it for secure banking and personal sites.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    I love seeing browers even in the alpha stage using Gecko. I don’t want a future where everything is Chrome.

  • Sudo Sodium @lemdro.idEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    A chromium user here , though so far I couldn’t find the “perfect” Android browser, I always end up using a chromium fork …

    I’ll give it a try, from provided description by OP , I won’t end up cursing Geco like every time I use a Firefox fork , hope that’s the case

    Edit: I tried it:

    • didn’t find any bugs so far, even though it’s in alpha stage
    • what I didn’t like about it is that its design sometimes remind me of very old Android browser, but that’s not something I’ll ditch the browser for
    • a good thing about it is that I found no connections to google server when I checked DNS logs of it , I don’t know about all connections but most of it is to mozilla extensions server and to provided search engine , which is okay to me
    • guismo@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      That’s interesting to see the opinion of a chromium user. And nice thing you checked about the google connections. This is a good thing to know as that was worrying me.

      After using it for a while as a main browser I did find a bunch of bugs. Mainly that often I can’t go back to the previous page at all and some stuff like images on manga websites are downloading way slower than on firefox, I don’t know why. It’s not the browser being slow, it’s the download being slow.

      I figured I’ll wait until it’s more stable. It could be my phone because I have issues with Firefox too. But if the only way to report bugs is a microsoft account I’ll leave it to other people.