{"slug": "vanadium", "name": "Vanadium", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 4, "warners": 2, "score": 0.053, "rising": 0.67, "first": "2026-02-17", "latest": "2026-09-22", "why": "I use Vanadium on mobile and Brave on desktop\u2013I think those are the best options.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 0, "compare": 1, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I use Vanadium on mobile and Brave on desktop\u2013I think those are the best options.", "icon": false, "domain": "grapheneos.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://grapheneos.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Vanadium"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 796848496, "item_id": 49803031, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49803031", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like Vanadium (Chromium) a lot more than Safari.", "excerpt": "Me too. Android for the most part has much better UI. The rotation thingy alone infuriates me on iPhones. The Android implementation is perfect. Android keyboards are in a different class from iOS. And I use a source available privacy respecting one. VPNs work much better on Android. Settings is laid out better. Haptics are used much more which I appreciate. lack of back button is a crime. can't customize home screen", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "mobile browser", "switched_from": "Safari", "story": "Apple has added persistent 'ads' to iOS, and it's driving users crazy"}, {"id": 793669536, "item_id": 49604346, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49604346", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Vanadium on mobile and Brave on desktop\u2013I think those are the best options.", "excerpt": "I use Vanadium on mobile and Brave on desktop\u2013I think those are the best options. Brave is also a valid choice on Mobile because of the better adblocking. https://grapheneos.org/usage#web-browsing", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "My practical approach to surfing the web safely"}, {"id": 759742838, "item_id": 47483927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47483927", "by": "diowldxiks", "date": "2026-03-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Vanadium as the default browser works well", "excerpt": "I did the switch to graphene on my pixel 9 pro recently and have 0 regrets. it's just a better OS than the google infected android. Here's what I did: * Follow instructions to install graphene on their website: https://grapheneos.org/install/ * Set up a private space which will be used for google play services required apps (bank stuff, etc). Install google play and google play services in the private space. Do not i", "context": "", "use_case": "default browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone without requiring personal information"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 784961168, "item_id": 49060073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49060073", "by": "gruez", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Chrome and vanadium has a custom backup agent that only dumps out settings, so browsing history and bookmarks aren't backed up at all.", "excerpt": "That still doesn't prevent other means that developers have to thwart backups. Chrome and vanadium has a custom backup agent that only dumps out settings, so browsing history and bookmarks aren't backed up at all. I believe firefox is similar unless they changed something recently. Same goes for other apps like signal. Browsers, messengers, and camera are the top 3 categories of apps I use on my phone, and the built-", "context": "", "use_case": "browser backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS protections against data extraction from locked devices"}, {"id": 752784721, "item_id": 47049045, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47049045", "by": "MattTheRealOne", "date": "2026-02-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Their Vanadium web browser is based on Chromium, which is controlled by Google. It also does not have an ad blocker or support extensions.", "excerpt": "I use and appreciate GrapheneOS due to it being one of, if not the best, option we currently have. That said, I do not like how much the project depends on Google. - GrapheneOS is based on Android, which is solely developed by Google. - GrapheneOS only supports Google Pixel devices. Thankfully, they are working on partnering with a different manufacturer, but details are still very limited. - They recommend using the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS \u2013 Break Free from Google and Apple"}]}], "who": [{"by": "Cider9986", "context": "Android user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49803031", "date": "2026-09-22"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["mobile browser", "mobile browsing", "browser security updates", "browser backups", "default browser"], "compared": [{"slug": "grapheneos", "name": "GrapheneOS", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "safari", "name": "Safari", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "firefox", "name": "Firefox", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "brave", "name": "Brave", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "aosp", "name": "AOSP", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 794198545, "item_id": 49637409, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49637409", "by": "grapheneos", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Vanadium is licensed as GPLv2.", "excerpt": "> GrapheneOS leadership is very against Copyleft We use GPLv2 licensing for substantial portions of our code beyond our Linux kernel changes. Vanadium is licensed as GPLv2. As long as copyright exists then there's a place for copyleft to counter it. > probably to cater to it's corporate sponsors That's a strange thing to claim about Proton and Cape. Those are the only companies we're aware of sending us any substanti", "context": "GrapheneOS developer", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Copyright does more harm than good and should be abolished"}, {"id": 793492545, "item_id": 49593284, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49593284", "by": "grapheneos", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use GPLv2 in certain cases such as Vanadium", "excerpt": "OS components don't need to have compatible licenses if they're separate from each other. The Linux kernel is GPLv2-only which forbids GPLv3 licensing. That doesn't mean GPLv3 code can't be used in a Linux-based OS. We use GPLv2 and permissive licensing for GrapheneOS to avoid more restrictive licensing than the AOSP. We'll happily use GPLv3 and AGPLv3 for components outside of GrapheneOS if we think it's the best fi", "context": "GrapheneOS developer", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS Overhauled Default Apps and Secure Clipboard"}, {"id": 793492321, "item_id": 49593270, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49593270", "by": "grapheneos", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we use GPLv2 licensing ourselves including for our Vanadium browser project", "excerpt": "Yes, AOSP includes a lot of GPLv2 code and we use GPLv2 licensing ourselves including for our Vanadium browser project. We don't want GrapheneOS to be more restrictively licensed than the Linux kernel and AOSP so we avoid GPLv3 code bundled with the OS. GPLv3 is perfectly acceptable for apps in our App Store but we don't want it for the ones in the OS.", "context": "GrapheneOS developer", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS Overhauled Default Apps and Secure Clipboard"}, {"id": 752828705, "item_id": 47051794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47051794", "by": "strcat", "date": "2026-02-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Vanadium is much more secure than standard Chromium", "excerpt": "Firefox 147 doesn't provide site sandboxing or even basic content sandboxing on Android. They enabled multi-process support by default but still don't provide any form of sandbox for the separate processes. They enabled the separation part of site isolation which is partially implemented for Firefox desktop and now mobile but do not have content sandboxing and partial site sandboxing as they do for the desktop browse", "context": "GrapheneOS developer/team", "use_case": "Android browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS \u2013 Break Free from Google and Apple"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49590512", "title": "GrapheneOS Overhauled Default Apps and Secure Clipboard", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47045612", "title": "GrapheneOS \u2013 Break Free from Google and Apple", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49801939", "title": "Apple has added persistent 'ads' to iOS, and it's driving users crazy", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49622042", "title": "Copyright does more harm than good and should be abolished", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536195", "title": "My practical approach to surfing the web safely", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49570669", "title": "Actively exploited sandbox RCE in all Chromium versions", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"warn": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"compare": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 796848496, "item_id": 49803031, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49803031", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like Vanadium (Chromium) a lot more than Safari.", "excerpt": "Me too. Android for the most part has much better UI. The rotation thingy alone infuriates me on iPhones. The Android implementation is perfect. Android keyboards are in a different class from iOS. And I use a source available privacy respecting one. VPNs work much better on Android. Settings is laid out better. Haptics are used much more which I appreciate. lack of back button is a crime. can't customize home screen", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "mobile browser", "switched_from": "Safari", "story": "Apple has added persistent 'ads' to iOS, and it's driving users crazy"}, {"id": 793669536, "item_id": 49604346, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49604346", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Vanadium on mobile and Brave on desktop\u2013I think those are the best options.", "excerpt": "I use Vanadium on mobile and Brave on desktop\u2013I think those are the best options. Brave is also a valid choice on Mobile because of the better adblocking. https://grapheneos.org/usage#web-browsing", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "My practical approach to surfing the web safely"}, {"id": 793133889, "item_id": 49570868, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49570868", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Brave is beating GrapheneOS on update timeliness", "excerpt": "Brave is beating GrapheneOS on update timeliness: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium/releases https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases Only if you use Nightly wait maybe not.", "context": "", "use_case": "browser security updates", "switched_from": "", "story": "Actively exploited sandbox RCE in all Chromium versions"}, {"id": 784961168, "item_id": 49060073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49060073", "by": "gruez", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Chrome and vanadium has a custom backup agent that only dumps out settings, so browsing history and bookmarks aren't backed up at all.", "excerpt": "That still doesn't prevent other means that developers have to thwart backups. Chrome and vanadium has a custom backup agent that only dumps out settings, so browsing history and bookmarks aren't backed up at all. I believe firefox is similar unless they changed something recently. Same goes for other apps like signal. Browsers, messengers, and camera are the top 3 categories of apps I use on my phone, and the built-", "context": "", "use_case": "browser backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS protections against data extraction from locked devices"}, {"id": 759742838, "item_id": 47483927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47483927", "by": "diowldxiks", "date": "2026-03-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Vanadium as the default browser works well", "excerpt": "I did the switch to graphene on my pixel 9 pro recently and have 0 regrets. it's just a better OS than the google infected android. Here's what I did: * Follow instructions to install graphene on their website: https://grapheneos.org/install/ * Set up a private space which will be used for google play services required apps (bank stuff, etc). Install google play and google play services in the private space. Do not i", "context": "", "use_case": "default browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone without requiring personal information"}, {"id": 752784721, "item_id": 47049045, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47049045", "by": "MattTheRealOne", "date": "2026-02-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Their Vanadium web browser is based on Chromium, which is controlled by Google. It also does not have an ad blocker or support extensions.", "excerpt": "I use and appreciate GrapheneOS due to it being one of, if not the best, option we currently have. That said, I do not like how much the project depends on Google. - GrapheneOS is based on Android, which is solely developed by Google. - GrapheneOS only supports Google Pixel devices. Thankfully, they are working on partnering with a different manufacturer, but details are still very limited. - They recommend using the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS \u2013 Break Free from Google and Apple"}]}