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Comment by da_chicken | Hacker News Reader

You know, I'm quickly reaching a point where I want the default browser to work in Incognito mode, and the browser should only switch to regular mode when I explicitly whitelist the domain.

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On Android I browse by default with Firefox Focus and only to use sessions like posting this response I copy the URL to chrome and make the post. Than I'll go back to Focus. It's crude but Firefox Focus beats all browsers privacy and responsiveness on Android imo.

Once I started using Firefox Focus, I was surprised at just how much of my browsing didn't need to be logged in. I don't need to keep session state when I'm just reading Wikipedia, news sites, or blogs.

Same, Focus is great. Also a very warm mention for what I think became one of my favourite features while browsing - one single tab.

Same. My one wish for Focus is that I could open another tab. Even just one more tab during an active session would make life easier.

You can open more than one tab with Focus. I did it accedentally a few times. The bin action button changes to a number if you have more than one tab open.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/open-new-tab-firefox-fo...

you can, hold the link and click open in a new tab

TIL that yes, that's true, but only on Android. iOS only lets you Open, which uses the same window.

+1 for Focus, but I don't generally interact with HN through a browser on mobile. There's an app for that.

I think apps can track your hardware I'd. I'm not saying hn does that, but other apps might track you even better with an app.

It's getting to the point where porn goes on the regular browser, legit stuff needs incognito.

There are extensions like "Cookie AutoDelete" where you can explicitly whitelist what coookies are not supposed to be delete. I think it does not automatically clear localstorage, though. But if you combine this with a blocker extension to remove the usual suspects when it comes to tracking, you are mostly there already.

Firefox supports the whitelisting natively.

The only thing it doesn't have is a way to auto delete cookies without restarting (which expires session cookies, which is a native option).

That's how I use it, cookies default to session only and a few sites get saved across sessions.

I’ve been running my browsers like this for years. Not being logged in to Amazon et al also prevents buying cheap crap by adding one layer of friction.

Another easy tip is to separate out anything that requires persistent login (ex: gmail) to a separate dedicated browser.

Chrome/Chromium's --user-data-dir is great for this

Or Firefox's containers

Does Incognito mode solve this problem? I thought it mostly prevented data from being stored on your local computer; I did not think it was effective against tracking.

It improves tracking by fisabling your ad blocker.

Maybe in Chrom*, but not in Firefox.

As someone who has used chromium incognito as a crutch, 100% this.

Browsers need to be seriously redesigned with privacy (aka security) in mind. The javascript execution environment needs to be gutted to remove security leaks like screen/window size. And incompetently (/maliciously) designed APIs like websockets need to be thrown right out.

The main browser makers get huge incomes from advertising. That's not going to make them want to spend a lot on protecting users from advertising.

You can still track someone in incognito. Things like your system installed fonts, installed plugins, and canvas fingerprint give you away.

My IOS devices are set to Incognito mode by default and I use a Fire Focus as an add on for blocking with Safari. Been that way for ever. On my laptop Safari is in Incognito mode for all but a few sites. I clear the browsing history on the one that is not after the browsing session.

Disable cookies by default. If a website can't function without enabling cookies open it in incognito

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