Exploring browsers other than Safari
My current devices are at least two years old (iPad Pro), especially my MacBook Air (2018 with Intel CPU) is more than 6 years. All of them are still functioning well and the battery capacity is above 80%.
The only concern is the software update for the sake of fixing security loopholes. My MacBook Air haven’t had OS upgrade since last year, and stayed on macOS 14, while security updates are remaining until next year most probably (according to the previous experience of Apple). The same thing will happen to my iPhone a year or two later, and my iPad Pro a few years.
Why?
Theoretically I can still use these devices as long as they don’t have hardware issues. Security concerns are due to the exposure to the Internet, which is inevitable nowadays. The browser which is no longer supported will be less secure and private, thus the online advice suggests that I should get a browser that supports very old devices. Now I am using Safari in all my devices.
Support
Many third-party apps do support older OS, but their situations vary. As of the date when this blog article was published (13 September 2025), the latest Safari supports macOS 13/iOS 18 or above. Of the browsers I choose to test (Brave, Firefox and DuckDuckGo), Firefox has also a version called Extended Support Release (ESR) so that it supports macOS 10.12/iOS 15 or above, while DuckDuckGo can support macOS 11.2/iOS 15 or later and Brave’s minimum requirement is macOS 12/iOS 17. The latest Apple OS versions as of writing are macOS 15 and iOS 18 respectively.
Security and privacy
For me, a browser is for me to visit the websites I need. Unless they are beneficial to me, I mostly don’t want any features. That’s why I have no bookmarks or other important settings in it. What I do require, is the security to make sure my devices and I are safe. Currently Safari is secure enough.
Brave has the best security and privacy among the browsers I am testing. Besides the powerful built in trackers and advertisements blocking including YouTube on both desktop and mobile, there are other protections like upgrading connections to HTTPS, and blocking fingerprinting. Speaking of fingerprinting, Brave is the only browser which is able to randomise fingerprinting on desktop, while it is nearly unique (better than unique) on mobile, making users less likely (although it’s possible) to be identified and tracked
DuckDuckGo has built in ad blocking too, but advertisements can still be seen sometimes, and ad-free YouTube videos can only be watched on their own Duck Player. They do have sufficient protection like what Brave does, while I didn’t see something like “HTTPS everywhere”.
Firefox doesn’t have built in ad blocking, but installing extensions like uBlock Origin and Private Badgers can help on desktop, and setting Strict tracking protection on mobile is able to block majority of ads. It’s worth noticing that desktop has better security and privacy settings than mobile.
Values and benefits
In order to attract more users, browser developers would love to add more quality of life features besides enhancing security.
Brave has its own search engine which stresses privacy but works more independently than DuckDuckGo (which relies on Bing results). While DuckDuckGo is getting better, I like Brave more because the performance are quite close to Google, and the AI summary is satisfying. I also like their playlist which allows users to watch YouTube offline and even in the background!
Brave Search
Playlist on iPad
Firefox has the smoothest experience among the three browsers especially when I was using Google Maps. Both desktop and mobile browsers allow Brave as the default search engine, although I needed to create manually. Firefox’s extensions are great to customise my productivity system on desktop. On mobile if I prefer more security and privacy, I can opt for their another app called Firefox Focus.
I also appreciate both of them let me decide different search engines in some individual cases when I have a search engine default, as you know no search engines are perfect, and sometimes we have to be flexible to use different tools in various circumstances. We need to understand our own situations first.
Brave
Firefox
Not to mention both are able to add search engines they may not have, like ChatGPT. While DuckDuckGo, of course, sticks to its own one.
At least Brave and Firefox on my iPhone and iPad are much more energy saving than Safari, probably thanks to their stronger tracking protection and even ad blocking so that I don’t feel my phone warm and even hot when browsing.
Are they trustworthy?
It’s always good to understand their companies’ practices in order to pick up apps, as tools are more complex nowadays so that trust relationship with them is vital. That said, it’s never plausible to find a company which is entirely good-natured and sustainable — it’s always easy to see their wrongdoings.
The cases of Brave has been told a lot actually, especially when some people don't like how they are commercial, but the current experience is outstanding in terms of values and security. Many people are able to point out the majority of sources of money is from Google, or Firefox will be so vulnerable when Google decides to not fund them. DuckDuckGo is always criticised for its dependency on Bing results, which can lead to tracking from Microsoft.
In the age of information, it’s not challenging to seek their positive and negative history, and people will likely react quickly and choose what they want to believe based on the part of the information they are able to digest. In fact, we are never able to make a decision immediately, and the only way we can do, is to perform tiny experiments by keeping using the apps when we need to, observe our experiences and keep up-to-date news about the companies, until we can gather sufficient primary and secondary data.
Even though we understand well, we only know the past and present, which may not guarantee the future.
So what will I choose?
As I said above, the only “decision” I have made is to keep the three browsers in all of my devices so that I can explore them. The tiny experiment can last for a month or two, while I have a note for me to write down my thoughts and observations.
But if you insist on asking me which is the best. I would say Firefox is great on my laptop, when my MacBook Air is not able to upgrade, and Apple may drop security at the end of the next year, because Firefox explicitly is willing to support very old devices. On my iPad and iPhone, as the OS support will be quite long so I can keep my Safari.
The good news is, I don’t need to limit myself to only one browser. Just choose any according to my situation at the moment. But when the battery saving is better than Safari, I may end up using Brave more.
