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Google makes phones and watches, but its main business is selling ads. As of late, that side of the company has been in the news for the wrong reasons. From scammers hijacking sponsored links to Google itself sending targeted ads to minors, the effects of prioritizing ad revenue over user experience is easy to see. Soon, Google Chrome is going to be hobbling adblockers and disabling some of your favorite browser extensions, too. While this is great for Google’s bottom line, it’s probably not the experience you’re looking for from your browser. The good news is that there are alternatives out there: my favorite is Firefox.
Why you should switch to Firefox
First, you should know that some of the most popular Chrome alternatives are still based on Chromium, an open source web browser engine developed by Google. If major changes are announced for Google Chrome, you can bet that they’ll also impact popular Chromium-based browsers such as Brave, Opera, and Microsoft Edge.
Firefox doesn’t use Chromium, and instead has its own browser engine called Gecko. This means that even though Chrome will soon fight back against ad blockers and other extensions, Firefox won’t. Firefox is also owned by Mozilla Corporation, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation. Its primary incentive is not to sell ads, and therefore, Firefox comes with lots of useful privacy protections baked in. My colleague Justin Pot interviewed a privacy expert, Princeton professor Janet Vertesi, and she recommends switching to Firefox as one of the best ways to reduce your dependence on Google.
The case against Firefox
Even though Firefox is the best Chrome alternative for most people, it still has its own problems. The biggest one is that Google is its primary source of funding. Google pays Firefox a big sum to remain the default search engine on its browser. The future of Firefox would look very different if Google were to stop funding it, which might soon happen pending the courts’ recent decision to label Google a monopoly. But for now, that’s still just speculation.
Firefox has also made a few odd decisions of late, such as including a privacy feature that actually sends aggregaged data to advertisers. Its default setup also collect a bit of data, but you can disable those easily if you change a few Firefox settings.
There’s also potential compatibility issues. It may be tempting to put all your eggs in the Firefox basket, but it’s probably better to keep a Chromium-based browser installed just in case certain websites don’t work well on Firefox.
How to switch from Chrome to Firefox
Actually switching from Chrome to Firefox is quite easy. Just remember that you shouldn’t delete Chrome before you complete the switch, just close the app (or quit it if you’re on a Mac). When you’re ready to move, install Firefox on your computer and open the browser. You’ll see the import tool. If you don’t see it, click the three-lines button in the top-right corner and go to Settings > General and select Import Data. Choose your current browser from the drop-down menu and click the + button next to it. This will show you all the data that can be imported. If everything has gone well, you should see your browsing history, extensions, bookmarks, and other data in this list. Once you’re all set, click Import.
After the process is complete, click Done and you’re good to go. You’re free to download some of the best Firefox extensions, familiarize yourself with useful browser keyboard shortcuts, and change your default browser to Firefox.
That leaves just one thing: Firefox Sync, which can sync your Firefox settings, browsing data, open tabs, extensions, and bookmarks across devices. Open the three-lines menu in the top-right corner of the Firefox window and navigate to Settings > Sync. On this page, set up a Firefox Sync account. The next time you install Firefox on a different device, you can sign in with your account to quickly restore all of your Firefox data.
An even more private alternative to Firefox
There are some more private, though often less convenient, alternatives to Firefox out there. The best one for most people is Mullvad Browser. Made in collaboration with The Tor Project, Mullvad Browser collects no data and has strong anti-fingerprinting features. Mullvad is known for offering one of the best privacy-focused VPN services—you can pay for it with cash and don’t even need an email address to create an account. The company has partnered with the right people to make this browser, which comes with the adblocker uBlock Origin and the script blocker NoScript pre-installed. Its default search engine is also the privacy friendly DuckDuckGo.
While there are other great privacy focused browsers, Mullvad is my current favorite.
