Safari. Minimal add-ons, reserved for trusted, regularly visited websites that deal with sensitive information (example: financial services).
Firefox. Full set of privacy and security add-ons. Used for most browsing.
DuckDuckGo. Used for a small set of regularly visited websites that are less sensitive than the sites I view using Safari.
Epic. Used to be my main browser but now only used for streaming the BBC World Service and reading IMDB and Wikipedia because it is rarely updated.
Edge: used only with Amazon, Hotmail (or whatever MSFT calls it now), and Bing-ChatGPT. I orginally downloaded Edge because I was curious to see what changes MSFT would make to Chrome. Then I decided to use it for MSFT services + Amazon. I guess I should call it my Seattle browser.
Chrome. Only used if I canāt get a site to work with one of my other browsers.
I use Firefox mainly, as I have it locked down the way I like it with uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and NoScript, and I like the fenced off Facebook area.
Second is Safari, which mostly gets used for developer stuff and Apple sites, or where the extensions get in the way of something in Firefox.
Last is Chrome, which I only use because itās required for a reporting tool I have to use. It looks like some other options might be available there, but I havenāt felt enough need to look further.
Safari. Iāve recently been trying to switch to Arc, which I really love, but in the end I could not cope with the absence of Keychain passwords and Hide My Email.
I know that there are plugins for both those features, but I havenāt been able to find a reason to trust them!
Oh, also I use 1password 7, and Iām hugely reluctant to upgrade to 8 because I donāt want to have to trust them to take care of my password vaults.
Just yesterday I switched back to Safari as my default browser. The addition of profiles will be useful, and Iāll need to spend some time setting them up like I have them in Arc, and do some major trimming of the a decadeās worth of cruft in my bookmarks collection!
Safari is still my default browser but I am increasingly using Chrome. If a web site doesnāt work well in Safari, I try Chrome and it almost invariably works fine. Also Safari seem to wipe cookies for sites after some time so it loses your saved credentials (not Keychain info), but Chrome saves them better.
Firefox as main browser. Mostly for itās robust built-in bookmarking functionality (tags!!) and the custom abbreviated searches from the address bar. Itās uBlock support also provides peace of mind.
Use Safari on occasion. Would prefer safari, but Iām tied to said FF functionality.
Until recently I used Firefox quite a bit (1) for those sites with overwhelming ads/popups/etc but recent Safari versions are doing way better squelching them, (2) before I found Downie, I used Firefox + extensions to download audio and video files, (3) still use Firefox + extensions to display good old fashioned rss feeds (pretty disgusted with Safari for ādeprecatingā that), and (4) I end up using Firefoxās Reader + Save as pdf because Safari very frequently fails to āprintā images imbedded in an article (even when the images are displayed in the print preview thumbnails - WTF???)ā¦ and then sometimes still have to revert back to copying-pasting articles into TextEdit when neither āReaderā works
I installed Brave awhile back but just never got around to using it much - I sometime use it when troubleshooting sites that choke on Safari
I also installed Arc after reading the TidBits article about it but, again, just havenāt devoted the time to dig in and play with it.
It never occurred to me that I would adopt a Microsoft product as my primary browser, but I have with Edge. Firefox is a close second; I used Chrome for Google Remote Desktop and almost nothing else. I detest Safari. I do wish Seamonkey (and its predecessor, whose name eludes me) was still in development; I was a big fan of that one.
The list of browsers is missing at least one, Waterfox. I only recently heard about it but I downloaded it and will give it a whirl.
I canāt remember why exactly (itās been a while now since I stopped using it), but I was using Brave happily and then something happened that made it basically useless to me. I was upset enough to actually delete it entirely from my computer. Just wish I could remember why. Now I am looking so I canāt really vote as I havenāt found one that I really like.
I depend on uBlock Origin to block ads, trackers and all sorts of other annoyances on the web, so Firefox is my browser of choice. (You canāt use uBO on Safari.)
My primary browser is iCab with Javascript disabled. If I really need to go someplace and Javascript is required for that then I will switch to Firefox (always with uBlock Origin).
Hardware and legacy software keeps me on High Sierra meaning that Safari wonāt work any more and Firefox is no longer upgradable. Iāve refused to ever install Chrome on principle.
Iām glad to see Iām not the only one both in regards to both High Sierra and Chrome. I just updated to Firefox ESR 115.3.1 that was released on 28 Sep 23. Its minimum MacOS is 10.12. This is Mozillaās statement: Firefox version 115 will be the last supported Firefox version for users of macOS 10.12 (Sierra), macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and macOS 10.14 (Mojave). If you are using these versions of macOS you will be moved to the Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) channel by an application update. Mozilla will provide security updates for these users until September 2024. No security updates will be provided after that date.
Yes, just click the <Vote button under the poll and you can change your answers.
The point that several people have made about primary and alternative browsers is a good one, but itās too late for this poll. Iāll think about whether a followup would provide useful information, or if itās something I can pull out from the comments.
Good evening!
I use predominantly Brave, but I am using more and more Firefox.
Brave plays YouTube videos without ads.
And from time to time I also use iCab if I need to save the web page as a pdf-file.
I have noticed Safari has surprisingly poor performance on certain Google properties (Youtube mainly and Google Maps to a lesser extent.) Iām not sure if this is the way Googleās sites are (not) optimzed, or a result of some of the extensions and settings Iāve put in place to limit Googleās more intrusive advertising.
I use Firefox as a backup (and a primary whenever I have to use Windows/Linux.) Firefox has a more robust extension catalog than Safari, with some very specialized site tools. And Mozilla is the only other vendor whose privacy focus I really trust.
I used Chrome a long time ago, back when I felt it was benign enough. But Safari got faster and Chrome got creepier.
Iām glad to see Iām not the only one both in regards to both High Sierra and Chrome. I just updated to Firefox ESR 115.3.1 that was released on 28 Sep 23. Its minimum MacOS is 10.12. This is Mozillaās statement: