Cromite (a Bromite fork) - Take back your browser

the documentation is a Work in progress (not the browser :)

Cromite is a Chromium fork based on Bromite with built-in support for ad blocking and an eye for privacy.

Cromite is available for Android arm64-v8a, arm32-v7a and x86_64, Nougat and above (Minimum v7.0, API level 24) and Windows.

For the Frequently Asked Questions see F.A.Q..

For documentation see the wiki.

Goals

Cromite's goal is to

limit the features built into the browser that can be used as a platform for tracking users' habits, and, if it is not technically possible, disable them and leave it up to the user to choose whether to re-enable them
limit the close integration between the browser and its manufacturer
not let the excellent research work done by csagan5 with Bromite be lost

In addition, Cromite would like to promote greater integration with other non-profit, open source browsers, encouraging closer collaboration with others, and attempt to integrate them directly into Chromium once they have reached an appropriate level of maturity.

Features

Derived from Bromite

customizable adblock filters via user-provided URL (see https://www.bromite.org/custom-filters) (deprecated, replaced by adblock plus)
automatically updated adblock filters
remove click-tracking and AMP from search results
DNS-over-HTTPS support with any valid IETF DoH endpoint
always-incognito mode
disable all field trials permanently
disable smart search by default, allow web search from incognito mode
always-visible cookies, javascript and ads site settings from address bar popup
remove Play integration binary blobs
~~use CFI on all architectures except x86 and Windows~~ dropped from v117 see uazo#292
enable trivial auto var init
disable media router and remoting by default
disable dynamic module loading
show warnings for TLSv1.0/TLSv1.1 pages
enable site-per-process isolation for all devices with memory > 1GB
proxy configuration page with PAC and custom proxy lists support
settings to disable custom intents and clear session on exit
flags to toggle anti-fingerprinting mitigations for canvas, audio, client rects, webGL and sensor APIs (see full list below for all the new flags)
use frozen User-Agent to conceal real model and browser version
privacy enhancement patches from Iridium, Inox patchset, Brave and ungoogled-chromium projects
security enhancement patches from GrapheneOS project
reduced referer granularity
block gateway attacks via websockets (partial fix, see this upstream issue)
use 64-bit ABI for webview processes
make all favicon requests on-demand (supercookie mitigation)
enable all network isolation features (PartitionConnectionsByNetworkIsolationKey, PartitionHttpServerPropertiesByNetworkIsolationKey, SplitHostCacheByNetworkIsolationKey, AppendFrameOriginToNetworkIsolationKey, SplitCacheByNetworkIsolationKey, UseRegistrableDomainInNetworkIsolationKey, PartitionSSLSessionsByNetworkIsolationKey, PartitionExpectCTStateByNetworkIsolationKey, PartitionDomainReliabilityByNetworkIsolationKey)
ignore enterprise policies that disallow secure DNS
ask permission to play protected media
disable the DIAL repeating discovery
disable RTCGetCurrentBrowsingContextMedia by default
disable FLoC and privacy sandbox by default
disable feeds
disable reporting of certificate errors
use pre-defined phone model for client hints and Javascript
allow forcing external links to open in incognito
disable AGSA by default
flag to enable Certificate Transparency
allow adding search engines from incognito mode
disable predictors
disable supervised users
disable safety check
disable capability to block view-source: URLs
disable SegmentationPlatformFeature, OptimizationHints, client hint headers
disable AsyncDNS by default
customize history expiration threshold
disable idle detection
HTTPS-only mode enabled by default
disable TLS resumption by default
strict site isolation and strict origin isolation
partition blobs by top frame URL

Cromite-specific features

Built-in Adblock Plus patch (issue 84)
policy browser patch for the use of enterprise policy patch (issue 191)
- deactivate safe browsing and extended reporting
- disabled scroll-to-text-fragment
- disabled contextual search
- disabled media router
- disabled url keyed anonymized data collection
- disabled translate
- disabled network prediction
- disabled sign-in
- disabled google search side panel
- disabled automatic https upgrades
internal firewall to block all unauthorised calls made from the browser patch (issue 147)
show warnings on downloads over HTTP patch
lock profile cookie database patch
remove support for device memory and cpu recovery patch
disable speechSynthesis getVoices API patch
viewport Protection patch patch
deprecate Data URL in SVGUseElement patch
disallow Android App Scheme as referrer patch
disable Compression Dictionary Transport patch
disable PrivateStateTokens API patch
disable GSA by default patch
disable GetInstalledRelatedApps API patch
disable FirstPartySets and StorageAccessAPI patch
disable WebGPU patch
disable GamePad API patch
remove external https connection from chrome://discards patch
links the use of screen.isExtended to WINDOW_MANAGEMENT permission granted by user patch
clear CORS Preflight Cache on clearing data patch
remove auth header upon cross origin redirect patch
disable SHA1 Server Signature patch
remove detection of captive portals patch
disable devtools remote and custom protocols patch
enable Document Open Inheritance Removal patch
warning message for unsupported hardware aes patch
partition HSTS cache by NAK patch
disable password leak detector patch
keyboard protection flag patch
disable csp reports patch
add setting to clear data on exit patch
disable visited pseudo class patch
disable BackForwardCache patch
disable FedCm patch
partitioning all cookies by top frame domain patch
fingerprint mitigation for AudioBuffer and AnalyserNode patch

from 116.0.5845.111

Disable PartnerCustomizations patch #202
Add option to disable snapshots patch #201
Enable Android Dynamic Performance Framework on renderer patch

from 117.0.5938.63

Added support for blocking in service workers in AdblockPlus #254 patch
Drop CFI support (see uazo#292)
Enabled Improved Bookmarks UI by default patch
Removed Google private API from accounts.google.com patch

from 117.0.5938.140

Partition MediaDeviceId by default patch

from 118.0.5993.118

Add support for jpeg xl patch uazo#351
Disable prefers-reduced-transparency media query patch uazo#437
Show full urls for bookmark patch uazo#434

from 119.0.6045.106

Always clear js and wasm code cache at startup
Block Intents While Locked patch
Keep Manta Service Disabled patch
(Only windows) Hide the presence of the webcam if the user has not given permission #480

from 119.0.6045.124

Disable Service and Shared workers on 3P iframe by default patch

Windows Cromite-specific features

enable Network Service Sandbox by default
disable sharing hub
disable search for image
simpler logging to file
disable TabHoverCard images
enable File System Access blocklist
enable HighEfficiencyMode by default
disable annotates on downloads
enabled pdf plugin by default

Features not related to privacy

Derived da Bromite

browser automatic updates, enabled by default
native Android autofill support
import/export bookmarks
bookmark all tabs from tabs regroup menu
allow playing videos in background tabs and disable pause on switching tabs
all codecs included (proprietary, open H.264 etc.)
AV1 codec support
dav1d decoder enabled by default
built with official speed optimizations
increase number of autocomplete matches from 5 to 10
allow changing default download storage location
do not ignore save prompt for users without SD cards
disable articles and increase number of icons on new tab page
adding an URL as bookmark will clear its blocked status for the NTP tiles
history support in incognito mode
view source of pages
sticky desktop mode setting
mobile/desktop user agent customization
accessibility preference to force tablet UI
use Alt+D to focus address bar
allow sharing to Bromite
UI for crash information collection
allow OpenSearch search engine detection in incognito
allow OpenSearch search engine detection with paths
keyboard dictionary hints in address bar
always allow view-source: URLs
allow moving navigation bar to bottom
add option to use home page as NTP

Cromite-specific features

add setting in android to invert tap and long tap patch

(TODO) You can inspect all functionality/privacy changes by reading the patches and/or the CHANGELOG.

Flags

Flags which have been retired from upstream Chromium but are still available in Bromite.

#pull-to-refresh
#enable-search-ready-omnibox
#darken-websites-checkbox-in-themes-setting
#simplified-ntp, enabled by default
#enable-text-fragment-anchor, disabled by default
#num-raster-threads
#enable-image-reader, enabled by default
#enable-tab-groups and #enable-tab-groups-ui-improvements
#offline-indicator-v2
#enable-jxl

New flags:

#fingerprinting-canvas-image-data-noise, #fingerprinting-client-rects-noise and #fingerprinting-canvas-measuretext-noise, enabled by default
#incognito-screenshot, disabled by default
#max-connections-per-host
#resume-background-video
#ipv6-probing
#enable-device-motion and #enable-device-orientation
#show-legacy-tls-warnings
#save-data-header, disabled by default
#export-bookmarks-use-saf, disabled by default
#allow-user-certificates, disabled by default
#cleartext-permitted, enabled by default, can be used to disable all cleartext-HTTP traffic
#omnibox-autocomplete-filtering, can be used to restrict omnibox autocomplete results
#disable-external-intent-requests, can be used to disable opening any external app for any URL
#enable-userscripts-log, see https://github.com/bromite/bromite/wiki/UserScripts#flags
#certificate-transparency-enabled, enabled by default; see https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/net/docs/certificate-transparency.md
#move-top-toolbar-to-bottom, disabled by default
#site-engagement, enabled by default, can be used to disable the automatically-generated icons for most visited sites on the NTP

Site settings

webGL, disabled by default
images, enabled by default
Javascript JIT, disabled by default
timezone customization override
autoplay, disabled by default
webRTC, disabled by default
viewport protection, enabled by default

Privacy limitations

Cromite's privacy features, including anti-fingerprinting mitigations (which are not comprehensive), are not to be considered useful for journalists and people living in countries with freedom limitations, please look at Tor Browser in such cases. Please note that this project is not free of bugs and that changing the behaviour of a browser can be risky and not without problems.

Releases

All built versions are available as releases.

Cromite is currently built for ARM64, x86 (Android SDK version 23+) and Windows x64.

You will automatically receive notifications about new updates (and be able to install them) via the auto updater functionality (enabled by default), see related wiki page.

F-droid

Official F-droid repo url: https://www.cromite.org/fdroid/repo/?fingerprint=49F37E74DEE483DCA2B991334FB5A0200787430D0B5F9A783DD5F13695E9517B

Auto-update setup for windows

Download https://github.com/henrypp/chrlauncher/releases
Create a chrlauncher.ini

[chrlauncher]

# Custom Chromium update URL (string):
ChromiumUpdateUrl=https://github.com/uazo/cromite/releases/latest/download/updateurl.txt

# Command line for Chromium (string):
# note --user-data-dir= works better if path is absolute
# See here: http://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/
ChromiumCommandLine=--user-data-dir=".\User Data" --no-default-browser-check

# to enable full logging in c:\temp\log.txt (daily rotate, no automatic deletion)
# ChromiumCommandLine=--enable-logging --v=0 --log-file=C:\temp\log.txt --user-data-dir=".\User Data" --no-default-browser-check

# Chromium executable file name (string):
ChromiumBinary=chrome.exe

# Chromium binaries directory (string):
# Relative (to chrlauncher directory) or full path (env. variables supported).
ChromiumDirectory=.\bin

Enable network process sandbox in windows

I don't include any setups because I don't like the experience of not knowing what they do, so you must manually run this command on first installation:

cd <where_is_the_exe>
icacls . /grant "*S-1-15-2-2:(OI)(CI)(RX)"

see uazo/bromite-buildtools#51

(TODO) Integrity and authenticity

You can verify the integrity of a downloaded APK file from this project with any sha256sum-compatible tool by downloading the corresponding brm_X.Y.Z.sha256.txt or chr_X.Y.Z.sha256.txt file, where X.Y.Z is the release version number. Example:

$ sha256sum --check brm_68.0.3440.54.sha256.txt
arm64_SystemWebView.apk: OK
arm64_ChromePublic.apk: OK
arm64_ChromeModernPublic.apk: OK

You can verify authenticity, e.g. that the author (csagan5) released the file, by using gpg2:

$ gpg2 --quiet --verify brm_68.0.3440.54.sha256.txt.asc
gpg: assuming signed data in 'brm_68.0.3440.54.sha256.txt'
gpg: Signature made Sun 08 Jul 2018 04:22:52 PM CEST using RSA key ID D85DC0C5
gpg: Good signature from "csagan5 <32685696+csagan5@users.noreply.github.com>"

You can download csagan5's public GnuPG key from here: csagan5.asc.

(TODO) How to build

The Bromite main repository contains tags for each corresponding Chromium release (see https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git).

Please refer to official Chromium build documentation to get started on how to build Chromium; if you can build Chromium for Android, you can build Bromite.

The Chromium version tag used as base for the patches is available here: RELEASE; this is always corresponding to the git tag for every release. The GN args used to build Bromite are available here: bromite.gn_args. The patches are to be applied second the order specified in the bromite_patches_list.txt file (you can use git am).

(TODO) Contributing

Please submit issues following the issue template; beware that GitHub does not display the templates from mobile.

Patches are welcome and accepted if they match the project goals.

For any usage or development discussion please use GitHub Discussions: https://github.com/uazo/cromite/discussions

Credits

Chromium project and developers
Bromite
- Iridium project for some patches
- ungoogled-chromium for some patches
- ungoogled-chromium-android for some patches
- GrapheneOS for some security patches
- Inox patchset for some patches (via ungoogled-chromium)
- Brave Browser for some patches

(TODO) License

The patches published as part of the Bromite project are released under GNU GPL v3.

Mr-Bajs/cromite

Cromite (a Bromite fork) - Take back your browser

**** the documentation is a Work in progress (not the browser :) ****

Goals

Features

Derived from Bromite

Cromite-specific features

from 116.0.5845.111

from 117.0.5938.63

from 117.0.5938.140

from 118.0.5993.118

from 119.0.6045.106

from 119.0.6045.124

Windows Cromite-specific features

Features not related to privacy

Derived da Bromite

Cromite-specific features

Flags

Site settings

Privacy limitations

Releases

F-droid

Auto-update setup for windows

Enable network process sandbox in windows

(TODO) Integrity and authenticity

(TODO) How to build

(TODO) Contributing

Credits

(TODO) License

the documentation is a Work in progress (not the browser :)