Dot Browser, a new browser based on Chromium, away from Google and focused on privacy

Although Firefox is included as the default browser in most Linux distributions, Chrome is the option chosen by the vast majority of users. If we talk about engines, Chromium's one is still used by more people, because it is the one that moves other browsers such as Opera and Vivaldi. But, as has always been said, where you eat two, eat three, and another browser is currently being developed called DotBrowser.

What Makes Dot Browser Special? Well, as for its engine, nothing. This Chromium-based, the same one used by practically all the most popular browsers beyond Firefox and Safari, but Dot Browser has made some changes. As we read in the Presentation page and we will detail better later, among these changes we have that it uses a version of Chromium that has eliminated the Google tracking functions. And is that one of the reasons for being Dot Browser is privacy.

Dot Browser prevents Google from following us

Dot Browser Special Features:

• Ad blocker built-in and enabled by default.
• Clean and familiar user interface. Especially for Chrome / Chromium users on Windows, everything is familiar to us.
• Without Google's tracking or its bloatware. They use Electron, which is a version of Chromium stripped of all mindless tracking.
• We can use our Google account if we wish, unlike other Electron-based browsers.
• Synchronize all your important information with your Dot ID. As with the Firefox or Google account, we can create a Dot account to synchronize the history, favorites and passwords. We can also encrypt our data with the master password.
• Modify every aspect of the browser. From the "config" page you can modify and make fine adjustments to any part of the browser.
• Modern New Tab Page. As it appears in the header capture, this is something that stands out as soon as you start it. And everything is customizable.
• All code is open source. Their developers love transparency, so everything is open source and available on their GitHub page, which can be accessed from here.

Still in alpha phase

Having explained everything Dot Browser offers, we have to say something: at least on Linux, and the author of this article has tested it on two virtual machines (KDE neon and Ubuntu) and on native (Kubuntu), it doesn't work too much well. In fact, it doesn't allow me to enter / click options, blocker shield, or user icon, so I haven't been able to do too much testing. But you have to keep one thing in mind: no stable version available. When we click on «Download», it takes us to a page where you notify us of this, from where we can access your download section.

Therefore, we are facing a browser that could be a good option in the future: it will be compatible with Chrome / Chromium extensions, but we will navigate without being followed. As a matter of fact, some developers have thought that it looks so good that they will include it in their operating system when both launch a stable version. I'm talking about Kai, who for weeks was in charge of the Ubuntu Lumina Remix project and who this weekend announced that they will move away from Canonical to have more freedom, which will translate into the launch of what they have dubbed as arisblue y ArisRed.

How to test Dot Browser

If you want to try Dot Browser, you can downloading your DEB package from the download page and install it with any supported installer, such as GNOME Software or Discover. In the coming weeks it will also be available in other types of packages and, probably, we will be able to add a repository to install and update it from our software center.