At first, I found this funny. Then I realized how scary, sad, etc. the reality is.
Companies typically prefer users to use a native app for two reasons. First, the software is sometimes easier to build. Second, they are capable of scraping a vastly larger and more valuable set of data from the user.
Browsers can hit many differs sites, many of which are dangerous. Thus, web browsers have to be as secure as possible to protect users from malicious sites. This includes Facebook, TikTok, every medical site you’ve ever logged into, etc.
I know a lot about software. Personally, I view every installed app as a means of attacking my privacy. If you have the choice and your experience isn’t diminished, use a web browser instead of a native app.
Zerlyna@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That is definitely some scary shit, thank you. That also piggybacks onto another thought I had, my partner insists on google chrome for everything. (He is a pc and android user). I stay away from google anything and would think because he SAYS he cares about what’s collected, he admits he isn’t a techie, but then doesn’t want to hear it from me when I say use something Mozilla based and ublock. But nothing is safe anymore. I do use voyager. :)
Lodra@programming.dev 7 months ago
I ditched chrome (chromium + google propriety spyware) some years ago in favor of Brave browser (chromium + Brave stuff). It was a decent user experience but Brave also does some shady stuff, which you can google easily if interested.
Last year, google poisoned chromium with DRM stuff. They rolled back the changes after a few months but the damage was already done. I, and many others, jumped ship to Firefox and other non-chromium based browsers. Firefox isn’t perfect, but it’s an excellent browser. I’m sticking with it for the foreseeable future. And absolutely use uBlock Origin. Between that and proton VPN features, I don’t see ads anymore. It’s fantastic.