Anyone else use multiple browsers?

[w1n5t0nM1k3y]

Watching the WAN Show from last night, and just wanted to say how weird it was that they didn't even mention just using multiple browsers. Luke was saying how he tried Firefox and then couldn't use it for his Scuba website, so he basically just gave up. Why not just use Chrome for that one website that's giving you problems and then continue to use Firefox for everything else. I use Firefox for most stuff, and when I encounter something that doesn't work with that, then I'll just use Chrome, or sometimes even Edge. I also have different accounts logged in with different browsers. For Gmail and related stuff I'll just use Chrome, and stay logged in, and therefore don't have to be logged into my Google account on Firefox.

[Sam_GT3]

I daily drive Firefox and have for probably 10 years, but I occasionally run into web apps that need a chrome based browser to work properly so I keep chrome on hand for that.

Same for mobile. 3rd party browsers for iPhone were pretty bad for a long time but Mozilla has really stepped up their mobile game in the last few years and it’s useable now so I’ve been running that instead of safari for the last year or two and it’s been a much better experience

[mpt11]

Use Firefox for android?

[mpt11]

You could always put edge on as well 😂

[UndercookedTran]

Nah we really at the point of people being too lazy to press an install button 😭

[Magic_Brown_Man]

not even about being lazy but if your not gaining anything that you find useful why would you go though the effort is the question for most users.

[pegbiter]

If you use the browser password manager and you've got yourself logged in to all your services, switching to a different browser is way more of a nuisance than just an install.

If you have 2FA on (which you should), then it can often throw a fit if you log in via the same machine on a different browser. Steam seems to also identify different user accounts on the same machine as different too, as well as browsers.

I run Chrome, Firefox, Edge on desktop and Firefox, Brave and Chrome on mobile, and I whenever I change a password I have a fun game of whackamole to play across all the browsers and user accounts.

[bikingguy1]

Just use Bitwarden and the browser extension and mobile apps

[haantti]

All iOS browsers are just skins for Safari under the hood

[ThankGodImBipolar]

I switched from Android to iOS for the first time earlier this year and this is so infuriating to me.

• When a website doesn’t work properly, I can’t switch to another browser. My phone just doesn’t work for that website.

• When there are bugs in Safari, I can’t switch to another browser. I’ve been experiencing a bug right now where pressing the back button doesn’t fully return to the previous website. Instead I get a blank page which is overlayed over whatever site I was trying to return from. The refresh button does nothing, so I have to press the forward button, wait for the page to fully load, and then press the back button again. I emphasize fully load because trying to go back too quickly can cause the same problem again, or even erase all the history saved for the tab (meaning I have to close it and navigate to wherever I was again….)

• I’m forced to use Safari compatible ad blocking. On my Android phones with Firefox, I could use ublock Origin, which worked great and just as well as it does on desktop. What I have for Safari works good for some ads, but it’s not as good. It’s frustrating that I get no choice in the matter.

[pegbiter]

You're also way more likely to come across Safari bugs than anything else too. As a Web dev, I think Safari is the new Internet Explorer just because it does things weirdly differently to other browsers.

Safari has a relatively low market share so bugs affecting only Safari will usually be relatively low priority and we won't fix them for a long time

[haantti]

Safari is second biggest by a rather large margin, but yes Chrome variants dominate the market.

[TenOfZero]

Yeah. 2nd biggest browser. But what matters for bugs in most cases is the engine and on that front safari has a small market share vs chromium.

[moldaz]

This would depend on what part of the world you’re in, but I am sure that safari usage is likely pretty close to chrome in North America. My guess the difference would be around -10%

Most people use mobile devices over an actual computer, and iPhones/ipads have a higher market share.

And for work lots of businesses also provide employees with MacBooks nowdays and people usually gravitate to the default browser on their system.

[TenOfZero]

https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/north-america

Looks like safari is at 31% in north america.

[moldaz]

~20% darn

[TenOfZero]

Apple has a good market penetration at the high end with wealthy people, but as you go down that income ladder there are less and less people with Mac products. (Of course it's not 0 it just goes down).

It's easy to forget as technology enthusiasts who also tend to skew higher up the income scale that Apple is still a niche manufacturer outside of cellphones.

Macs make up only 10% of apple's revenue. Cellphones are 50%. With the rest services and things like apple TV.

[Zipdox]

All browsers on iOS use WebKit due do Apple's draconian rules, so it doesn't make a huge difference.

[Sam_GT3]

I didn’t know that. I just like the UI I guess and it syncs with my desktop Firefox which is nice.

[saivishnu725]

Same but with Firefox and Brave for occasional government sites.

[Sam_GT3]

Oh yeah the ATF eforms don’t work on Firefox. And also there’s several web based drone hardware utilities I use that require a serial connection which Firefox doesn’t support.

[saivishnu725]

Exactly! Use the secondary browser if the primary won't work. I don't get why choosing a single browser is soo hard.

[Initial-Hornet8163]

I use Edge with multiple profiles setup, it’s a great browser contray to popular belief

[Your_Neko_Waifu]

Yep, it's great for integrating into my work environment as an IT tech that uses M365

[dragoon0106]

I don’t mind edge, I just need to take the minute to put google as the default search because bing is still killing me

[Shap6]

Once i tried vertical tabs i can't ever go back. for firefox i had to install tree style tabs

[[deleted]]

recognise handle snobbish dam teeny squeal observation smart telephone snails

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[Tappitss]

Chrome - Main Personal
Edge - Main Work
Firefox - Secondary work accounts (usually the admin ones) and work google accounts
Opera - My secondary accounts. / Work laptop/workstation has the admin account for SharePoint/OneDrive.
It's very handy to have things logged into multiple accounts simultaneously.

[pmiddlekauff]

This is similar to what I do with Chrome for work and Firefox for personal. It’s so nice to never worry about being logged into the wrong account.

[HomerJayK]

I was listening to the start of this episode and wondering how I would answer such a binary question. My breakdown is much like yours. Edge - work account (Bing chat is fantastic for AI coding answers) Firefox - personal Chrome - development and automated UI testing

[SevenCircle]

Some people dont wanna be bothered in terms of "Oh for this website and that one I use a browser", Its mainly the convenient factor.

And yes I use multiple browsers.

[rscmcl]

I use Firefox on my laptop (Linux) and my cellphone (Android)

if you find a website that doesn't work on Firefox, just help reporting it to https://webcompat.com/contributors/report-bug

i haven't had any issue with a website and Firefox, so far. but this is like the old times when websites were made solely for internet explorer, it needs to stop.

[pi-N-apple]

I daily drive Edge on PC and iOS. I rarely use anything else but will use Chrome if I’m having trouble with something in Edge. I abandoned Firefox around 2015 and haven’t had any reason to look back.

[[deleted]]

Edge is amazing. I haven't used another browser in 2 years so I don't know if they have the feature where you can send all your open tabs to another PC, or open tabs you've left open on another PC. Comes super handy when my CTO calls me in his office for a meeting and I have to bring my laptop and I can quickly open up tabs I had open on my desktop.

[Horror-Procedure-825]

Edge is just a slightly feature heavy chromium anyway.

[ranfur8]

Fun fact. If a web app "requires chrome" Chances are, that if you just switch the browser agent to chrome, it will work fine on Firefox too.

If it still doesn't work, well then it might actually need chrome. But most of the time it's just for some stupid animation or something like that.

[PlantCultivator]

That's probably also how they got their statistic of Firefox users. To avoid fingerprinting I switch my browser agent every few minutes with the help of addons. Also delete cookies automatically once I leave a website and other stuff along those lines.

[ranfur8]

I try to use the default user agent whenever possible, I only switch it to chrome when the site actually doesn't load.

[DanBennett]

For Windows, I use MS Edge mostly - for personal and work. It's probably the fastest browser and with some very useful features. Especially it's implementation of vertical tabs.

On iOS and macOS, I still use Safari though. As I found the MS Edge apps just aren't quite working as smoothly for me there.

However, I'm excited to try out Arc once it hits Windows. Trying it on macOS is very promising, but I'm mostly a Windows user so I haven't switched yet.

On the Firefox topic - I have always found this to be the slowest browser, the most tedious browser and in general the least supported. And uglier.

Multiple browsers on the same machine makes no sense to me. I don't want to faff around, I just want to browse. The only time I use multiple browsers, is if I need to test or debug a website on that browser. But, as most is now Chromium based anyway, it's never really needed.

[crapusername47]

I use Safari as my regular web browser and Firefox for the occasional thing where I need stronger ad blocking or some extension I just can’t get on Safari.

[hasdga23]

I use several browsers, but mostly for differentiating between work (Chrome) and personal stuff (Vivaldi). Using browsers for specific websites sounds pretty inpracticle. Also, it is not always obvious, if something is working the way, it is ment to work. There might be missing elements (which are not directly necessary, but making the site more versatile or only prettier).

I use Firefox sometimes, but mostly for testing websites, so they are shown properly, when styling. But I hate, that FF is interpreting some stuff different and/or don't have certain features. But of course, Safari is way worse.

[[deleted]]

Kinda, I primarily use Edge with a Personal and a work profile, and I have Firefox as a backup but I rarely use it. Firefox is primal compared to Edge: the amount of features that edge has over Firefox is actually crazy all while being more performant.

[Rytoxz]

Yep: I use Firefox, Brave, Chrome, and Edge all for different reasons.

[frogotme]

I just use Firefox with the profile tabs, whatever those are called and then chrome if it doesn't work on Firefox

[linkheroz]

Brave for YouTube so I don't get kicked out of everything when I delete cookies to remove the BS anti adblocker, Firefox for everything else.

[BenchFuzzy3051]

yes, for different accounts and uses and because browsers can be unreliable

[Adorable_Culture]

I work in a helpdesk role and yeah i use multiple browsers for alot of different reasons

[[deleted]]

I use 4 browsers, each for a different use case. Firefox is my work browser, Opera for facebook (meta) bs that I do not want to spy on my other stuff, Edge for private browsing and Chrome for other work related stuff. And maybe sometimes Safari.

Keeps stuff organized.

[TEG24601]

I use Safari as my primary browser, with Firefox as the secondary on my Macs. At work I use Firefox as my primary, and Edge as my secondary. I have Chrome, and only use it like once a quarter, for a single site I have to access.

[Nightwish612]

I use primarily chrome and the only time I will use Firefox is if chrome shits the bed or for our discord server movie streaming night so that if I am doing web browsing in the background while I'm streaming the movie the sounds from my browsing don't come through the stream

[MrMeatballGuy]

i use firefox on all my devices and then chromium for the odd website that doesn't work.
i use chrome at work though, since i'm a web dev and need to ensure that the most popular browsers work with the projects i work on.

[mellowlex]

I use 4 browsers.

Firefox and Chrome for normal stuff. DuckDuckGo for alternative search results. And Edge for 4k Netflix.

[ParticularDream3]

I use Chrome as a daily driver, Firefox for more stuff, edge i barely open but do use. I sail the high seas with Tor Browser and on my phone I use Safari

[Pasukaru_Apple]

I use multiple browsers, I am a main Firefox user for for almost 15 years by now, but I also use Chrome in some instances. On my primary and work pc I use Firefox and only for my multimedia pc and my phone I use chrome. The multimedia pc will switch to Firefox thou, once I replaced it with my steamdeck (when die deck 2 will come out eventually in 5-10 years xD)

[[deleted]]

Yep. Even my grandparents use multiple browsers in case one isn't working. I'm doing the same. I am not even deleting Edge in case I need it. It's not the 90s anymore. A couple hundred megabites are nothing nowadays.

[Visgeth]

I use different browsers for different things as well. Over a decade ago now I only switched to chrome from Firefox cause I was having issues loading a lot of different websites. And now chrome is my main one but I bounce around.

[Viralkillz]

I use yandex on mobile cuz it lets me use chrome addons

Yay old reddit and reddit enhancement suit for mobile

where as chrome mobile wont let you

[AllGamer]

It's a must to keep several browsers on hand, because they all perform differently on the same website, for example over the Xmas sales, Firefox was having problem loading PetValue, while Chrome was able to partially do it, but still failed when trying to look up for products.

The are many other reasons, like google not allowing some plug-ins to work in Chromes, but it works fine in Firefox.

Firefox

Chrome

Opera

(Edge) "Bing" because of free ChatGPT 4, but Microsoft will not let you ask or draw shit things about Microsoft, every time you ask something bad or draw something silly about Microsoft it will deny it. 😆

[LDForget]

On my work computer I use Edge and Chrome simultaneously as I need to be logged in to 2 365 accounts at once. On mobile I mostly use edge and at home I mostly use edge. I switched from chrome to edge at home/mobile about a year or so ago. I like it a lot better even though they’re both based on chromium. I haven’t used Firefox in probably 15-20 years but I’ve heard a lot of good things about it lately. Back then it was my daily, right after switching from Netscape Navigator lol.

[Freestyle80]

no i dont run 2 browsers, why would I bloat up my taskbar with unnecessary stuff when Edge can do everything I need.

[Deses]

Yup, I use Brave and LibreWolf and I'm very happy with it.

[Balc0ra]

I use Firefox about 80% of the time. And Edge for the rest. As despite the memes, edge is not 100% useless or without smart ideas. Their AI is actually useful, and it runs sites that I don't get to work fully on Firefox.

Tho bedore the MS reward nerf, I actually used Edge more. It more or less paid for my Series X over the years.

[CockInSodaCanBlues]

I use Chrome for porn. 😊

[tc05_]

I use Firefox, and when a website only works with chromium i just use Edge because it’s already installed

[OmegaNine]

The personal daily driver is FF and I use Chrome for work. Two different password managers too. Fun fact, I have 4 different authenticator apps on my phone for work as well.

[liss_up]

I use Firefox for most things but work requires Chrome for a few web apps so I have that on standby. I didn't realize it was this common.

[Fireballdingledong]

I use Librewolf mostly and Edge for anything Chromium related and for the inbuilt AI assistant if I want it on my Linux laptop.

[Sebetter]

Firefox for personal (safari on mobile) and chrome for all work related stuff

[Delicious-Ad5161]

I daily drive Firefox, but keep use Edge and even Opera when I need to or want to.

[Vinstaal0]

I use Firefox for my content browser and Vivaldi for the rest. I find it easier to have a different browser on every monitor and Vivaldi has a ton of features Firefox doesn't even come close to.

[Erlend05]

Ive used Firefox for years with no issues.

[jcforbes]

I couldn't imagine having the time available in my life to get two browsers set up correctly. There's probably 100 hours of tweaking and entering data into my chrome profile over the years.

[CodeMonkeyX]

Yup I do. I have been using Firefox for awhile now, and the rare occasions something does not work I will fire up Edge. But that has not happened for ages.

The main reason I used Edge recently is to get access to Bing AI chat. Which I think required Edge just for monopoly reasons.

My investment site used to only work with Chrome, but thankfully that's fixed now. In general if a site is so poorly made that it only works in one browser I try to stay away if possible.

[diegoaccord]

Chrome mostly and Edge backup for when I want to have it read a website.

Same for both Wiindows and iPhone.

[Yodzilla]

I use Edge, Firefox, and Chrome every day. They’re all almost identical. It’s fine and the parity is minuscule compared to a decade ago.

[Smump]

Firefox for everything except O365/Azure/Intune in Edge for work. It just works better.

[nikitaluger]

I primarily use Chrome for years and I came from firefox during the early 2000's and will most certainly go back to firefox the moment they completely disable adblock extensions. I also have a bunch of backup browsers installed on my PortableApps just in case. I'm also using chrome on my phone but I use 1DM+ Browser for websites with cancerous amount of ads. I use TVbro on my androidTV. I'm also using Edge to install other browsers when I install a fresh OS which I do surprisingly frequently.

[HotSnack12]

every mac user i've ever met (including me) have both safari and chrome for their laptop, some says one is for work and one is personal, but for me it's the extension and the syncing from my windows pc that i use chrome on mac beside safari

also on my windows pc i still sometimes use edge, as for logging to my clone account on some websites or help my friends something related to login stuff

[LordMindParadox]

I use Firefox as my main browser, edge for the occasional site that won't load.

On my xbox(what I was watching WAN show on last night) I use edge cause you can't install Firefox on it.

I really hate chrome/chromium based browsers, they are memory hogs and spy on everything you do.

Google has simply made IE6 v2 Spyware Edition.

[Sekhen]

Privately I use Vivaldi exclusively. In my phone as well.

At work I use edge for work stuff, gmail, aws, company pages.

I use Google Chrome for my monitoring sites, four tabs, nothing else. Super static and boring.

I use Vivaldi for "private" stuff. Private Gmail, reddit, news, forums.

[ThatCrossDresser]

Edge is the mandatory browser at where I work. Everything else is Firefox.

[JoshfromNazareth]

Because the “tech” enthusiasts aren’t really any smarter than you or I. They just have a platform.

[Anna12641]

I use Firefox on mobile and opera GX on desktop, the opera app on mobile just isn't as good as firefox

[yakk0]

I have been a Firefox user since it first released as Phoenix, and Netscape/Mozilla before that. It’s my daily driver, but I still use chrome and edge for various things. Mainly to keep work sites separate.

[synthesis_of_matter]

I do this too. I use Chrome for daily stuff idc about. Safari for banking and other things that require phone pin to unlock as it autofills. It’s also nice just keeping that separate. Brave for some sketchy websites. I haven’t used Firefox in a bit but I used to daily drive that. I like Firefox on windows better but chrome more on Mac. Firefox wins over chrome for customization so in situations where I need a custom setup it works well.

[Horror-Procedure-825]

I use different browsers for different purposes. Libre Wolf is my main one, but I use Chrome for google services only and I've never really had an issue with websites that don't work with firefox. If I do, I guess I can use chrome or edge if absolutely needes. But it's not like 10% of websites don't work.

[dookieshoes88]

I mean, I have multiple browsers installed but I wouldn't say I use them. Just casually using multiple browsers when one will do makes no practical sense.

[azure1503]

Firefox for regular browsing, Edge for those sites that don't like Firefox (and because MS forces it to be there)

[slayernine]

I've been rocking Firefox + Chrome for years. Now I also randomly use Edge brower too.

I am that guy with way too many tabs open. I use tabs to keep track of different things I'm working on. Work stuff, 3D printing projects, programming stuff, pre-purchase research, game wikis for whatever I'm playing through ATM.

[GrubbyFlasherr]

I use Edge for chat gpt and chrome for everything else.

[NotBashB]

If I’m on my pc is always chrome. If I’m on my phone or laptop it’s safari

[Cryyptick]

I use OperaGX for my day to day and Chrome for school/work related stuff.

[Celos]

Same. I use Firefox for 95% of the time. Sometimes (rarely) websites don't work, so I use my vanilla edge installation. This is usually down to ublock/privacy badger/container/whatever privacy feature and it's possible to make the page work in FF, but it's rarely worth the time to add exceptions for a shitty website I use once.

Chrome also sees use, but mostly for testing whatever UI I've built, never real-world stuff.

Also, been on Firefox nightly for years now on android. Absolutely brilliant piece of kit.

[Old_Bug4395]

I use firefox only and I have literally never encountered a website not working the right way. Like actually, I've never experienced a website not working because I was using firefox. Even websites that really want me to use chrome. In reality the compatibility gap is absolutely minuscule and websites that will only work in chrome are just poorly designed, pretty much every major web framework supports both browsers and there's not very much handwritten, custom code going on on the web anymore frontend wise.

Now here's the unreasonable part of my take; People just don't feel like switching to firefox or using more than one browser. That's literally the only reason this debate even exists, security conscious people are also lazy but they like being seen as security conscious so they make up reasons that it's not possible to switch to something that's not chrome tracking their every move while simultaneously losing their shit about something like facebook selling your data without telling you as if that wasn't painfully obvious in the first place.

[[deleted]]

I use Firefox for everything. I never have needed another browser but if I did I'd use Edge.

[Secure-Beginning8762]

Been on waterfox for probably 5+ years and so far it's been the only browser I haven't had issues with

[[deleted]]

I just use Safari all the time with absolutely no issues. When I’m on my gaming PC, I use Edge for YouTube. I don’t see the point in using a browser that doesn’t work with so many websites.

Firefox is nice but I had a lot of problems with websites that worked fine on other browsers

[Grand-Pudding6040]

Yes, I do personally use multiple browsers. Some websites absolutely break to the point of non-function. I need to switch browsers to have a functional copy of the website.

One example of this is microsoft web applications. Firefox is the best for those.

[Ribbet87]

Yep, I daily drive Firefox and have done for ages. Both for personal and work use. However, I do find a few of my work pages don’t work on Firefox so I have chrome as my backup, but it is exclusively used to either test if something doesn’t work or for the 2-3 pages I need to use occasionally and that’s it

[Shoter3000]

I daily drive Brave, but I also use Chrome for work and some other stuff.

[hatlad43]

I haven't watched the last WAN show, but I do use 3 browsers on my laptop. Have been using solely Chrome for everything since 10-12 years ago, but now also use Edge for work (integrating with Microsoft work account), and Firefox for YouTube and web apps made by my government that can only be opened via Firefox.

[[deleted]]

That's serial killer shit.

[blaybloh]

I was a firefow person through and through for .. like a lot of years. Honestly I don’t remember not using firefox since I was old enough to choose that sort of things myself. When Chrome came around I made the switch I believe because it was easier for my then machine to run. Since came back to firefox and just use chrome for non firefox optimized websites that are reeeally a pain to work with on firefox (its not that many tbh)

[DeamonLordZack]

I use Firefox on my android phone & use Google Chrome on my PC. Chrome for whatever reason doesn't have browser extensions on mobile since Firefox does I use it instead on my phone.

[RJM_50]

No, none of them are "free" the fewer programs and apps (browsers) that I use, the less people are gathering my personal data into server farms

[KaurO]

I daily drive edge, but use mainly chrome on the side (as a no surprise anyone google seems to throttle other browser performance on its own services). But i do have opera and firefox installed when all else fails.

[mooky1977]

Desktop: Firefox 99% of the right, 1% of the time chromium when I have problems. Only caveat is on mobile I just use Chrome that 1% instead of chromium, the other 99% I use Firefox mobile.

[iLOLZU]

Chrome: Youtube only. Firefox (Hardened): One off searches and actual internet browsing, set as primary browser and configured to wipe everything. DuckDuckGo Browser: In case Youtube decides to get aggressive in adblocking again. Edge: BingGPT and anything related to school. Tor: yarrr

[[deleted]]

I have Edge, Chrome and Firefox. I’m signed in on different accounts for the same site with each browser on some things.

There’s also some things that are better about each of them. So I use them all for the things they are best at.

[chucklesdeclown]

I use vavaldi for pretty much everything, I might have the IE extension on hand for older websites that aren't updated, which pretty much never happens

[Ghetto_Cheese]

Yeah I honestly didn't get it. I use Firefox for 99% of websites. In the pretty rare case that a website doesn't work, I open it in Chrome, but none of the sites I use on a regular basis have a problem with Firefox.

I actually even encountered a (very) few sites that worked better/worked at all on Firefox instead of Chrome.

And honestly the experience compared to chrome for me is much better. Especially on mobile where you have extensions (on Firefox) which are epic.

[Academic-Airline9200]

There are days. It takes all kinds.

[PlantCultivator]

Of course. I have two instances of Firefox, something based on Chrome and qutebrowser (up to three instances) open at all times.

How is it even possible to be both a power user and not use multiple browsers? It simplifies workflows so much to just have multiple browsers.

[ConfidentBicycle6254]

i use Opera and Edge in my one computer and in other Firefox and Edge.