Privacy Nightmare: Delete Chrome from android phones

CAcreeks wrote

Where did you download Bromite browser? I cannot find it in Google's app store.

Mostly I use Brave. I'm satisfied with it as a browser, but do not like their business model.

Search GitHub or the XDA forums or do a web search. Ive been using it for several years or whenever it first started development. It is updated on a regular basis and is open source. It is not available in the Google App Store.

Fear Mongering, blown out of proprtion and a lack of evidence of ANY security catastrophe to a single user, in your statement.

Bromite has in the years I’ve used it, only been a week or two behind a Chrome fix. Most often its a few days at most, as are the other Chrome forks, such as, Vivaldi or Edge, etc.. Even Chrome doesn't find the problems very quickly. Don't use a computer if you are so paranoid? Most people probably have no clue what you are even referring to.

Cariboo wrote:

CAcreeks wrote

Where did you download Bromite browser? I cannot find it in Google's app store.

Mostly I use Brave. I'm satisfied with it as a browser, but do not like their business model.

Search GitHub or the XDA forums or do a web search. Ive been using it for several years or whenever it first started development. It is updated on a regular basis and is open source. It is not available in the Google App Store.

Thanks.

Both the GitHub project and the bromite.org webpage have download links.

I installed it via Brave browser, with two security warnings to override. Help or FAQ says that it updates automatically, which Brave did not always do for me.

The Home Page seems self-maintained, as opposed to Brave, which populates it with recently visited websites, or something.

ak_aka_ka wrote:

Cariboo wrote:

Fear Mongering, blown out of proprtion and a lack of evidence of ANY security catastrophe to a single user, in your statement.

Bromite has in the years I’ve used it, only been a week or two behind a Chrome fix. Most often its a few days at most, as are the other Chrome forks, such as, Vivaldi or Edge, etc.. Even Chrome doesn't find the problems very quickly. Don't use a computer if you are so paranoid? Most people probably have no clue what you are even referring to.

There is no fear mongering and nothing is blow out of proportion: You need only review the release annoucement channels for Chrome and the Brave/Bromite GitHub release channels to diff the time in between syncs. Case in point: csagan5 released 108.0.5359.109 on Dec 9, 2022. Chrome announced 108.0.5359.128 on Dec 13, 2022 with multiple fixes to public vulns including High CVE-2022-4436/High CVE-2022-4437/High CVE-2022-4438/High CVE-2022-4439 and more. Brave and Vanadium (GrapheneOS) released .128 within 24 hours while Bromite released 108.0.5359.156 on Dec 19, 2022. I do like Bromite. Only that is more prudent to move to an updated browser when it falls behind and perhaps return to it once it is back in sync.

CVE-2022-4438 applies only to Windows, whereas this is the Android group.

CVE-2022-4437 is for Mojo IPC, which seems to be new and scarcely implemented.

The others are for Blink Media and Blink Frames. I have no idea what they are.

Cariboo wrote:

FWIW, I've disabled and never used Google Chrome on any Android device. I do use the more private ad blocking open source Bromite web browser app, which is a modded version based on Chrome. I also use the open source Foss browser which uses the installed Android WebView but is somewhat behind Bromite in features but is tiny app in comparison and uses fewer system resources other than the Android WebView app.

I recently uninstalled the disabled Google Chrome and most other Google and other unwanted apps from my Android 10 device by using the ADB uninstall method, which uses Android ADB, Windows PowerShell and Chocolatey. There have been Zero problems since.

What problems were you having with Chrome?

Mark B. wrote:

Cariboo wrote:

FWIW, I've disabled and never used Google Chrome on any Android device. I do use the more private ad blocking open source Bromite web browser app, which is a modded version based on Chrome. I also use the open source Foss browser which uses the installed Android WebView but is somewhat behind Bromite in features but is tiny app in comparison and uses fewer system resources other than the Android WebView app.

I recently uninstalled the disabled Google Chrome and most other Google and other unwanted apps from my Android 10 device by using the ADB uninstall method, which uses Android ADB, Windows PowerShell and Chocolatey. There have been Zero problems since.

What problems were you having with Chrome?

I had never enabled Chrome, as I was already using other Browsers that I was very used to. As well, Chrome was to me, Bloatware, far too large for my needs and I would read that it could use enormous amounts of Data bandwidth that I did not have control of, meaning using data bandwidth that I could not afford, so I never wanted to Enable Chrome.

As well, over time, I only read not so great things about Chrome, so again, I had no incentive to Enable it to use it.

Also, I prefer to support smaller independent developers.

Also, i like to tweak all my apps and control permissions, streamline preferences, play with app options, and to have rigorous data bandwidth control, Chrome offers much but while "free", it does cost in terms of storage space, data bandwidth used, lack of user control, unknown background activities and who knows what else unknown to the user.

I prefer smaller, even less featured apps / software. I do not need or want "features" that I will never use, cannot control or turn off or remove. Just the fact that most Google apps on Android devices can only be "Disabled" rather than completely 100% uninstalled and not even buried in locked system folders, irks me enough to avoid such apps.

I prefer to tinker with all my apps and software and remove as much bloat as possible.

And I prefer apps where I am not the product, which is too often a requirement of many Google products.

fotografffic wrote:

Has anyone deleted Chrome from their phone. I've search this forum and couldn't find a discussion about it.

"multiple high-level hacks of [the] browser"

https://www.the-sun.com/tech/4014419/google-chrome-delete-browser-now-heres-why-android/

The speaker in the video keeps mentioning an accelerometer. I'm unfamiliar with it though I just checked and my phone does have an accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass.

Thank you.

It's The S*n - may as well believe that the Earth is flat and that phones and electricity are witchcraft.  Rule one, never believe anything in that "publication" (if it is comparable to the UK version that is)

Sho-Bud wrote:

If you're worried about privacy, don't use any phone.

Any connected device.

Djingonthenet wrote:

fotografffic wrote:

Has anyone deleted Chrome from their phone. I've search this forum and couldn't find a discussion about it.

"multiple high-level hacks of [the] browser"

https://www.the-sun.com/tech/4014419/google-chrome-delete-browser-now-heres-why-android/

The speaker in the video keeps mentioning an accelerometer. I'm unfamiliar with it though I just checked and my phone does have an accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass.

Thank you.

It's The S*n - may as well believe that the Earth is flat and that phones and electricity are witchcraft. Rule one, never believe anything in that "publication" (if it is comparable to the UK version that is)

You're probably right.  The US Sun is an online-only version of the UK tabloid.  It's owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - also the owner of Fox News.

ak_aka_ka wrote:

Wanted to wait to showcase the delay in updates with Bromite: It missed an entire major version release (109.x) and all its cumulative and concomittant security updates. The second stable 109.x release for Android was marked stable on Jan 24 and GrapheneOS has a commit referencing 109.0.5414.118 the same day.

Oh well, I get sick of downloading software updates anyway. Updating is getting to be a full time job nowadays - there's no time left for actual computer and phone use.

Nice thing is that Bromite warned me. Brave browser never did that; it was always back-rev.

G Chrome might update automatically. I'm not sure. It's difficult to know what's happening on an Android phone, compared to Unix (ps) or Windows (task manager).

CAcreeks wrote:

...

G Chrome might update automatically. I'm not sure. It's difficult to know what's happening on an Android phone, compared to Unix (ps) or Windows (task manager).

The Play Store app Settings give some choices to fully automate in the background, provide app update notifications, or simply let the updates sit unseen until the Play Store is actively opened to check for them. I personally like to review updates before letting them install, The Play Store tends to default to automation, making manual app management a lot more clicky, and is increasingly intrusive about reviewing installed apps, disabling things and/or feeding the Google user-data monster.

I2K4 wrote:

G Chrome might update automatically. I'm not sure. It's difficult to know what's happening on an Android phone, compared to Unix (ps) or Windows (task manager).

The Play Store app Settings give some choices to fully automate in the background, provide app update notifications, or simply let the updates sit unseen until the Play Store is actively opened to check for them. I personally like to review updates before letting them install, The Play Store tends to default to automation, making manual app management a lot more clicky, and is increasingly intrusive about reviewing installed apps, disabling things and/or feeding the Google user-data monster.

There are some process monitors or managers in the G app (play) store.

Simple System Monitor looks like a good one.

Task seems to mean something on your to-do list, so those apps don't seem relevant.

CAcreeks wrote:

I2K4 wrote:

G Chrome might update automatically. I'm not sure. It's difficult to know what's happening on an Android phone, compared to Unix (ps) or Windows (task manager).

The Play Store app Settings give some choices to fully automate in the background, provide app update notifications, or simply let the updates sit unseen until the Play Store is actively opened to check for them. I personally like to review updates before letting them install, The Play Store tends to default to automation, making manual app management a lot more clicky, and is increasingly intrusive about reviewing installed apps, disabling things and/or feeding the Google user-data monster.

There are some process monitors or managers in the G app (play) store.

Simple System Monitor looks like a good one.

Task seems to mean something on your to-do list, so those apps don't seem relevant.

I use Greenify (Oasis Feng) to "hibernate" nuisance background activity and save the battery, but the Google Play Store and Play Services are pretty essential so I don't interfere with them.  I've set what Google makes available to minimize intrusiveness, but it is what it is.