[Bug] Google-connection but LineageOS + F-Droid + Fennec + Google deleted from Fennec search engine

Apps
1

Steps to reproduce

  1. You decide to not use Googles version of Android and install LineageOS on your mobile phone
  2. You decide to use the free package manager F-Droid to only use free software
  3. You decide for installing Fennec after looking for a FOSS browser in F-Droid
  4. Before giving the newly installed Fennec browser the permission in NetGuard to access the internet you are shocked by choosing Google as standard search engine and change it to DuckDuckGo and delete Google from the possible search engines
  5. You give Fennec browser the right to access the internet in NetGuard
  6. You are shocked that NetGuard tells you that Fennec connects to google.com/443

Expected behavior

I thought Fennec is a free browser without anything to do with Google…

Actual behavior

Fennec connects to Google without any reason for the user…

Device information

Should not be of importance. The bug is in Fennec for all devices, I guess…

P.S.: As the F-Droid Fennec website presents this issue tracker I started the Bug report there at GitHub, but they directed me here to the F-Droid forum…

1 Like
2

It is.

Connections to various Internet services have nothing to do with the app being free software. Firefox indeed uses many services (not all apply to Android version): How to stop Firefox from making automatic connections | Firefox Help

1 Like
3

I cannot see any connection to Google mentioned in the link.

But anyway: is there any other browser available via F-Droid without connections to Google?

4

It’s probably Google Safebrowsing. See this gist for how to reconfigure certain settings (slightly outdated though). edit: Fennec will change it back to default settings, see here

5

Ok, thank you for that information!

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