Comment by data-ottawa | Hacker News Reader

Comment by data-ottawa | Hacker News Reader

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Chrome Mobile is the largest reason I would not recommend an Android (specifically Pixel) device to friends or family. I bought one, and I found myself actively avoiding browsing the web on it.

Even after installing Firefox you can’t get rid of the Google Chrome web search bar on the home screen, and in-app web views are Chrome, so you’re never really free from Chrome.

I do understand the why of ads, and I’m okay with _some_ ads. On 99% of websites from a Google search you get a sticky top and/or bottom bar, and interstitial ads between paragraphs and they’re a little annoying but not so bad. But then on about 30% of search results one of those sticky ads is an autoplaying video, which means I can’t actually read the content (since 1/3 of my screen is video) and the “X” icon is 0.5mm wide so I can’t close it without clicking the video. Then there’s the email subscribe pop up on scroll, and after 15 seconds you get prompted to allow notifications for this website.

Using the web without an ad blocker feels like you’re being attacked, it’s aggressive and stressful.

I had hoped the ubiquity of ad blocking would result in advertisers going “hmmm, maybe we can drive fewer people to install these things by acting better”, but instead it’s been a race to who can exploit the smaller pool of users for clicks.

Of course you can get rid of the "web search bar". Not sure what launcher the Pixel is using, as I have a Samsung device, but you can install a different launcher if needed.

The in-app views can be Firefox by just setting it as the default browser. Lest we forget, at least Android has an actual Firefox implementation, versus iOS which does not. Not sure what you're talking about, but if you bumped into certain cases where a Chromium web view would be better for compatibility, you can use a Chromium-based fork, like Bromite, Vivaldi, or Brave, all of which can fit the bill.

The only exception I can think of is Facebook, which comes with a highly customized web view meant for tracking users, but it's not using Chrome directly. And on Android it is the custom to also allow opening links in the external browser, and even Facebook has this option (Settings -> Preferences -> Media -> Open links in external browser).

The only edge that Chrome has is the deeper integration on the "Install app" menu option for websites that integrate with SSB/PWA. Otherwise you can safely uninstall or disable Chrome completely (which I do).

I have a Samsung S21 Ultra, with 512 GB of storage. I can download torrents straight to my phone via LibreTorrent. The other day I downloaded 3 seasons of Star Trek Picard and started playing them on my TV. But first, I used Firefox with uBlock Origin installed to navigate a Pirate Bay mirror. The entire scenario is only possible on Android.

On Pixel devices, the default launcher is the Pixel launcher, and you can't remove the search bar on the homescreen. But like you said, you can install a different launcher.

FWIW, you can now install PWA apps with Firefox. The implementation is not as polished as chrome, though.

I've been using Android since the G1.

I don't think I've ever had the search bar on the home screen for more than a couple minutes after getting a new phone.

My in-app web views are also in Firefox. I'm pretty sure just changing the default browser changes this, though there may be a second setting I'm forgetting about.

This is actually my main sticking point on refusing to try iOs. You can't even install Firefox on an iPhone, their "Firefox" is just a wrapper around Safari.

The search bar on the home screen referenced by OP is a Pixel launcher exclusive, which is the default installed launcher on Pixel devices. You can't remove it. You can install an third-party launcher however. You can also use a widget provided by a browser app to put a search bar on the homescreen (all major browsers have such an option).

For the most part, my webviews are in FF (selected as my default browser), but it depends on what app launches the webview. Sometimes it defaults to Chrome.

Ah, I have a Pixel phone but have been using a third-party launcher for so long that I don't even know what the default looks like anymore.

I was wrong about the web views, I didn’t realize they updated because it seems like app developers can choose to use specific web views instead of the system one.

Also wrong about the launcher, I’m relatively new to Android and hadn’t seen any settings for it.

Pixel 4a user here:

I haven't played with the default launcher, but you can absolutely get rid of it with other launchers (as many sibling comments noted).

As for the chrome//android web view, you can disable the chrome app and 99% of apps that use android web view have an escape hatch option to just open it in your default browser, so that's also a non issue.

> Chrome Mobile is the largest reason I would not recommend an Android (specifically Pixel) device to friends or family. [...] Even after installing Firefox you can’t get rid of the Google Chrome web search bar on the home screen, and in-app web views are Chrome, so you’re never really free from Chrome.

Meanwhile, on pretty much the only competition, you can't even install a different browser, they're all just reskins of Safari. You'd be better off recommending Android...

Firefox on Android with adblockers is better than Safari with adblockers, but since Safari supports adblockers easily I would recommend it to family and friends over Chrome which doesn’t.

I have been corrected on removing the launcher and how web views work in this thread.

I mean, you bought a hardware device from the same company that sells ads. Of course it is going to be encumbered with mechanisms to get those ads in front of your eyeballs. That's like complaining about getting bit when trying to pet the snarling foaming at the mouth dog.

That's why I use grapheneos. The only 'feature' I've lost is the ability to use the device to pay at card terminals.

Also Chromecast doesn't work. But these are okay tradeoffs with okay alternatives, so the improved security and privacy is well worth it to me.

News to me. I guess I never tried it.

Firefox has a homescreen widget with a search bar. My web view browser is also Firefox. My phone isn't Pixel though.

I watch Louis Rossmann and he likes the Pixel brand but only after installing a different OS. I think he used graphene which is privacy respecting.

I am so ingrained in iOS it’s hard to leave but I really did like the pixel phones and have thought about getting one.

Duck Duck browser is my go-to. There is no downside at all. Sometimes I specifically use chrome...well, very rare.

I use DDG's browser too, especially when I need to access site and don't care about cookies or saving history of that site (the private address generating feature is nice too).

On my Pixel, I use FF mainly, but also have DDG and Chrome (for Google-specific sites only).

You can fireproof the sites you want to maintain cookies for.

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