IronFox

★★★★☆

A privacy-hardened Firefox variation for Android, comparable to LibreWolf on desktops. It removes Mozilla tracking and services like Pocket, but keeps sync (which is end-to-end encrypted) and local translations (which happen on your device). Like LibreWolf, it disables or narrows some features that can leak data, but those changes can break some websites.

Using it is similar to using mobile Firefox, and virtually identical to using mobile Waterfox. I’m trying both out on the same phone and I sometimes forget which one I’m using. The biggest noticeable differences are that Waterfox doesn’t currently support local translations, and IronFox doesn’t support WebGL unless I dig through advanced settings to re-enable it.

Even then, I’ve still had trouble with a few sites failing to work correctly. The worst is when an error pops up at the end of a checkout process, and you can’t be sure whether the order didn’t get created, or the response didn’t make it to your phone – and I’ve had both happen just in the past few days.

IronFox’s web presence is minimal – mainly its Gitlab repository and mirrors. I imagine this is at least in part because it’s (sort of) a new project, picking up the Mull browser from DivestOS, which was discontinued in December. It’s not on Google Play, but it’s on several alternative app stores, including F-Droid (you need to add their repo), Accrescent and Obtanium.