A primary concern for users of Google’s free services is the company’s data collection practices for targeted advertising. This is especially worrisome for privacy-conscious individuals. Fortunately, a developer on Github has created “ungoogled-chromium,” a version of Chrome stripped of Google’s integrated services.
Based on the open-source Chromium project, ungoogled-chromium replicates the familiar Chrome experience while enhancing privacy. This is achieved by removing or disabling services that directly interact with Google.
Here are the key distinctions of ungoogled-chromium:
- Services and features that share data with Google or compromise privacy are either deactivated or removed.
- Binaries directly from Google are replaced with system-provided alternatives or built from source code.
- Features that limit user control or transparency are adjusted, disabled, or added, with minimal impact on the overall user experience.
Ungoogled-chromium is compatible with Mac OS, Windows, Ubuntu, and Debian. The latest build for each operating system can be found on the project’s Github release page. However, keep in mind that ungoogled-chromium lacks automatic updates, requiring manual downloads of the newest versions to maintain security.
Add repository and install manually
For Debian Buster 10
echo ‘deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Debian_Buster/ /’ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:ungoogled_chromium.list
curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:ungoogled_chromium/Debian_Buster/Release.key | gpg –dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home:ungoogled_chromium.gpg > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ungoogled-chromium
For Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal:
echo ‘deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Ubuntu_Focal/ /’ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:ungoogled_chromium.list
curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:ungoogled_chromium/Ubuntu_Focal/Release.key | gpg –dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home:ungoogled_chromium.gpg > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ungoogled-chromium
For Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Bionic:
echo ‘deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Ubuntu_Bionic/ /’ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:ungoogled_chromium.list
curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:ungoogled_chromium/Ubuntu_Bionic/Release.key | gpg –dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home:ungoogled_chromium.gpg > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ungoogled-chromium
Install Addons
To install addons in ungoogled-chromium, you have two options. You can either create a profile in regular Chromium, install your desired addons from the Google store, then uninstall Chromium and reopen the profile with ungoogled-chromium (uninstalling Chromium won’t delete your profiles). Alternatively, the recommended approach is to use a service like crxextractor.com to download .crx files of the addons you need and install them manually.
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