YalqenYalqen has no telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporting and no account. Your history, bookmarks, passwords and settings stay on your Mac. Because the browser is open source, you can check that for yourself.
What is on by default
Ad blocking is on from the first launch. Some stronger protections are a switch away in settings.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Ad and tracker blocking | On | Filter lists are cached on your Mac and refreshed about once a week. |
| Secure DNS | Automatic | Automatic uses encrypted DNS when your resolver supports it. Cloudflare, Google, Quad9 or off are one choice away. |
| HTTPS-only mode | Off | Opens pages over HTTPS and asks before falling back to HTTP. |
| Block third-party cookies | Off | Makes it harder for embedded content to follow you between sites. |
| Automatic updates | On | Checks GitHub releases in the background. You can turn it off in settings. |
| Ask before downloading | On | Every download waits for your confirmation. |
Sites ask first
Camera, microphone, location, notifications and pop-ups wait for your permission, and Yalqen remembers your answer per site. You can review and change them in settings.
Every service it talks to
Beyond the sites you visit, Yalqen only connects to these, and only for the reason given.
| Service | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Filter list servers | When the ad blocker refreshes its lists | To keep blocking up to date. Only if ad blocking is on. |
| GitHub releases | Shortly after launch and every few hours | To find and download updates. Only if automatic updates are on. |
| Your search engine | When you search | Google by default. Yandex, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Brave, Ecosia, Startpage or your own are built in. |
| Your DNS resolver | When you open a site | Your system’s resolver, or the secure DNS provider you pick. |
| Chrome Web Store | When you add an extension | To download the extension package. |
| Google Translate | When you translate a page or a selection | The text to translate is sent to translate.googleapis.com. |
Passwords
Yalqen offers to save a password when you sign in. Saved passwords are encrypted with a key kept in your macOS Keychain and never leave your Mac. You can reveal, copy and remove them in settings, and choose never to save for a site.
Private and developer windows
- Private windows keep no browsing history.
- Developer windows run in their own session, apart from your everyday browsing, with third-party cookie blocking off. Cookies, storage and cache are wiped when the last one closes.
This website
This website, unlike the browser, uses privacy-friendly analytics to count visits and downloads, served from our own domain. It is separate from the browser, which sends nothing.
Found a privacy problem? Report security issues privately through GitHub Security Advisories, and everything else in an issue.