Recently, I’ve experienced my Safari slowing down on the MacBook Pro and in some cases not loading webpages at all. Emptying caches and removing extensions has only got me so far, so I’m deciding whether to switch browsers. I’m currently on Mojave 10.14.6, Safari 14.0.3 but my question’s not really about technical performance (reliant on internet provider to a large degree) but how the two browsers differ in addressing user privacy and security. Assuming no VPN, but using a ‘private window’, are the two browsers comparable?
The whole Safari vs Chrome debate could easily end up in IMHO, and I will probably canvass opinion on it later anyway, but this specific issue seems appropriate to put in GQ.
Seeing your post, I remembered a research paper on the privacy of browsers.
The conclusion is that there may be some unique identifiers sent back with Chrome as part of its built in telemetry, which Safari doesn’t do. However, Safari does load third party content on its start page, which could be a problem. Firefox is similar, but you can also turn the telemetry off entirely.
The biggest privacy issue is having search autocomplete turned on in your URL bar–at least, according to this paper.
I note that other results I’ve seen always rank Firefox above the other browsers on privacy (assuming you turn telemetry off). However, there is the potential issue that Mozilla is having troubles.