Waterfox

Last updated
Waterfox
Original author(s) Alexandros Kontos
Developer(s) Alexandros Kontos, BrowserWorks Ltd
Initial release27 March 2011;13 years ago (2011-03-27)
Stable release
G6.0.13 [1] / 24 April 2024;3 months ago (24 April 2024)
Preview release
G6.0 Beta 5 / September 14, 2023;10 months ago (2023-09-14)
Repository
Written in C, C++, CSS, JavaScript, XUL
Engine Gecko, SpiderMonkey
Operating system Windows 7 or later, Mac, Android, Linux
Platform x64, ARM64, PPC64LE
Type Web browser, mobile web browser, feed reader
License MPL-2.0
Website www.waterfox.net   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Waterfox is a free and open-source web browser and fork of Firefox. It claims to be ethical and user-centric, emphasizing performance and privacy. [2] There are official Waterfox releases for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. [3] [4] It was initially created to provide official 64-bit support, back when Firefox was only available for 32-bit systems. [5]

Contents

Divisions

Waterfox

Waterfox shares core features and technologies like the Gecko browser engine [6] and support for Firefox Add-ons [7] with Firefox. It is also compatible with Google Chrome and Opera extensions. [2] It disables telemetry and Pocket by default, which are present in Firefox builds. However, it collects technical information about the user's device to update properly. [5]

Waterfox Classic

Waterfox Classic is a version of the browser based on an older version of the Gecko engine that supports legacy XUL and XPCOM add-on capabilities that Firefox removed in version 57. [8] [9] It is still partially maintained with fixes and patches from Waterfox and Firefox ESR releases. However, its development has been separated due to several changes from Waterfox that are otherwise unapplicable. [10]

Vulnerabilities

Waterfox Classic has multiple unpatched security advisories. The developer states that "changes between versions so numerous between ESRs making merging difficult if not impossible". [11] [10]

Privacy

Exodus Privacy Analysis demonstrates that it uses the following trackers:

According to Exodus, [13] these are the same as the trackers used by Firefox, with the notable exclusion of the Adjust marketing platform that only Firefox uses.

History

Waterfox was first released by Alex Kontos [14] [5] on March 27, 2011 for 64-bit Windows. The Mac build was introduced on May 14, 2015 with the release of version 38.0, [15] the Linux build was introduced on December 20, 2016 with the release of version 50.0, [16] and an Android build was first introduced on October 10, 2017 in version 55.2.2. [17]

From July 22, 2015 to November 12, 2015, Waterfox had its own search-engine called "Storm" that would raise funds for charity and Waterfox. Storm was developed with over £2 million of investor funding and powered by Yahoo! Search. [18] [19] [20]

In December 2019, System1, an advertising company which portrays itself as privacy-focused, [21] acquired Waterfox. [22] [23] In July 2023, Alex Kontos announced that Waterfox had been turned into an independent project again. [24]

An Android release of the browser was made available via the Google Play Store in November 2023. [25]

Logos

See also

Related Research Articles

Gecko is a browser engine developed by Mozilla. It is used in the Firefox browser, the Thunderbird email client, and many other projects.

A computing platform, digital platform, or software platform is the infrastructure on which software is executed. While the individual components of a computing platform may be obfuscated under layers of abstraction, the summation of the required components comprise the computing platform.

XUL, which stands for XML User Interface Language, is a user interface markup language developed by Mozilla. XUL is an XML dialect for writing graphical user interfaces, enabling developers to write user interface elements in a manner similar to web pages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox</span> Free and open-source web browser by Mozilla

Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards. Firefox is available for Windows 10 and later versions of Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its unofficial ports are available for various Unix and Unix-like operating systems, including FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and other platforms. It is also available for Android and iOS. However, as with all other iOS web browsers, the iOS version uses the WebKit layout engine instead of Gecko due to platform requirements. An optimized version is also available on the Amazon Fire TV as one of the two main browsers available with Amazon's Silk Browser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Browser wars</span> Competition between web browsing applications for share of worldwide usage

A browser war is a competition for dominance in the usage share of web browsers. The "first browser war" (1995–2001) consisted of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, and the "second browser war" (2004-2017) between Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome.

This is a comparison of both historical and current web browsers based on developer, engine, platform(s), releases, license, and cost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Startpage.com</span> Privacy-focused search engine based in the Netherlands

Startpage is a Dutch search engine company that highlights privacy as its distinguishing feature. The website advertises that it allows users to obtain Google Search results while protecting users' privacy by not storing personal information or search data and removing all trackers. Startpage.com also includes an Anonymous View browsing feature that allows users the option to open search results via proxy for increased anonymity.

Mozilla Firefox has features which distinguish it from other web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mozilla Corporation</span> American software company

The Mozilla Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates and integrates the development of Internet-related applications such as the Firefox web browser, by a global community of open-source developers, some of whom are employed by the corporation itself. The corporation also distributes and promotes these products. Unlike the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, and the Mozilla open source project, founded by the now defunct Netscape Communications Corporation, the Mozilla Corporation is a taxable entity. The Mozilla Corporation reinvests all of its profits back into the Mozilla projects. The Mozilla Corporation's stated aim is to work towards the Mozilla Foundation's public benefit to "promote choice and innovation on the Internet."

NoScript is a free and open-source extension for Firefox- and Chromium-based web browsers, written and maintained by Giorgio Maone, a software developer and member of the Mozilla Security Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox for Android</span> Android web browser by Mozilla

Firefox for Android is a web browser developed by Mozilla for Android smartphones and tablet computers. As with its desktop version, it uses the Gecko layout engine, and supports features such as synchronization with Firefox Sync, and add-ons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pale Moon</span> Free and open-source web browser

Pale Moon is a free and open-source web browser licensed under the MPL-2.0 with an emphasis on customization. Its motto is "Your browser, Your way." There are official releases for Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, macOS, and Linux.

Firefox was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser, first released as Firefox 1.0 on November 9, 2004. Starting with version 5.0, a rapid release cycle was put into effect, resulting in a new major version release every six weeks. This was gradually accelerated further in late 2019, so that new major releases occur on four-week cycles starting in 2020.

Mozilla is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, publishes and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, with only minor exceptions. The community is supported institutionally by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation and its tax-paying subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivaldi (web browser)</span> Web browser with built-in email client

Vivaldi is a freeware, cross-platform web browser with a built-in email client developed by Vivaldi Technologies, a company founded by Tatsuki Tomita and Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, who was the co-founder and CEO of Opera Software. Vivaldi was initially released on 27 January 2015.

uBlock Origin Web browser extension

uBlock Origin is a free and open-source browser extension for content filtering, including ad blocking. The extension is available for Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, Brave, Opera, Pale Moon, as well as versions of Safari before 13. uBlock Origin has received praise from technology websites and is reported to be much less memory-intensive than other extensions with similar functionality. uBlock Origin's stated purpose is to give users the means to enforce their own (content-filtering) choices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goanna (software)</span> Software

Goanna is an open-source browser engine and part of Unified XUL Platform that was forked from Mozilla's Gecko. It is used in the Pale Moon and Basilisk browsers. It underlies the Interlink mail client, Hyperbola's IceWeasel, and other UXP-based applications. It was also unofficially ported to Windows XP for the K-Meleon browser and Mypal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox Focus</span> Free and open-source privacy-focused web browser by Mozilla

Firefox Focus is a free and open-source privacy-focused mobile browser by Mozilla, based on Firefox. It is available for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Its predecessor, Focus by Firefox, was released in December 2015 as a tracker-blocking application which worked only in conjunction with the Safari mobile browser on iOS. It was developed into a minimalist web browser in 2016 but retained this background blocking functionality. The Android version of the browser was first released in June 2017 and was downloaded over one million times in the first month. As of January 2017, it was available in 27 languages. The version released for German-speaking countries has telemetry disabled and is named Firefox Klar to avoid ambiguity with the German news magazine FOCUS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliqz</span> Web browser developed by Cliqz GmbH

Cliqz was a privacy-oriented web browser and search engine developed by Cliqz GmbH and majority-owned by Hubert Burda Media. It was available as a desktop and mobile web browser as well as an extension for Firefox itself.

References

  1. ↑ "Release G6.0.13".
  2. 1 2 "What Is Waterfox and Is It Safe?". MUO. 2022-09-13. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  3. ↑ "Waterfox, Free Web Browser". www.waterfox.net. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  4. ↑ "Waterfox: Privacy Web Browser - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  5. 1 2 3 Proven, Liam. "Waterfox: A Firefox fork that could teach Mozilla a lesson". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  6. ↑ "FAQ". www.waterfox.net. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  7. ↑ "Find and install add-ons to add features to Waterfox". www.waterfox.net. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  8. ↑ Kev Needham (2015-08-21). "The Future of Developing Firefox Add-ons". blog.mozilla.org. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  9. ↑ Villalobos, Jorge (2017-02-16). "The Road to Firefox 57 – Compatibility Milestones". blog.mozilla.org. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  10. 1 2 "Waterfox Classic development will continue, but as a separate project from G4". ghacks.net. November 4, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Unpatched Security Advisories · BrowserWorks/Waterfox-Classic Wiki". GitHub.
  12. ↑ "Exodus Privacy Report for Waterfox". Exodus Privacy.
  13. ↑ "Exodus Privacy Report for Waterfox". Exodus Privacy.
  14. ↑ "About Waterfox". www.waterfox.net. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  15. ↑ Kontos, Alex. "Waterfox 38.0 Release". www.waterfoxproject.org. Archived from the original on 2017-12-15. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  16. ↑ Kontos, Alex. "Waterfox 50.1.0 Release (Windows, Mac & Linux)". www.waterfoxproject.org. Archived from the original on 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
  17. ↑ Kontos, Alex. "Waterfox 55 Release (Windows, Mac, Linux and Android)". www.waterfoxproject.org. Archived from the original on 2017-12-21. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  18. ↑ Kontos, Alex (12 May 2015). "4 Year Anniversary: Waterfox Charity and Storm Search". www.waterfoxproject.org. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  19. ↑ "New search engine from Waterfox founder aims to take a punch at Google". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  20. ↑ Lake, Howard (2015-08-07). "'Ethical search engine' Storm to generate funds for charities". UK Fundraising. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  21. ↑ Brinkmann, Martin (14 February 2020). "Waterfox web browser sold to System1". ghacks.net. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  22. ↑ "Waterfox has joined System1". www.waterfox.net. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  23. ↑ "Welcome Waterfox!". www.system1.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  24. ↑ Kontos, Alex (2023-07-03). "A New Chapter for Waterfox". www.waterfox.net. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
  25. ↑ Eswarlu, Venkat (November 30, 2023). "Firefox fork Waterfox is now available for Android with strict privacy defaults". MSPowerUser.
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