Since Android doesn't support browser extensions, I accomplish the same thing using the Bromite browser along with a handful of UserScripts to redirect youtube/twitter/etc to my private instances.
Edit: Yes, I know Firefox for Android supports extensions, but the work required [0] to actually install any extension other than the handful "blessed" by Mozilla borders on hilarity. Firefox for Android seemed pretty good a few years ago, but at some point since then Mozilla has done a full redesign of the GUI and the whole thing now feels janky to me. I tried using it for a couple days and just couldn't bear it. My impression is that Mozilla is letting it languish.
For simplicity, I use the exact same setup for all my family's Android phones (GrapheneOS with a persistent wireguard connection back to the house) and Firefox was just too strange for the non-technical people to use.
In addition, GrapheneOS makes some pretty compelling arguments [1] against FF-based browsers.
Lest anyone accuse me of being a Firefox hater, I do use it on the desktop.
[0] https://www.ghacks.net/2020/10/01/you-can-now-install-any-ad...
Yeah, the number of extensions ("add-ons") available for Fennec is a joke. Someone on HN suggested that Firefox Nightly for Android has no such limitation.
Unlike uBlock, uMatrix, an add-on not available for Fennec, is purportedly for "advanced users" but I see in this thread people suggesting that to use extensions in Nightly, one needs to "log in". IMO, that conflicts with the purpose of using extensions to block unwanted egress traffic. IMO, if I was the type of user who "signs in", I would not be interested in "privacy" extensions.
IMO, all this hoop-jumping is due to unregulated online advertising. Without Google's online ad services profits propping it up, Mozilla would not be a feature-for-feature Chrome "competitor". Mozilla is on the same advertising treadmill with Google. Unless they assist online advertising, the organisation cannot survive. The less we rely on these ad-supported organisations, the better.
IMO, trying to control popular web browsers and "smartphones" is a waste of time. The amount of work to attempt to control them is insane and they are moving targets so the work never ends. I "block" advertising, telemetry and other unwanted traffic by proxying smartphone connection to the internet through a computer I can more easily control.
IIRC, someone on HN once compared smartphones to "kiosks". Even if one disagrees now, I think that is where these pocket-sized "personal computers" are headed. People may be forced to use them, but they will remain under the control of some other party.
Also, there's a web extension called Redirector that allows you to do these redirects in a much more generic way.
My mobile devices have an always-on wireguard VPN back to my house so I can access everything while out and about.
1) sign in to amo, make your list.
2) touch somewhere 7 times front
3) enter your amo I'd
It's gg from there
I have a split-DNS setup where I override the DNS entries for certain sites like reddit, twitter, and youtube so that they point to a local server. The local server returns privacy-friendly versions of those sites (e.g. spikecodes/libreddit).
I use the root certificate to sign SSL certificates for those domains which will be trusted by each client on the network as long as they've installed the custom root certificate.
That way, when I visit a reddit link from a google search, it automatically returns the privacy friendly version of the site, as long as the root certificate is installed.
This is especially nice using when using iDevices, because those don't support native browser extensions.
Neat setup but exercise caution with the root-cert (I guess cert pinning isn't a thing on Browsers, yet?).
> I am using an alternative which doesn't require any additional browser extensions... This is especially nice using when using iDevices, because those don't support native browser extensions.
I use ghostarchive.org to view YouTube videos (that fit its limits), nitter.net for twitter threads, and archive.is for reddit threads.
Locally installed root certificates override HSTS. Some regulated industries like banking are legally obligated to unwrap all TLS traffic, so locally installed roots allow for that.
https://codeberg.org/orenom/wikiless#why-i-should-use-wikile...
[0] https://cadence.moe/blog/2022-09-01-discontinuing-bibliogram
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32683722
[2] https://git.sr.ht/~cadence/bibliogram-docs/tree/master/docs/...
Plus,this project's last release is from before that announcement.
# redirect twitter to nitter
{+redirect{s@https?://(mobile.)?twitter.com@https://nitter.eu@}}
twitter.com
mobile.twitter.com
# redirect reddit to teddit
{+redirect{s@https?://(www|old).reddit.com@https://teddit.net@}}
www.reddit.com
old.reddit.com
# etc.HTTPS Everywhere works.
https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/hpy82f/redirect_tw...
edit: formatting
I use it mainly on Android with kiwi browser so I don't need to download apps
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal...
https://f-droid.org/packages/app.fedilab.nitterizeme/
https://f-droid.org/packages/app.fedilab.nitterizemelite/ (only for sharing links)
Usable even under Lynx/Links/Netsurf/Dillo.
There's a workaround though: Use Jeff Johnson's Stop the Madness Safari extension, and hit the redirects tab - screenshot: https://underpassapp.com/StopTheMadness/support-safari.html#...
(not affiliated with Jeff, just a happy customer of many of his apps)
so please make sure you understand the tradeoff, the risks involved.
by not having to trust youtube/twitter/instagram to not store what you do on their website, you instead have to trust a random browser extension to not store everything you do in your browser on every website.
(also, please do not use the it-is-open-source-you-can-read-the-source-code argument. no normal user is going to read and understand the whole source code, and repeat it for every update. at the end, you have to decide to trust it, or not)