All Devices Interesting privacy comparison of all the major browsers for iOS 13

[Airforcekid]

Browser First-Run: iOS Edition | Brave

Last year I did a review of several popular desktop browsers, focusing exclusively on what they do when you launch the browser for the first time. Today I decided to take a look at various browsers available on iOS 13…

brave.com

I found it interesting that no matter what search engine you choose Safari still sends what you search to Google. I imagine its for predictive queries but for a company focused on privacy they should have an alternative. Also Edges requests are also concerning.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Browser First-Run: iOS Edition | Brave

Last year I did a review of several popular desktop browsers, focusing exclusively on what they do when you launch the browser for the first time. Today I decided to take a look at various browsers available on iOS 13…

brave.com

I found it interesting that no matter what search engine you choose Safari still sends what you search to Google. I imagine its for predictive queries but for a company focused on privacy they should have an alternative. Also Edges requests are also concerning.

I have been using DDG as my search engine.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

Did he changed the search engine on the iPad? I mean, since the adressbar is also the searchbar, wouldn't it be logical, keystrokes are getting send to google for search queries? Or am i missing something?

 

[Airforcekid]

Did he changed the search engine on the iPad? I mean, since the adressbar is also the searchbar, wouldn't it be logical, keystrokes are getting send to google for search queries? Or am i missing something?

I didnt catch that it is worded weirdly. I did the test on my own using a PiHole and the DNS request was sent to Google for query suggestions no matter which search provider I choose.

 

[Nütztjanix]

I didnt catch that it is worded weirdly. I did the test on my own using a PiHole and the DNS request was sent to Google for query suggestions no matter which search provider I choose.

What DNS server is your upstream server? Google, by any chance? 😉

 

[Airforcekid]

What DNS server is your upstream server? Google, by any chance? 😉

Cloudflare I actaully degoogled myself (as much as humanly possibe without breaking the internet) a few years ago. I have most Google domains blocked but the search queries was getting through until now.

 

[Nütztjanix]

Cloudflare I actaully degoogled myself (as much as humanly possibe without breaking the internet) a few years ago. I have most Google domains blocked but the search queries was getting through until now.

Depending on how configurable your network is, you could still try to redirect Google DNS queries internally to your PiHole or any other DNS service (like Cloudflare). I'm in the same boat as you are, and sadly there are a lot of devices that have Google DNS hardcoded and don't respect the DNS server settings as advertised by the DHCP server (router).

 

[Airforcekid]

Depending on how configurable your network is, you could still try to redirect Google DNS queries internally to your PiHole or any other DNS service (like Cloudflare). I'm in the same boat as you are, and sadly there are a lot of devices that have Google DNS hardcoded and don't respect the DNS server settings as advertised by the DHCP server (router).

I use DNS over https on the Pihole using cloudflared and block all port 53 traffic on my routers firewall since it goes over 443. I catch a lot of 8.8.8.8 requests that way.

 

[Nütztjanix]

I use DNS over https on the Pihole using cloudflared and block all port 53 traffic on my routers firewall since it goes over 443. I catch a lot of 8.8.8.8 requests that way.

That's almost exactly my setup 🙂
Do you have any devices with hardcoded 8.8.8.8 DNS on your network? How do they react? I had issues with my Neato when I simply blocked access to 8.8.8.8.

 

[Airforcekid]

That's almost exactly my setup 🙂
Do you have any devices with hardcoded 8.8.8.8 DNS on your network? How do they react? I had issues with my Neato when I simply blocked access to 8.8.8.8.

My biggest offender is my work's android phone but that's not really a surprise. My FireTV and Echo devices attempt to use Google's DNS from time to time as well. Everything works without issue at least for now.

 

[seezar]

Anyone try NextDNS? That was one I came across yesterday

 

[Nütztjanix]

Well, after a quick glance they seem to do logging if you don't disable it, and also don't seem to offer functionality I can't get with PiHole + Cloudflare + DoH.

Edit: FAQ says otherwise, therefore corrected.

 

[NT1440]

Browser First-Run: iOS Edition | Brave

Last year I did a review of several popular desktop browsers, focusing exclusively on what they do when you launch the browser for the first time. Today I decided to take a look at various browsers available on iOS 13…

brave.com

I found it interesting that no matter what search engine you choose Safari still sends what you search to Google. I imagine its for predictive queries but for a company focused on privacy they should have an alternative. Also Edges requests are also concerning.

Can’t those predictions be turned off? If so, I wonder if that stops all the google traffic (if you don’t have google as your default search)?

 

[Airforcekid]

Anyone try NextDNS? That was one I came across yesterday

Its what I always reccomend to anyone who isnt technical or dosent want to go through the effort of configuring a PiHole. Ive tested it myself you get all the functionality and its much easier to setup with their apps.
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Just tested it seems to have stopped it though its kind of annoying they dont use the specified search engine to get suggestions.

 

[seezar]

Its what I always reccomend to anyone who isnt technical or dosent want to go through the effort of configuring a PiHole. Ive tested it myself you get all the functionality and its much easier to setup with their apps.
[automerge]1588174809[/automerge]
Just tested it seems to have stopped it though its kind of annoying they dont use the specified search engine to get suggestions.

Thanks. I’m capable of setting up a pihole, but these days I’d rather use a service and not maintain anything at home if it would give me similar functionality (understanding that a pihole setup would offer the best functionality). Going to give it a try.