"Hardening" Chrome?

Software
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Hello everyone,

What do you all do to make Chrome more secure?

In light of Apple advising users to NOT use Chrome on iOS, are we to avoid it on macOS as well? Ref: Apple Warns iPhone Users To Stop Using Google Chrome — This Is Why

I use a lot more “Google Docs”/Gmail than might be good for me, but some is unavoidable.

In Ep. #829 @macsparky mentioned that he adjusted some settings for a relative’s Chrome installation that made it more secure. Would love to know what those changes were, when you get a chance. :slight_smile:

I primarily use Safari on my phone; so I’m good there, but I do have Chrome installed. Are there steps/settings to adjust there?

The Forbes article linked above does mention that there is a marketing angle involved (Apple saying, “use our stuff”); so I don’t want to overreact, but I would like decent security.

Thanks and HNY! :confetti_ball:

–Tim

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I never install it :rofl:

Chrome gives google so much data, both for individual users and in the aggregate across all users that I couldn’t possibly recommend anyone use it.

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I don’t install Chrome either, but after a quick glance at the article I don’t think the complaint is about security; it’s about privacy?

If so, you might consider ungoogled-chromium instead of Chrome:

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Like many others, I also have not installed Chrome. If I run into a problematic website using Safari, I use the Brave browser.

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Is there a very good reason, a really good reason, why you cannot switch to Proton’s services instead of Gmail and Google Docs?

Proton’s offerings are fully end-to-end encrypted but also something you can share if you need to collaborate. Then delete Chrome.

No one concerned about privacy (and we all should be concerned about our privacy) should be using Chrome or any Google services.

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100%. This. 20! characters.

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The same thing I do with any browser, I delete my cache after each session. And I turn off most tracking on both my free Google account and my paid Google Workspace account.

Google
Google1378×1452 250 KB

IMO, doing this must do some good because after 20 years I only find 10 - 12 messages in my Gmail spam bucket each month.

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Like Bmosbacher, when Safari is not sufficient, I use Brave.

When I just searched in Safari, the (Google(?)) AI results said Brave is not as customisable as Chrome but all the extensions I have ever wanted to add (not many) have worked fine.

I don’t use Gmail and rarely have to go into google drive (some clients insist on using it), so I cannot comment on how well brave integrates with those services.

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We use Google Workspaces at our school. Brave works seamlessly and without any issues.

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I’m a bit concerned about Vivaldi’s score, I’d taken it to be a fairly privacy protecting browser. From their website;

Private

Privacy isn’t just a feature at Vivaldi, it’s a philosophy. No profiling, no data mining, no-nonsense. With built-in ad and tracker blockers, plus end-to-end encryption for synced data.

Read more

Does anyone have any thoughts about the inconsistency with Forbes report?

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Yeah, Vivaldi does not rate well at Privacy Tests either. They really have no business claiming to be a privacy browser.

Based on that site which seems to be well regarded I’m using a few different browsers:

  • LibreWolf (Firefox fork)
  • Mulvad (Firefox fork)
  • Brave (Chromium-based)
  • Orion browser on Apple devices though it’s not necessarily any better than Safari.

Orion is interesting because Kagi is working on versions for Linux and Windows in addition to the macOS and iOS/iPadOS versions that already exist. It may be the only cross platform browser based on Webkit once those versions are released, likely at the end of 2026.

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I’m on a charitable board and they use Google Docs, etc. for a lot of collaborative work.

I’m intrigued by Proton services and might give them a look.

Thanks!