Privacy is very important when surfing the Internet. During your stay online, tons of viewers have to follow you from site to site and know what’s going on. And when you’re offline, you always run the risk of others stumbling upon or, worse, snooping on your browsing history.
That’s why using a privacy-focused web browser on your iPhone or iPad is essential. That way, you’ll have a browser you can refer back to for those personal searches you can’t do without.
Fortunately, there are several browsers that offer excellent privacy-based features. Plus, they’re pretty popular (surprising if you haven’t heard of them), get regular updates, and are free to use. Let’s check them out.
1. Firefox Focus
Firefox Focus is an outstanding web browser specially designed to protect you against both online and offline based privacy threats.
To block attempts by websites to track you online, Firefox Focus comes with multiple anti-tracking modules (ads, analytics, and social) built in. Firefox Focus enables these modules by default – you can turn them off if needed via the Firefox Focus Settings. However, you must keep them enabled.
For offline-based threats, you have a nifty Trash option that instantly ‘trash’ whatever appears on your screen. Firefox Focus can also use Face ID or Touch ID to protect itself. This prevents others from reopening the browser and seeing what you are doing.
However, Firefox Focus offers limited functionality in certain key areas. Perhaps the biggest problem is that you can’t open more than a single tab at a time. There’s also a complete lack of support for bookmarks, although you can save your favorite sites to open them faster.
If Firefox Focus feels too restrictive, you can always try the full-fledged version of Firefox that includes similar anti-tracking modules and a special Private Browsing mode to boot.
2. DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser
DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser (named after the DuckDuckGo search engine) works the same as Firefox Focus. It never logs your browsing activity, blocks a ton of site trackers by default, and assigns websites ‘privacy’ ratings on an A – E scale for good measure.
It even has a Toast icon, similar to Firefox Focus but to instantly get rid of anything on the screen with an animation that looks great. You can also lock the browser with Face ID or Touch ID.
DuckDuckGo also gets rid of many of the quirks associated with Firefox Focus. You can use as many tabs as you want and add your favorite sites to your favourites. It even allows you to stay logged in to websites after clearing your browsing data, which is extremely useful.
But it also has a downside – you can only use DuckDuckGo as the default search engine and nothing else. As a search engine, DuckDuckGo is good for privacy, but sometimes you need to use Google for better and more relevant results. Firefox Focus is better in this regard with the option to switch between multiple search engines.
3. Brave Browser
Unlike Firefox Focus and DuckDuckGo, Brave can easily double as both your primary and private web browser. It has a full-fledged bookmarks manager, a dedicated download manager, saves your login and even syncs your data across devices. Brave also has a dark mode that you can hook into iOS’ system color scheme.
Also, the built-in Brave Shields will easily block violating ads and trackers, malicious scripts and fingerprints. You can also use Face ID or Touch ID to protect the browser from local threats.
4. Ghostery Privacy Scanner
Ghostery Privacy Browser may look a bit old, but it provides excellent protection against online trackers. Ghostery even displays all the trackers and scripts websites use to monitor your behavior. Tip — Tap the Ghost icon.
It can also be used as a primary browser – it offers bookmark and password support. However, it does not allow you to sync data between devices.
Ghostery also has an aptly titled Ghost Mode (open the tab switcher and then tap Ghost), which will automatically delete all open tabs every time you let go. You can also restrict the browser to Face ID or Touch ID to prevent others from controlling your browsing activity.
5. Safari
Yes, Safari. And why not. Apple is known for its tough stance in favor of user privacy. And maybe your iPhone or iPad’s built-in browser might be just what you need.
Safari has its own cross-site tracking prevention module (turn on via iPhone/iPad Settings > Safari) to prevent trackers from tracking you across sites. You can easily integrate Safari with a content blocker to further increase privacy and block more trackers.
Switch to Private mode (tap the tab switcher and then tap Private) to protect against local threats. This will effectively restrict the browser to use Private tabs unless you exit the mod. And it stays active even if you force quit the browser and reopen it.
Privacy Issues
The five browsers listed above will easily help you protect your privacy against online and local threats. It’s hard to recommend a particular browser as personal preference will play a big part, so consider giving each one a try to determine what works best for you.
But as a general rule, if you want a free private browser for your regular web browser, use Firefox Focus or DuckDuckGo. In contrast, Brave and Ghostery should work for both private and regular browsing, though Brave’s multiplatform availability may make it a better choice.
And for those of you who don’t like extra clutter on iPhone or iPad, Safari should serve you well.
Next: Worried about data on your iPhone? Improve your iPhone’s privacy by changing these 4 little-known settings.
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