this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
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I just updated (I use arch btw) and had to reboot WaterFox. The default search engine got changed to 1.org and StartPage no longer shows up as a default option even. Has this happened to anybody else?

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[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Never heard of it. Nice domain. Claims to donate to charity every time you search. Makes 3rd party requests to

cookielaw.org  
cloudfront.net  
googletagmanager.com  
unpkg.com  

Compared to DDG-noAI: zero 3rd party requests.

Waterfox believe in charity so much, they made some sort of deal with a company that is making money with the idea of helping by making internet searches?

BTW, I use Librewolf.

[–] gopher@programming.dev 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

1.org:

We and our 1011 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device.

Seems like they would many more 3rd party requests than those four.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

These are cookies. dropping cookies for 1011 partners does not require accessing their domains at that moment.

A 3rd-party request means that when a client (browser) loads a page, that page wants to load content from other domains. Strictly speaking, DDG does that too (see screenshot below): it loads extra content from one of its _sub_domains.

Still, good catch. Where'd you find that?

And btw it's of course perfectly possible that DDG does that too; I never meant to claim absolute superiority for it. Just for comparison. It's my default search engine right now but I should try something better I guess.

[–] gopher@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The number of partners is in the cookie banner from onetrust when opening the site (maybe location dependent?). I'm aware it doesn't mean they necessarily are making 3rd party http requests (feels likely though?), but when a site has such a ridiculous amount of partners, it is a huge red flag.

But it's not surprising, if they donate to charity, for each search request, they have to generate income somehow...

Some ublock origin list probably block all cookie banner.

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Do you mean Librewolf? Librefox looks dead.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago

oops, fixed

[–] refalo@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago

Compared to DDG-noAI: zero 3rd party requests.

No need when they're already selling your search habits from the backend.

[–] BaroqueInMind@piefed.social 13 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Someone please justify to me why I should use Waterfox over Librewolf?

[–] albbi@piefed.ca 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

When I was choosing bet them, I heard that librewolf might be too locked down and some websites might not work right without some work. I was just looking for a drop in replacement for Firefox soninchose Waterfox.

[–] akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 week ago

FYI it is possible to unlock quite a lot of functionality on Librewolf if you're still interested. :) There are two checkboxes that to this in settings.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 6 points 1 week ago

I heard that librewolf might be too locked down and some websites might not work right without some work.

Not my experience at all. With one exception: every now and then I have to manually enable WebGL context/canvas.

Quite the opposite; I have it locked down even further with restrictive uBlock Origin settings.

[–] Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Does Librewolf have an android version? Last time I looked it didn't but that was months ago.

[–] swab148@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago

Ironfox is recommended for Android

[–] BaroqueInMind@piefed.social 7 points 1 week ago

I use IronFox for Android and it's great

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

It does not currently.

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

The TLDR is that, among the Firefox forks, Waterfox is pretty bland, which can be both good or bad depending on how you look at it. It's not as private as LibreWolf or Mullvad Browser, it doesn't have a unique aesthetic like Zen Browser, and it is not as customisable as Floorp. But all of those addition bits can come with some tradeoffs.

In my opinion, Firefox is suitable for most people, LibreWolf for additional privacy, Zen if you like the look, and Floorp for extra customisability OOTB. Waterfox is really only if you don't need those additional bits, you dislike Mozilla, and you don't want a Chromium browser.

Note that Waterfox was purchased by System1, an advertising company at one point, then ties were cut off recently. The fact that they could be acquired by an unfriendly corporation could be a concern for you, and might push you towards more community-oriented options like LibreWolf.

[–] albbi@piefed.ca 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Found a Reddit post with a bit more information. With the new built in ad-blocker (which I disabled in favour of uBlock Origin) the default search engine was changed to 1.org and the built in ad-blocked configured to not block ads for searches on 1.org.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

i think the built-in blocker is based on uBo, no?

[–] UnpledgedCatnapTipper@piefed.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's based on Brave's adblocker.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 1 week ago

yeah but isn't that the uBo architecture ported to rust?

[–] albbi@piefed.ca 4 points 1 week ago

From what I've heard, the built in blocker is based on Brave browser's ad blocker. But as it is built in, it is supposed to be faster and more efficient than an extension. I don't think that part matters very much on desktop, but I might be interested in using it in the mobile version.

[–] kuerdy@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Temporary?

Also, I wonder why they removed Startpage.

[–] EbAbDbGbBbEb@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Startpage asked Waterfox to remove them as the default search because Waterfox users were costing them more than the revenue they were generating for them. There was a revenue sharing agreement between the two companies, but with no profit, the partnership was dissolved.

It's in the changelog notes: https://www.waterfox.com/releases/6.6.13/

[–] Steve@communick.news 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Don't know.
I've had a little extension to make home and new tab be an arbitrary URI of my choosing.

[–] albbi@piefed.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm too used to just searching right from the address bar I guess.

[–] Steve@communick.news 6 points 1 week ago

I also change the default search immediately with any new browser.
I switch browsers a lot, and there are close to a dozen defaults I change right away.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Can't that be changed from the Settings, no need for an addon?

[–] Jiral@lemmy.org 1 points 1 week ago

If startpage is not listed as option anymore one can simply go to the site and by right clicking on the address it should be possible to add it as search engine option.

[–] Steve@communick.news 1 points 1 week ago

Sometimes.
Usually it's just the "homepage" or the "Startup page", not the "New Tab page".

I think Vivaldi is the only one right now, that lets you set an arbitrary New Tab page.