Ghostery Privacy Browser APK
Version 22251830 - com.ghostery.android.ghosteryLast updated: Sat, 20 Feb 2021 7:03:31 UTC
ghostery,android,communication:

APP Information
Download Version | 22251830 (22251830) |
Apk Size | 70.80 MB |
App Developer | Ghostery, Inc. |
Malware Check | TRUSTED |
Install on Android | 5.0 and up |
App Package | com.ghostery.android.ghostery.apk |
MD5 | b96e4eca625b1cc789a653941835fcc3 |
Rate | 4.52 |
Website | https://www.ghostery.com |
Table of Contents
Download Ghostery Privacy Browser 22251830 APK
App Description
Ghostery Privacy Browser is ghostery,android,communication, content rating is Everyone (PEGI-3). This app is rated 4.52 by 33 users who are using this app. To know more about the company/developer, visit Ghostery, Inc. website who developed it. com.ghostery.android.ghostery.apk apps can be downloaded and installed on Android 5.0 and higher Android devices. The Latest Version of 22251830 Available for download. Download the app using your favorite browser and click Install to install the application. Please note that we provide both basic and pure APK files and faster download speeds than APK Mirror. This app APK has been downloaded 26256+ times on store. You can also download com.ghostery.android.ghostery APK and run it with the popular Android Emulators.
Using Firefox’s Fenix, Ghostery Privacy Browser offers comprehensive features that enhance user privacy for mobile browsing. Ghostery Privacy Browser integrates the powerful ad blocking and tracker protection of the Ghostery 8 control panel with improved web browser functionalities. We’ve cut out extra bloating for you - so all you need to think about is which site you want to visit next. BOOKMARK FOLDERS Never lose track of your bookmarks again! Customize your folders and bookmarks to make navigating to your top websites easier than ever before. TRACKER VISIBILITY AND CONTROL Enjoy best-in class security with our newest release. See who is tracking your data on the websites you visit and block or unblock these trackers (even unknown ones) individually or in bulk. GHOST TABS – PRIVATE BROWSING Private Browsing (incognito browsing) offers and further privacy protection by preventing the websites you visit from appearing in your browser history. BUILT-IN AD BLOCKER The mobile browser removes intrusive ads and clutter, resulting in a cleaner and ultimately faster browsing experience. UI Updates We’ve given Ghostery Android v3 a bit of a facelift. Enjoy all the same features you know and love but with an updated look and feel. Navigate to the Ghostery Overview Panel (click on the Ghosty icon in the top left of your browser) to take a look!
App ChangeLog
- Ghostery Privacy Browser v3.0 is our fastest mobile browser to date, offering a private, tracker- and ad-free mobile browsing experience. This version is optimized for Android 11 and equipped with the largest tracker database in the market. Please visit our Github page for the full open-source code.
App Screens
Permissions
requires following permissions on your android device.
android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATIONapproximate location (network-based)
android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE
android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE
android.permission.CAMERA
android.permission.DOWNLOAD_WITHOUT_NOTIFICATION
android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE
android.permission.INTERNET
android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS
android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED
android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO
android.permission.USE_BIOMETRIC
android.permission.USE_FINGERPRINT
android.permission.VIBRATE
android.permission.WAKE_LOCK
android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE
com.google.android.finsky.permission.BIND_GET_INSTALL_REFERRER_SERVICE
android.hardware.wifi
Allows the app to get your approximate location. This location is derived by location services using network location sources such as cell towers and Wi-Fi. These location services must be turned on and available to your device for the app to use them. Apps may use this to determine approximately where you are.
precise location (GPS and network-based)
Allows the app to get your precise location using the Global Positioning System (GPS) or network location sources such as cell towers and Wi-Fi. These location services must be turned on and available to your device for the app to use them. Apps may use this to determine where you are, and may consume additional battery power.
view network connections
Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.
view Wi-Fi connections
Allows the app to view information about Wi-Fi networking, such as whether Wi-Fi is enabled and name of connected Wi-Fi devices.
take pictures and videos
Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This permission allows the app to use the camera at any time without your confirmation.
download files without notification
Allows the app to download files through the download manager without any notification being shown to the user.
GET ACCOUNTS
Allows access to the list of accounts in the Accounts Service.
full network access
Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.
change your audio settings
Allows the app to modify global audio settings such as volume and which speaker is used for output.
read the contents of your SD card
Allows the app to read the contents of your SD card.
run at startup
Allows the app to have itself started as soon as the system has finished booting. This can make it take longer to start the phone and allow the app to slow down the overall phone by always running.
record audio
Allows the app to record audio with the microphone. This permission allows the app to record audio at any time without your confirmation.
control vibration
Allows the app to control the vibrator.
prevent phone from sleeping
Allows the app to prevent the phone from going to sleep.
modify or delete the contents of your SD card
Allows the app to write to the SD card.
receive data from Internet
Allows apps to accept cloud to device messages sent by the app's service. Using this service will incur data usage. Malicious apps could cause excess data usage.
J Long
2020-09-28T21:31:56.360Z
Since the upgrade and redesign the browser is crashing quite a lot, multiple times during the day, even during the hour. Very annoying and may have to discard browser altogether. As such, I can't recommend any longer. Also, extremely important: I'm getting a ghost tab underneath all my pages. For example, when I go to close a page, there appears a completely black page that I also have to close behind it. What's the deal here? What happened, Ghostery?
Carla Caruana
2020-10-01T05:23:48.969Z
I was upset with this garbage update to begin with, but just noticed it managed to wipe out around a hundred bookmarks I had arranged in an intricate folder structure for organisation purposes. Nothing left. This is the last straw. I'm definitely uninstalling, and this is likely to be, for the rest of my life, my go-to story of needlessly ruining good software. It blows my mind how unacceptably bad this update was. Just fold the studio at this point, it's done, you blew it. Unbelievable.
Google User
2020-09-17T11:15:56.550Z
EDIT 2020-09-17: I didn't think it was possible for the interface to get any worse...yet it did. Open tabs now show up in a horrible compressed list view with no preview images, which is a nightmare if you have more than five tabs open. Additional, none of the problems with the former "new" interface were fixed. At this point this app is worse than Samsung's stock browser app, which is an all-time low developers of a third-party app ought to be ashamed of.
Joe
2020-10-02T01:15:33.131Z
Update is more like a backwards move. Good: Now my regular news site is in the homescreen. One click morning reading. Bad: No more "quit" option. Can't find a Fedex tracking number from web search, where it used to open DDG and get it. Went to a website that was under maintenance, and it just showed an IP address. But if I open in DDG, it shows me the site maintenance message like it should. Was really liking this app, but now not so much. Maybe time to start looking around for a different app
Chris P
2020-10-02T19:22:17.824Z
Keyboard always slow to shows up whenever trying to type an address. Prob 'cause it's loading native libs for QR code, regardless whether user going to use that feature or not. For a rewrite, it's a shame there's too much regression on performance. 🤷🤷♀️🤷♂️ Oh yeah, bookmarks and top/pinned sites management seems to be an afterthought to devs. Power users, this browser is not for you.
M Schnell
2020-10-12T16:36:07.588Z
I like this app very much but I don't care for the new screen layouts. It's confusing. I'm not sure now whether I'm in a private window or not. I'd like to see a feature added that allows you to set whether or not to switch to a new tab automatically when you open a new tab. That would be more convenient than the way it is now. Otherwise it's a good app.
z's not here
2020-09-14T23:03:31.843Z
It used to be my favorite browser but just today it got removed from my home screen. I added it back and didn't think much of it but later I tried to use it and it signed me out (luckily it kept all my tabs) and then I tried to use it like normal and the entire format changed to some dumb thing that doesn't work at all.
M S
2020-09-21T15:58:15.843Z
The new update in September 2020 makes this browser unusable. I loved it before and now I need to look for another browser and remove this from my phone. Why ruin something that was working great and had great reviews and a strong following? It seems that most of the great features disappeared. I'm deleting this and moving on.
M M
2020-09-25T03:11:54.917Z
Update ruined a lot of features and user friendly features. The NO LONGER allow the option of full desktop view from mobile view. They even took away additional options in settings to change the fake ass desktop view button they do have. Not to mention they NO LONGER DETECT TRACKERS honestly anymore. Now every time I go to fb it says Facebook, the largest data mining platform in existence, it says fb has Zero trackers and completely safe for privacy. So yeah they obviously prostituted themselve.
Victoria Anne Warner
2020-10-04T16:20:12.170Z
I have switched. The update is.... I've not reviewed an app I used to love like this before. Unfortunately for ghostery I switched to duckduckgo and it works just fine, so I won't see a point in switching back even if you fix it, even though I loved having a little ghost on my home screen. Hopefully it'll be a lesson for the future?
Stefan Garnham
2020-09-14T16:27:53.990Z
Latest update is useless. Opening new tabs for bookmarks instead of loading it in the current tab resulting in multiple tabs open. More taps to access items which used to be accessible via one. Reduction of features. Did the Devs have anyone actually use this before release? Very disappointed as this was a brilliant browser a year ago
Amanda Ruiz
2020-09-13T17:15:33.672Z
This browser was the best... until the newest feature update. I used to be able to have add-ons to make the QoL better, it was much faster than it is now, and the settings were much more intuitive. It took everything great about open source and Ghostery's tracking blocker and just threw it in the trash. Please revert the newest feature update!
kira angle
2020-09-19T10:13:00.921Z
Its slower, a lot slower, downloads fail even after the image has conpletely loaded. I cannot start from a tab, it has to be the intro screen. I didnt ask for a lot, but i would have prefered nothing over this.i used the browser for years and now i feel like uninstalling it.
Ron Swanson
2020-09-30T20:14:52.978Z
Updated Ghostery - I LOATHE it. Old Ghostery allowed me to save all my passwords. Now they are all gone and I am locked out of several accounts because I dont have a clue what they are. No where to be found on new updated Ghostery menu is a saved password function. Moving to another browser....
R Borg
2020-09-12T00:42:59.432Z
Worst browser update in HISTORY. Which says a lot. They went from one of the best browsers and changed it. I don't care that they added extra paid services. However they seem to have changed the favorite websites. Thereby destroying the best feature. There are multiple privacy browsers. This was my #1 browser. The one i recommended. Probably switching to DuckDuckgo browser as my main.
Kim O
2020-10-09T08:02:28.733Z
I like the privacy and lack of ads. But the app has issues, particularly when using the back button to return to a previous page. It either messes up where I was on the page and I have to scroll to find my place, or it doesn't load the page at all.
Jonathan H
2020-10-05T01:15:37.873Z
Says it is secure but voice command allows Google to access and use the microphone even when the microphone permission is disabled. I suspect there is nothing secure about this anymore. They were probably bought out. I wont be using it any more.
A Google user
2020-09-17T04:30:25.143Z
Last update brang some new huge bugs.. All my stored passwords had simply gone. That's even absent appropriate menu item... Reading mode is completely different, the increase in font size is now limited for some reason... Recover my passwords! Fix all bugs please... or you'll lose at least one of the first users...
Iren Grimm
2020-09-24T02:19:31.924Z
Do devs hate users? Changing tabs is a nightmare now. Go to tab list. New page is top item, initially hidden, fine. Swipe down. Oops, swipe about 1 pixel more than needed to unhide. Whole list collapses. Try again. Since update many pages won't render or finish loading. All work fine in other browsers. Show tabs button at top of screen. Then new tab button is at bottom. Then need to select address bar at top. Layout wasn't this bad before. Also, tab thumbnails are too small, usually blank.
Brian Dalton
2020-09-19T05:44:42.994Z
Used to be a good browser, but recent changes have made it far worse. Can't close individual tabs, can't delete selected history ... must delete them one by one or all at one time. Time to find a different browser.
Brian Gibbs
2020-09-10T02:47:59.615Z
Why? Seriously, why did you mess with this? It's not 'better' it's worse. Now the microphone is working when it shouldn't. Hmm. Interesting. Avg went from antivirus to full blown malware. Same here? Long live ghostery! Ghostery is dead! Nothing to see here. Time to move along. :(
adder mc
2020-09-11T18:45:48.179Z
First off it's Definitely Not fast what so ever. Hell Tor browser (which is extremely slow) was faster than this app. And constantly asking for review. And it will confuse you when you set some items, keeps throwing Mozilla Firefox for it. Yes I know it's forked off Firefox. But some people don't know that and wonder if they installed Ghostery browser why Firefox keeps showing on items. As soon as I get something else, uninstalle it!!
Rainey Oliver
2020-10-03T21:24:11.868Z
O stars if possible, after the new update. Lost all my bookmarks, slow to load and crashes. And why the hell is Google the search engine? If I wanted to use google, I would simply use chrome. No thanks!
Johan Whote
2020-09-09T06:51:51.125Z
I miss the old layout the new one is to... Unusable? Where is the search on other engines button? All gone! Also the shortcuts button shows sites I don't visit? Can I pay to have my site up there??? Seems ugly now and there you go 1 star back to older version for me might be security issues but the new layout is to ugly
Kelly Penner
2020-09-12T21:16:29.445Z
Was good before the update. Now it deletes and forgets where I was if I was to change to a different app. I don't like that it forces that option on you. I may have to find another privacy Browser to keep things I have running to remain in the background if I choose to.
Dyes Cyes
2020-10-08T12:29:24.180Z
Why do you keep trying to tweak it. Have to input personal data every time it's closed to access a simple thing like an email acc. Last update suxs big time. Will be looking at uninstalling unless it works like before.
Aaron Davies
2020-09-19T05:12:52.840Z
This new version is terrible. Getting to my pinned sites is a massive pain, and not intuitive at all. I'm going to give it a few more days before I give up entirely, but I'm 95% sure I will be deleting this app.
Mark Williams
2020-09-18T21:41:35.684Z
Ghostery was working OK until the latest update, now if it opens a website, the app closes shortly after. Not sure if that's classed a bug that's causing it a crash but it's now un-usable at this state.
Michael Shover
2020-09-12T15:45:09.786Z
The latest update sucks. Single list of pages instead of the two rows. Page icons don't load. Keeps blocking good sites. Have to hit the reload several times to get some sites to work. Need I say more? I loved it before the update
Zane Williams
2020-09-09T16:16:23.501Z
Was a 5 star app for browsing, I enjoyed the old version's ability to access messages in FB while in desktop mode. The new version has broken this and I refuse to install any FB app on my phone. Will change back to 5 stars if and when this is fixed.
Janardhanan Hariharan
2020-09-19T04:31:34.501Z
After the recent update this has become the worst browser available on playstore! Absolutely loved the previous versions. Sad to see such a good app being ruined by the developers.
cathi newlin
2020-10-03T23:51:15.198Z
The update takes away even more control of appearance and behavior. A very constrained experience. Almost feels like a Facebook app. Not liking the new update.
Steve McFly
2020-09-19T04:30:32.751Z
What happened to the mobile data saver. Missing in action, can't find it anywhere. Going from 5 star to 4.
DrA Dude
2020-09-11T12:08:52.748Z
This is a gud app.. but wish they wud enable one to rearrange and or even group their saved sites versus just adding at the bottom of master list ***Update 10Sept: they updated the app and now it SUCKS... not intuitive, locks up, cludgy... I will uninstall and look for another offer
Kat H
2020-09-30T00:00:33.364Z
WTH??? App updated and deleted every browser window I had open. No bookmarks present either. You ruined a month of research. I should get to decide whether I want current windows gone. Uninstalled - you ruined this app.
Kevin Witt
2020-09-16T05:46:49.324Z
Took away private browsing tabs? Confusing home screen you can't swipe away. Very confusing. What was wrong with the old version?
James Preiss
2020-09-23T22:00:33.411Z
New version is trash. Scrolling is messed up, tabs less intuitive, fails to successfully spoof being a desktop for facebook messenger (previous version worked)
k K
2020-09-13T08:26:51.543Z
Terrible changes to the new app, it's unresponsive and buggy. The new tiles are not great either. Bring back the old version.
Yusuf Atoillah
2020-10-11T03:59:00.439Z
This version very unresponsive, when i'm trying to type on anddress bar. Previous version working very well
Bret
2020-09-15T01:31:45.914Z
Went from 5 star to a jumbled mess that will not correctly display pages in one update. hint: play settings- disable auto update
XtraMileSales XMS
2020-09-11T17:06:54.920Z
If it ain't broke... Seriously, it has gone from nearly perfect to nearly unusable with the latest update.
Dave S
2020-09-17T07:44:06.505Z
They just updated the app and re-ordered all my bookmarks. That's bad enough but there's no way to put them back how they were
Simons Androyd
2020-10-03T11:21:05.947Z
was great, now Desktop mode doesn't work on FB so can't access Messenger via browser (redirects to m facebook com)
Matthew Smith
2020-09-15T17:56:31.248Z
Give back the old layout and functionality. Not sure why changes were needed. Made it worse. Roll back the update
Rafał Szyja
2020-09-11T11:35:12.864Z
It was great software unless you made "update" in the beginning of September 2020.
sherri c
2020-09-14T04:06:10.130Z
Another awful 'update'. What's with this landing page that i can't get rid of?
joe morales
2020-09-14T02:12:21.841Z
Missing settings to allow deleting or clearing all history, cache, etc., on exit AUTOMATICALLY. THIS IS NOW AVAILABLE. A MUCH BETTER BROWSER FOR MOBILE PHONES. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Leah Shibilski
2020-10-02T03:12:50.326Z
Worked great until new update, now it's very slow.
kka1 Portugal
2020-09-17T20:24:35.418Z
hello, how to export the bookmarks?!. It's very slow now! Bad experience!
chris gloster
2020-09-12T17:02:21.900Z
Just had the update and hate it, extra click for bookmarks, cannot access FB messenger in desktop mode, who does your usability testing :-(
Scott Kefford
2020-09-12T05:28:41.725Z
Since the update, the app hangs and become unresponsive at times.
Barbara Williams
2020-09-18T21:24:20.419Z
It baffles me, how developers can go from a steadily improving and usable app, then regress so massively on this version. I'd give it a negative star if there was that option....
Boyd Shermis
2020-09-17T15:29:09.365Z
Loved it until they recently changed it. Now I'm migrating to Opera.
Dale Sheeley
2020-09-12T13:30:01.958Z
Fast, but doesn't seem to protect your privacy as well as previous versions.
Brinkerro
2020-09-10T15:40:17.457Z
Good...but I wish it had a search bar widget for Android like DDG does. WTH...9/9/2020 update: Where in this app update is the ability to auto close out all tabs upon exiting?
s McCormick
2020-09-10T08:42:37.802Z
Unusable. No back button no tabs a nightmare for browsing. Please ditch this version.
Drew Elliot
2020-09-12T03:07:27.453Z
What was wrong with old layout? Not enjoying the new one!
Doc Astrov
2020-09-21T07:55:18.993Z
What the heck happened. When from brilliant to unusable in one update
Pally Pritam
2020-09-30T21:44:07.953Z
The latest update is crashing the app every few minutes
Roman C
2020-09-21T00:21:35.388Z
Why don't you roll back latest stable version (prior to v. 3), fix and workout the version 3 and release it once is fully functional?
Mike Tyree
2020-09-14T22:40:43.188Z
Now I get 'permission denied' when trying to launch. Hope I can get my bookmarks out.
Hannah Joy Patterson
2020-09-21T12:40:28.000Z
These "updates" are exactly why I stopped using Firefox.
Manufacturing Technologies, Inc.
2020-09-14T15:08:49.318Z
After update app keeps crashing on my android based phone.
naren rathor
2020-09-16T12:31:00.887Z
After recent update, app is crashing while filling password
Tony Isabel
2020-09-16T05:42:53.774Z
Force closes since update 9/10/2020 contacted developer they had no solution uninstalling on 9/16/2020
T L
2020-09-13T23:44:50.875Z
New version updated this month crashes frequently.
peter rothschild
2020-09-26T12:26:47.707Z
Why did they have to change it . Now I can't scroll on certain sites . Can't even uninstall the update
Jeff
2020-09-18T16:00:59.661Z
crash, crash, crash, no longer stable
John Donovan
2020-09-20T03:55:01.120Z
Privacy is good, would like more options on bookmarks
Marian Ooo
2020-09-26T00:19:38.340Z
It keeps crashing. Wish I hadn't updated. Awful
Neil Smith
2020-10-04T10:17:11.120Z
Work fine until the update now doesn't work
Global Rage
2020-09-21T19:41:20.459Z
Pls add "Tabs - continue where i left off" option...
Guy Horton
2020-09-16T23:48:59.911Z
What happened?!! I don't like this updated app at all! It updated automatically and I want to roll-back!
Iman Rich The Swag Lord
2020-09-18T19:28:04.897Z
Since the last update many sites dont work
Thomas Rahm
2020-09-14T09:04:26.518Z
From fantastic to unusable after upgrade.
Louie Cordina
2020-09-10T06:32:12.542Z
New version is much faster! Well done!
Mikel Wilson
2020-09-23T19:39:53.504Z
Dear Ghostry, please back out the newest update. I am going to a different browser now. Are the developers ever going to respond to this negative feedback?
Sandi
2020-10-10T09:11:15.957Z
Let *me* choose if I want to be force logged out of every single website every time I close the app.
Gabriel Evans
2020-09-15T14:37:34.230Z
September update horrible step backwards.
Jeremiah brown
2020-09-25T20:57:12.971Z
It only works in browsers i wonder if they can update it to work on apps to
Jon Owen
2020-09-16T17:04:20.440Z
The recent update and layout has ruined this app
Radek Penizek
2020-09-11T19:12:43.599Z
Old version was perfect, new versin is horrible
Joe Pandora
2020-09-16T15:34:34.970Z
Overall, pretty good. However, I have the app set to clear private data on exit, and it hangs on exit and does not close. UPDATE: the exit issue was fixed with the most recent update, but now the live video is choppy. I used another browser for the same video and it was smooth. Couldn't deal with the choppiness so after using this browser for several years, said goodbye and uninstalled.
John Shannon
2020-09-22T13:32:14.600Z
Threw away all my bookmarks in last update.
Z Z
2020-10-04T08:47:29.463Z
Update Fail. Downgraded from 5 stars. Had to uninstall. The new version is NOT as intuitive as you think. Removing functionality from the tri-dot pulldown does NOT streamline processes. Replacing nearly all the words with symbols or icons without including a legend is cruel. Failing to include an introduction to the changes was just stupid. So, yeah. Update Fail.
Keith Tan
2020-09-15T13:05:40.664Z
Ghostery was my goto browser used last 5 years. Right up until V3.0 update on 24 Aug 2020. The new features detract from the browser experience. Its not just the new look, the update impacts the browser useability. Still love ghostery on my PC but the android app is no longer what it used to be. Wish i stayed on the older version
Feminism Iscancer
2020-09-17T06:34:23.296Z
No download (video) function 🤨
Fabienne Schwab
2020-09-11T17:03:27.539Z
Used to be my favorite browser, has turned unusable. Useless reloads after every tab switch, urls have to be entered three to four times and still randomly the previous url is reloaded, clicking links does not work or only works after multiple tapping, in short, the whole browsing experience has become a nightmare and the last updates only made it worse. The extra star is for the original idea which I still think is awesome.
A
2020-08-23T21:45:22.758Z
Made it worse. Was very happy with old version. Accidently had to reinstall. New version is annoying. Player not paused when exiting app. Sound continues on background. Multiple new tabs open at the same time are erased when relaunched. Annouing. I want the same controls as in old version.
Leonardo Hendrix
2020-08-28T18:10:11.652Z
This app is Good, but I think this browser having problem about activation for flash video using JavaScript mode from the web is not responding, I don't know why this happen? But is good to access for my ram process or safety during I using many tab mode -.-. Nice GHOSTERYINC hopefully this will be good in the next time.
A Google user
2020-10-05T03:41:51.146Z
mozilla rip off. shame on this dev team
Ral Crux
2020-09-29T04:31:14.671Z
I like it in my browser (Firefox, Chrome) but hate it as a browser. Lacks OPTIMIZATION for Android, it's glitchy in an annoying way, and it isn't mobile/pocket friendly.
L BeLL
2020-05-01T07:10:38.631Z
It's okay, I like it and have been using it for years. But this current version seems to have some kind of bug where every so often, I start to see large black blocks covering parts of the screen and then it crashes to the report/restart screen. It usually does this twice in a row before it returns to normal function. It's not a huge thing, but it is annoying and chronic. I've been sending reports on it each time it's happened, but apparently nothing has come from doing that.
A Google user
2020-09-11T04:37:13.336Z
WHAT HAPPENED?!? Only browser that fully respected user privacy becomes overnight as nosey as worst google product. And performance gets wrecked at same time. And interface becomes indecipherable. Let me guess. New owner/developer decided to ditch everything that made product worth buying, to adapt someone else's code, & call it an "improvement." It stinks.
Robert R
2020-09-13T14:17:03.475Z
Difficult interface slow when searching Internet. Have used free version previously. Had paid for premium and I don't see that it was money well spent.
Nate Vega
2020-05-26T02:04:27.524Z
Sad browsing experience. It offers little other than coverage not to be found in a private form but I caught it sending data of tracking the whereabouts of my device and my internet surfing to tracking sites - hardly as safe and secret as a ghost! It's actually kinda malicious but then again so is Google Chrome and Microsoft's Edge Browser, which openly tracks and serves you ads, but please don't lie and do it behind our backs!
SmockWilD ReX
2020-08-06T16:21:03.777Z
How to export all bookmarks to another phone from this browser? there doesn't seem to be any option to export bookmarks. alternatively in which folder it is saved so it can be copied? share the idea if anyone has found it. thanks
Lee Carrillo
2020-08-27T03:03:50.400Z
Pretty nice controls. YT app most adds blocked which is nice! How do I fix the A/V lag with Bluetooth headphones? No problems with reg YT a pp. Please advise.
Katie Goellner
2020-06-19T14:48:52.691Z
When it works, it's great, but I've found it only works properly like 30% of the time. It's incredibly frustrating. It's always freezing and crashing on me and I frequently have to repeatedly restart it for it to even block trackers. Overall, disappointing.
charles chaboya
2020-07-04T02:50:48.389Z
I wonder where the support Techs are from Ghostery? I have been a chronic user for some years now works great on note 9. It seems like alot of people are having software issues running the browser. Not sure how much you guys make everytime people click download. But I've done it more than once and I keep coming back to ghostery.
Anastasia Renaud
2020-05-23T16:39:12.591Z
Terrible app. Keeps crashing for no reason after each time I open a tab. It also often had huge black boxes obscuring what Im reading that precedes the app crashing. This doesnt happen every time but about 50% of the time. I will be uninstalling.
Carrie van der Zee
2020-05-16T08:52:05.863Z
I love this browser. Great to know I can browse the internet without being tracked by websites I have visited. It's fast to boot, and there is no noticeable drop in website responsiveness. Thanks to Nord VPN for recommending it!
A Google user
2019-01-17T17:44:00.546Z
Latest Version - WOW !! What an improvement !! Except for the cache size, the Ghostery team has made great progress and are approaching their former glory. ****** my OLD review follows ****** Do NoT download! The latest version is not usable. It's so slow it took 4 minutes just to quit the app. In its present form it's the worst browser I've ever used. It was great, but you guys at Ghostery have really screwed up. I'm sorry but after all these years I'm going to have to say goodbye.
Don Fosen
2020-04-25T14:53:24.536Z
Works great! It's a tad slower than Chrome but it is very good at removing the endless garbage ads. I think it renders Web pages in a more readable way as well.
John Olesky
2020-09-20T19:32:50.875Z
What have done? The recent upgrade is horrible
A Google user
2018-10-16T01:55:53.714Z
I've used Ghostery for years, it was my favorite app. But boy does it suck now after this update. I've never seen an application go from a 5 to a 1, and it should be a zero if you could rate it as such. My issues are the same as everyone else reports. Please bring back the old Ghostery. Update 10/15: performance is improved in the latest release. Kudos to the team. Hope they keep moving this forward.
Greg Todaro
2018-10-18T02:42:44.149Z
Used to be a fast, light weight browser, but now is extremely slow, even with the"performance fixes" from the end of September. What it now excels at is turning a high speed connection into a dial-up experience from 1995. ---------------------- OK - just updated again with the October 2018 performance fixes. I'll let you know how it goes.... if it ever finishes loading a page. Go ahead, grab some popcorn.. we'll be here a while. #performancefail
A Google user
2018-10-05T18:24:27.272Z
A person doesn't install Ghostery because they want to be hip or trendy. They do it because they want to keep things simple and browse in peace. It seems in the September update much of that is now broken. The blue in the top bar hurts my eyes and many of the menus feel wrong. At the very least do away with the color from the top bar and go with greyscale so that it doesn't clash so badly with 90%+ of the web. Considering the lack of good alternatives, I guess I've switched to the duck duck go browser for now. I haven't been able to stand the way Firefox likes to organize things or play with their visual themes, so I simply avoid using it except when someone tells me there's a Firefox-specific bug in something at work. I certainly didn't want it on my phone. I know the old Ghostery had some issues with certain type of sites and downloads, but I accepted that as the price for a browser that bucked the trend to deliver a simple, clean web browsing experience. After all, I could always fall back to Chrome for the few things I absolutely needed to get to work and would simply copy/paste the URL in most cases avoiding searching and browsing in Chrome.
Michael Campbell
2019-01-10T14:24:43.670Z
Update: blocks ads again! Original review: I loved using Ghostery until a few days ago, when I noticed it no longer blocks ads. The little ad counter at the top under the ghost logo doesn't ever change from the word "hello", anymore. It used to tally up all the ads being blocked while a site loaded, and was very satisfying. But not anymore... ☹️ I can send screen shots of sites where the ads are still there, if needed. I'd love to use it again, but there's no reason to if ads aren't blocked.
Michael H
2018-10-12T05:42:44.853Z
The earlier versions of this based on Chrome were great, but it recently switched over to being based on Firefox Mobile, and it's pretty bad. Slow, uses a lot of memory to the point where it kills off all other apps in the background, and the UI is worse. Also it is worse in terms of privacy, which is the whole point of it in the first place. The tablet version now has auto-search that you can't turn off, so it is sending out what you type for search as you type it. In the phone version, you can turn this off, but not tablet.
A Google user
2018-11-04T22:48:05.327Z
Liked it 4 stars until the latest update near the end of October 2018 which turned this app into molasses. I'm searching for a new engine. This is now incredibly slow to respond to touch and open pages. There's no reason to justify this turtle race. I discovered that history has to be deleted one page at a time. I'm tired of uninstalling and reinstalling. They must have a new leader/decision maker. I don't want to spend time on this any more... "🎶 So long, its been good to know you...🎶"
Philip Wileman
2018-09-21T06:20:52.821Z
Hate the new update! I've used Ghostery for the last few years and found it to be one of the better browsers, simple to look at, use and configure. After the last update I'm faced with an unnecessarily cluttered interface, I've lost all my bookmarks and it won't even let me set up Duckduckgo as my homepage. I really can't be bothered to put up with unasked for changes to what was previously an excellent app. I shall be uninstalling it as soon as I've finished this review!
A Google user
2018-09-20T21:17:24.489Z
The latest set of updates ruined everything that was good about this app. Every new feature is either pointless, doesn't work or is exactly what i was trying to avoid by using this app in the first place. It is no longer a small, simple browser. It is now bloated. It randomly crashes and crashes other running apps. You took a good thing and ruined it.
Matt Sequel
2020-06-11T07:05:53.860Z
Not sure why I keep finding that the Ghostery Location Service is running in the background (only found out through Android notification log) and nothing online about it so I've uninstalled it. Location permission was not granted.
A Google user
2019-05-02T21:17:19.931Z
It worked well until last update, when it crashed EVERY time it started. I lost all my bookmarks deleting and relaoding. Crash. Again later. Crash. A month or two without it. Again. Now it works. My bookmarks are lost forever. I use it much like before, but now when I close a window, my default "favorites" page presents the popup keyboard. EVERY. TIME. I have to close the keyboard, the browser, or open another tab. It is tiresome. I never saw another browser do that, ever.
Mich Rain
2018-10-25T19:19:45.591Z
One should be able to rate zero stars. This app deserves not even one. It went from being the best, fastest mobile browser to the most sluggish, unresponsive experience ever. I was hoping this last "performance" update would bring back its functionality, but alas it didn't and I highly doubt it will ever be as good as it used to. Some devs just like to perform seppuku on themselves by killing their apps with "innovation". Remember: if it's not broken, don't fix it...
Laoban Mo
2019-05-04T05:16:19.770Z
This had been my favourite browser ever since it first appeared a few years ago. But following the latest ”upgrade" it just crashes upon start-up and so cannot be used. I'll miss it! How I wish Google would configure Android to allow users to revert to the previous version of an app when developers have failed to check properly what they're doing in an "upgrade"!!
Mythos Kerman
2019-04-16T09:20:05.469Z
Used to work very well, but the last update just don't work. On every site I go, the ghost menu should show me the tracker the app can see, i got the "no chart data availlable". As I understant, the ghost server is unreachable. The a-blocker don't work either. Very strange when you consider that the app work just fine on my Ipad, even the ad-blocker. And when you try to reach to staff via an email, they don't bother answer... If you have any idea to solve the issue, I'm open to suggestion
Brandon Ramos
2018-11-02T20:47:21.902Z
What happened?? This is to be my go to browser, but now it's painstakingly SLOW to load, pages don't load properly and the tabs are a mess. It's just so clunky now. Not sure why there was a reason to overhaul everything when it was perfectly fine before. Sadly I'll be using different browser now until they get back to being functional. Newer updates haven't changed anything either.
A Google user
2018-09-21T22:29:05.985Z
I agree with the other reviews. I never understand why people insist on "improving" things only to totally ruin what we liked about the original. The new updated version is unusable. I tried using it a couple times after the update only to realize it's slow and clunky now. I immediately switched to Firefox Focus, which I don't like either but it's better than this new version.
H Rost
2018-09-24T02:33:53.559Z
Ghostery was my go to browser for my phone, but the last update has completely changed it. It is ridiculously slow to load pages now, to the point that my phones stock browser is faster to use, plus since the update my phone seems to be running a lot slower than normal, and my battery is dropping faster than it ever has. It's looking like I'll have to switch to something else and see if they fix what's gone wrong.
A Google user
2018-09-23T11:00:43.880Z
My last review was removed so here it is again. The app has been ruined since the latest update. It goes against everything the old ghostery was. Clear on exit has been removed. You need to opt out of analytics. Trackers by site owners enabled by default. Cookies enabled by default. I'm sure this will be reported and removed too but I'll keep adding it. Use Firefox focus instead.
Martin Day
2018-11-02T07:25:35.357Z
I liked the new look of the app and was quite happy overall for a couple of days but as I've used it more it's slowly started to annoy me. It's become so slow and unresponsive with pages taking forever to load or not load at all. I have the old version still installed on another phone and it zips through any page I load in seconds no problem. This app takes up almost 800MB of storage, in comparison the old version that took around 135MB, DuckDuckGo browser uses 40MB! Where did all the bloat come from? This browser has become the very thing I was trying to get away from unfortunately. I'm going to extract the old version APK from my old phone and reinstall it on my current one, hopefully things will improve with this version over time.
A Google user
2018-09-28T11:31:10.205Z
All good things come to an end....this app was my go to browser for years. I now rank it on par with sticking a rusty fork in my eye with the latest upgrades. How do you not ask your users what features we like and dislike before changing them? Sounds like a novel idea doesn't it? Unreal....app sucks now. Dont bother. The beauty about the free market is I will find something else.
Mike Luther
2018-09-23T05:11:20.389Z
The expression 'if it aint broke, don't fix it' has never been more appropriate for describing the new updates. The most disappointing fact was that previous version fulfilled everybody's requirements for an efficient, private, lite browser JUST FINE. I usually don't care enough to write app reviews but its disappointing as this was pretty much my go-to browser before the updates and introduction of unnecessary search engines, features and trackers made everything from loading simple html pages to clicking on the settings button painstakingly slow and unnecessarily time-consuming. People didn't download this browser because they wanted it to look sleek and flashy or to be customizable and personal, if they did then they would have just downloaded chrome or firefox which does a far better job.
Roy Adair
2020-08-04T23:17:05.416Z
My browsing experience was good with this app and Ghostery doesnt restrict you on your web browsing. Ghostery Good job.
belowaveragegame
2018-11-22T19:32:09.220Z
It's brilliant if you're concerned about your privacy online. However, since the latest update it's so much slower and is unbearable to use when you can be waiting 30 seconds to a minute just to load something up. I've been waiting a couple of months for it to run as ut previpusly did and I'm tired of waiting so I'll find another browser.
Sally S.
2018-10-03T17:24:00.850Z
This has been my browser of choice for a long time. This latest update has made it unuseable. It takes forever to load a page and then maybe only the title will show up. I have changed no settings. Nothing works in the Settings menu. Nothing will open. Very disappointed. Update : it is now working but I had to reinstall it and lost all of my bookmarks and open tabs. Don't like the new "look" either, sorry. It was perfect before it was changed. Still very disappointed. I had some important (to me) bookmarks on there that I may never find again because I don't know where to look. 😢
A Google user
2018-10-18T03:26:54.307Z
Not the most powerful browser obviously but I like the fact that it increases my privacy. With this new update I'm puzzled about why I have to provide all the extra information and access to Ghostery - that goes against the notion of privacy. For that reason I will not be upgrading to the newest version. I'll keep my old version which does the job I need.
A Cloudy Krow
2018-09-19T11:55:10.607Z
First time I opened after the update, I thought this was just any other browser. I honestly don't care for looking at news topic which you can turn that off in settings. The bookmark is slightly buggy for me. This browser doesn't feel like the old ghostery browser that feels more private. This version just feels like all the other browsers. I'll give a few tries..if no goes I'll go use something else...
A Google user
2018-11-21T13:55:56.308Z
Seems fine before the latest update, but is incredibly cumbersome and slow now. Perhaps my phone (Moto G Play) doesn't have the hardware to run the update at its full capacity, but this is still unacceptable. The interface is unresponsive, pages stop loading halfway through, and links take several seconds to begin loading. On the whole, disappointing from a browser I used exclusively.
Mats Holmberg
2018-12-13T17:42:48.156Z
Answer to latest comment by the Ghostery team (Dec 13) : Doesn't matter if it's more secure. If it's unusable it's unusable. Uninstalled. - Edit after installing latest version (December): The app is even worse now. Unbelievably slow. Opening Facebook or performing a simple Google search takes FOREVER. If it even loads, that is. I've compared with the same browsing, searches and logins, over the same wifi and 4G connections with Brave and Chrome and both these browsers outperform Ghostery. It didn't used to be like this. If you want to save your company I suggest you take this seriously and revert back to how it used to be in June. ------- Crashes EVERY TIME I open the app, unless I close the process properly first. This is not a stable version. Unacceptable. Incredible that this version made it through QA. Revert back to previous release asap.
A Google user
2018-09-21T16:40:26.595Z
New update is terrible. I've turned off the news feature, ghost search & autocomplete but every time I type in the search bar it is still autocompleting URLs for sites I've not even visited, and recommending search results (usually news sites...the exact thing I turned off because I didn't want it) before I've hit return. With news turned off, I also don't see any reason the search box can't be in the middle again, as the rest of the screen is now empty space.
Mark Mantooth
2018-09-28T17:51:10.868Z
Used the Ghostery Browser for years. The previous update caused my browsing performance to suffer and do not like the interface. After reading the latest reviews, it sounds like there are still performance issues. Therefore, I shopped around and found the DuckDuckGo browser. Wow!! Just like the good ol' simple interface and performance like the old Ghostery. Just made my decision to uninstall Ghostery. Sorry Ghostery.
A Google user
2019-03-14T13:52:35.958Z
It has become unusable. VERY slow. Unresponsive. Have to keep switching to another browser and starting again with what I was doing! Update... After an app update it started working again and today it played up so much and basically became unusable. Could not exit or anything even after a reboot, had to uninstall and load again. When it works it does the job 3/5
A Google user
2018-11-09T14:15:21.650Z
Used app for many years. App used to be great until this latest Oct 26 update. App asks for too many PERMISSIONS which is NOT necessary for a privacy browser. The company's analytics for my personal information such as location, camera, wifi and accounts in the phone is way more than enough. User interface is cluttered especially advanced options to block ads is hard to find. Older version was clean and straight forward to use and it just works. Your excellent reputation for privacy is lost. Very upset. Rating will be back to 5 stars if you back off on the aggressive permission requirements. Long for an older version. Thank you for listening.
S C
2018-12-05T00:18:22.234Z
And just like that... It started ok, but this crashes or locks up a lot. Sometimes have to restart phone. Normally, it blocked yahoo ads fine, but then started letting in the sponsored ads...hate them. Doesn't let you specify a home page, it should. A good ad blocker will block all the yahoo ads, and this did, but no longer., and that is a fail.
A Google user
2018-09-26T01:17:49.908Z
Latest update has made a very good app ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!! It's now incredibly slow, doesn't load images properly, scrolling is jerky, the UI is clunky and takes up too much screen space, it's unresponsive to tapping links and Close Dialogue Box buttons in websites and what's with all the permissions it now wants?? For example, why does it now need access to my camera?? I could go on but in short, the new UX is awful. Very glad I've still got the previous version on my phone. If I can find a way of restoring the previous version on my tablet, I will do so, or use an alternative privacy browser. Ghostery used to be excellent; now it's dreadful. Avoid. EDIT: Found the APK for version 1.4.1.0 online, downloaded, uninstalled the latest version, installed the previous version and am now back to old Ghostery. Anti-virus scan checks out. Happy days!! (PS - Devs, please take note: your update is awful, you should revert the app back to how it used to be.)
A Google user
2018-09-19T22:19:55.523Z
Not a fan of the new update. All my favourites are gone. History is not deleted when you close the search engine, and you cannot close by clicking exit anymore. You cannot control the font size, you cannot choose your search engine and it takes forever to load. I'm going to give it a month, if it gets better I'll keep it, if not I'll delete it.
Stuart Waller
2018-09-21T17:19:41.663Z
Latest updated layout is a complete rip off of Firefox. Most of the menus are identical. The previous versions simple layout was what I liked so much about Ghostery which made it my one and only browser. The "Exit" menu option has been removed. This was very handy for clearing caches on exit. Some menu options removed completely. Updated app is slower. Uninstalled.
A Google user
2019-03-30T00:22:21.440Z
Fortunately I dodged all the nasty updates in the recent past and still use Ghostery 1.4.1.0 from time to time. However, the addition of 'Curated News' sites (even with option to hide) will ensure that I will not update this app and will cease to rely on it. Blind trust in curated news is naive and useful only to the intellectually lazy.
Kalyan Venkat
2018-09-27T02:04:30.533Z
I have to change my view on this browser. It crashes all the time and the new update made recently has made it probably the slowest browser. The UI sucks. The progress bar is not visible as it blends with titlebar color. It appears to be frozen. My old review: This is awesome lightning speed browser that removes all tracking and clutters on websites. What a relief!! It sure saves my lifetime by eliminating frustration of working with those slow but popular brand named browsers 😀
Brent Humecki
2018-10-11T19:49:35.848Z
I have been using this browser for a few years. It always has been great...until the last update. The developer took away bookmark folders. I had hundreds of bookmarks that I collected over the years that were organized in folders. Now, I Have to search a long list to find any of them. I will not be using this app anymore.
A Google user
2018-10-19T13:50:54.860Z
I've always loved Ghostery Browser. The new redesign is nice, more feature rich. Everything is great, except that it's slower than molasses now. The old browser may have lacked some design quality, but it was much faster. New app is very hard to tolerate. When compared to Chrome, this browser is unusable. Firefox with Ghostery even seems to be faster, ironic, since the new browser is obviously built on top of Firefox. Update: I've changed my rating from 3 to 1 star. The app is horrible.
Jason Naicker
2018-09-19T20:19:39.870Z
I used to love this app, simple reliable and fast. The new update took everything that was good and discarded it, now it looks like the colour palate had been designed for a child, it's lost the clear data on closing setting, the FAQs are worse than useless and it now seems to be data harvesting. I'll keep this for three more days to see if it gets updated (or preferably rolled back) whilst looking for a replacement browser
Jim Whitmore
2018-09-23T23:02:27.923Z
My favorite browser, my only browser, until the September 2018 "revamp" . It erased all of my desktop shortcuts, and no way to restore them. No way I can see to easily delete browsing history. No convent way to close tabs. Tabs reappear after closing the app and then reopening it. Just a useless rebranded version of Mozilla. Why must we mess up every app?
Karen Jacobsen
2018-09-23T08:31:33.867Z
Please let me set desktop mode as default again, it was the best feature! No other browser has it, and it was my reason for using this one. Tab browsing has become awkward, I cannot choose between opening new tab in background or on top anymore. And why can I not turn off the horrible new news feature on my Samsung galaxy? I can find my own news! The browser has become quite unstable since the changes. Edit: No, the option to set desktop mode as default is NOT there anymore since the update, that's why I wrote this. And, while I can turn off the news on my tablet running Android 6, marshmallow, I don't have the option on the one with Android 7, nougat. The settings menu is different, with different options. Don't you test on different versions? What I meant about tabs is that when I open a link as new tab, it opens in the background, whereas before the update I was able to choose whether I wanted it opened on top OR in the background. I appreciate you want to make changes to your app, but then how can you not know about these changes? Did you not check, or do you still have these options after the update?
Kevin Ellis
2018-11-29T06:05:59.116Z
After the update it is not working so well. It is slower and pages don't fullyload and/or some things on the webpage are unresponsive (buttons and links). Read on another review to check app permissions but i don't see anywhere in app permissions that would fix this unless i missed something? Went from great browser and the only one i used then straight down the toilet.11/28 haha what the eff did you all do? Glad we can beta test for you. L2 make a app that works or at least test it first. It doesn't do s#!t now good show!
Lee Hunnisett
2019-11-05T19:59:33.457Z
Not sure why you need all the new permissions now. Now you need my phone ID but didn't before? Not enjoying the changes at all, so probably I'll just go back to using Chrome. >>We never store any data that could be used to identify a user of Ghostery (“you”).... Our guiding principle is to – where technically possible – never even initiate a transfer of personally identifiable information Why do now want to access my other accounts? Seems ghostery was recently sold to another company. ..
Matthew Kelly
2018-09-20T13:35:43.922Z
Updated the app... This "privacy browser" now (newly) has permission to access my contacts and browsing history? Not good first impression on new version. Why no notice or explanation? Seems more like behavior of company looking for user data. Ghostery Rewards are optional, but why can't I turn them off? I had enabled blocking on all trackers etc in previous version but that's no longer the case... Human Web.. I could go on, but I'm now forced to reconsider this as a privacy browser.