{"slug": "apps-v-browser", "title": "Apps v Browser", "summary": "A Privacy Guides forum user argues that using mobile browsers instead of dedicated apps enhances privacy and security, citing concerns over data persistence and device caching in apps like Ente. The discussion highlights trade-offs between convenience and privacy, with some users advocating for browser-only usage to limit system access and physical threat exposure.", "body_md": "[WhyRhy](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/u/WhyRhy)\n(Rhy )\n1\nI just wanted to ask for people’s opinions on both privacy and security relating specifically to mobile devices and the use of Apps v Browser.\n\nAs I take a further deep-dive and enhancing my own privacy and security, I do sometimes wonder whether it’s better to have fewer apps and login via a browser. Mainly due to data persistence, device caching and so on. I guess this is part of a physical threat model if the device got into the hands of bad actors.\n\nI am thinking about banking, e-mails, AI/LLMs and so on. This may not be possible for all services, such as those that have automated device uploads, although you could make this a manual process. For example, Ente. I think I read somewhere that you cannot toggle on/off the thumbnail cache. You have to manually delete the cache! I understand *why* you have a cache here for smaller images, but for users who have a higher privacy threshold, this should have the ability to not load images until toggled on. I don’t think this is just Ente, it just surprised me given their marketing around privacy etc. I’ve seen [@vishnukvmd](/u/vishnukvmd) comment in several places around the cryptography, audits and so on - which is great, but very little about physical security.\n\nFor me, Apps are designed for convenience. And what do we sacrifice convenience for?: PRIVACY. Every. Single. Time.\n\nWhilst there are some insanely great developments in the world of privacy and security products - something I applaud loudly - there is a huge focus on e2ee zero knowledge. Also great! But I can’t help but feel there could be more done with these privacy-focussed apps relating to **physical** threat models. Taking the Ente example, above, if my device was in the hands of a bad actor, my device memory would include the cached thumbnails of images that have previously been loaded. Is it possible to prevent this, even if by a toggle that allows the user to not automatically load thumbnail images?\n\nI think using a browser, wherever possible, may be better for privacy and physical threat models to avoid data lingering and discovery on a download.\n\n2 Likes\n\nProbably via source code modification and compilation, although whether you are willing to take matters into your own hands is another question entirely.\n\n1 Like\n\nIf you use a strong password (passphrase) for your phone you shouldn’t be concerned about your data being compromised.\n\nI practice minimalism to avoid clutter so I try to avoid installing apps in general and definitely don’t install any proprietary apps other than a couple MFA apps for work that are installed in a different profile. I use the browser instead and it’s not much of a hassle other than needing to log in each time.\n\n2 Likes\n\nThat depends on your threat model.\n\n[Sorge](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/u/Sorge)\n(Sorge)\n5\n\n[Tux](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/u/Tux)\n7\nBrowsers provide much less access to the system overall. I refuse to install commercial apps. If something cannot be done in a browser, I will do without it.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apps-v-browser", "canonical_source": "https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/apps-v-browser/38961#post_7", "published_at": "2026-07-03 21:43:35+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-03 21:54:50.072891+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Ente", "Privacy Guides"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apps-v-browser", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apps-v-browser.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apps-v-browser.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apps-v-browser.jsonld"}}