Worried Google Is Spying on You? Here Are 11 Browsers That Are More Private

It is no secret that Google tracks you and your smartphone where ever it goes, online or offline. This is part of its way to provide a more personalized web browsing experience. However, as pleasant as it is to receive a more curated set of ads or a more personalized list of YouTube video recommendations, it does get a little creepy the more you think about just how much Google knows about what should be your personal data.

With that, below is a list of some more private browsers you can use instead of Google.

Google Tracking Your Data

Google can track everything you give it permission to track. This can be anything from your location via location history and GPS, to your online browsing habits via cookies and fingerprinting.

Third-party cookies can be turned off and deleted, and Google plans to remove support for third-party cookies in Google Chrome later in 2023. However, fingerprinting is just as much as a privacy concern, PC Mag said.

Your browser fingerprint, it turns out, is a profile of yourself based on your system configuration. This can be anything from your browser type and version, time zone, language, screen resolution, installed fonts and so much more. And your digital fingerprint or footprint can't be deleted as easily as third-party cookies.

So how can you prevent web tracking? Contrary to popular belief, simply using Google Chrome's Incognito mode, InPrivate, or simply Private mode does nothing much in protecting you against tracking your web movements--it just hides your activities from the local device's history. Instead of using Google Chrome, there are a few browsers that offer more security and privacy.

11 Browsers That Offer More Privacy Than Google

1. Apple Safari

According to PC Mag, Apple was one of the major tech companies to raise fingerprinting as a privacy concern during its Worldwide Developers Conference in 2018.

Apple's native browser, Safari, offers some protection against fingerprint tracking by presenting "a simplified version of the system configuration to trackers so more devices look identical, making it harder to single one out," according to the company's documentation.

It is not perfect, but it does offer more protection when tested on the EFFCover Your Tracks test.

2. Avast Secure Browser

Avast offers built-in VPN functionality, not found in a lot of browsers. It comes with a monthly subscription of $5.99, but it does offer a one-week free trial. The browser also has built-in ad blocking, anti-phishing features, and a password manager offering quite a variety of different levels of security, said AVG.

The EFF Cover Your Tracks tool also reported back strong tracking protection.

3. Brave Privacy Browser

This browser puts emphasis on privacy and ad-blocking. You can also earn cryptocurrency while your browse. It is also compatible with most websites as it relies on a customized version of Google Crome's Chromium code. It has advanced fingerprinting protections, according to Proton Mail and can randomize your fingerprint on the web.

4. Bromite

Bromite is an Android-only browser that works on an edited version of Chromium. It is not on the Google Play Store and can only be installed via its APK in the Android Settings of the device. The browser offers is one Fingerprinting Mitigations Test Page and offers ad-blocking and non-privacy-invasive features.

5. DuckDuckGo

This private search provider is famous and also offers a standalone mobile web browser. On the desktop, it has the DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials Extension to create a more privacy-focused browser that scores high in the EFF Cover Your Tracks test.

Other excellent browsers that offer privacy and functionality and are well-established in the tech-privacy sphere are:

• Epic Privacy Browser

• Firefox

• Microsoft Edge

• Opera

• Tor Browser

• Vivaldi

Of course, you do not need to download all of these web browsers and browser extensions to ensure your privacy online. Just find one that works best for you and stick with it.