posh.wiki / blog

Ditching Opera Browser 2025-01-04

In early 2024, I made the decision to switch browsers.

For the past several years, I'd been using Opera. I don't recall how I found out about it, but I was drawn in by a select few features - namely, the free built-in VPN (money was tight at the time), built-in adblock, tab islands, and the ability to keep WhatsApp in the sidebar. I was also pleasantly surprised by picture-in-picture, which wasn't so commonplace 5 or 6 years ago, and the ability to paste from my clipboard when prompted to upload a file, a feature I'd never even considered possible.

Of course, there were some features I didn't use. I was never particularly interested in the cashback or crypto wallet features, for example. But every so often, Opera would add a feature I didn't know I needed. I even made significant use of their AI assistant in 2022, as it was convenient, non-intrusive, and significantly more reliable in terms of being available for use than ChatGPT in its early days.

For most of the time I'd used Opera for Windows, I'd also been using Opera for Android. Its VPN was especially useful for getting around EE's content blocks while using mobile data, and I liked how it organised tabs in a bar rather than a drawer. I didn't make use of nearly as many features as I did with the desktop version, but it got the job done.

As I started work as a software developer in 2023, I chose to use Opera at work as well. It remained useful, had good defaults, and was built atop the chromium engine (and therefore approved for testing). This era was the peak of my experience with Opera.

In December 2023, I was lucky enough to be spared a jumpscare from Eric André, as his screaming face and accompanying audio featured on Opera GX's splash screen. With a decline in free time and a shift in interests over the past half-decade, I don't consider myself that much of a gamer any more, so I never saw the appeal of GX, opting to stick with the standard version of Opera. Still, as someone with chronic anxiety (diagnosed by professionals, before the mental health truscum come for me), it bothered me to imagine how I might have reacted had I been counted among André's "victims". I had also been vaguely aware of some controversy regarding Opera (GX?)'s twitter, though I've never been invested enough in internet drama or active enough on twitter to give the situation any notice. Opera was providing a good service, so I didn't bother to take any notice at all.

My own issues with Opera began in early 2024. Opera began to push their crypto wallet and cashback features harder, showing intrusive pop-ups even on seemingly unrelated sites, neglecting to respect when I clicked "don't ask again". The straw that broke the camel's back for Opera was when the hints started. Every time, I'd switch tabs, "did you know you can use Ctrl+Tab to quickly switch tabs?". I did know, thanks. Hints like this would pop up all the time, forcing me to click to dismiss them, never teaching me anything new. The pop-ups were such a detriment to my productivity and experience that I felt it was time to leave Opera behind on the desktop.

The decision of where to go next was rather simple. After purchasing my own VPN (Proton), moving away from WhatsApp and towards Discord, and a few other changes in my workflow and lifestyle, Opera's features were more of a "nice to have" than an "I can't believe I lived without this" these days. I refused to subject myself to the hell that is Microsoft Edge (and wasn't about to go through the trouble of trying to get a Microsoft product to work on Linux). I'd prefer not to go for Chrome either, given my opinions about google. Having made some use of Tor browser alongside Opera, Firefox seemed like a logical option. The only real drawback was having to open Chrome every time I wanted to test something for work.

Despite my shift to Firefox on the desktop, I kept on using Opera on mobile. It still got the job done, it had all my accounts signed in, so why change? The answer, of course, is Opera trying to get me to use things I didn't want to. For certain sites, I was in the habit of typing a single letter and hitting "enter" to go to certain websites. One day, I tried to open my company's JIRA, whose URL begins with a "b", only to be met with booking.com. After some experimentation, I'd discovered that Opera had decided that anyone typing "b" must want to go to their partner booking.com, because of course! The same was true for a good deal of letters that I'd previously used to navigate to other sites. This, combined with a "try our crypto wallet!" or "try our new AI-powered..." pop-ups almost every time I opened the app, caused me to ditch Opera for Android as well.I'll miss some of Opera's defaults, but it's become far more of a hinderance than a help these days.

I think the lesson here is, consider making features optional, and respect when users say "don't ask me again". Annoy them enough, and they'll find alternatives.

Oh, and, don't jumpscare your users with comedians screaming. You'd think that one goes without saying.