Users of Apple iPhones and iPads will now be able to better monitor which websites are tracking them, thanks to a new third-party Web browser from Czech anti-virus software maker AVG.
The new "Safe Browser," released yesterday (Nov. 29) by AVG, makes it easy for users to turn on Do Not Track features and keeps users abreast of who is tracking their browsing session.
"AVG believes that making users aware of online privacy is a logical extension to its leading security products," the company said in a statement.
Safe Browser turns Do Not Track on by default, protecting users' information from being shared with third parties. As AVG points out, tracking isn't inherently wrong, but users' awareness of the practice has led to greater demand for control over how their information is used.
Safe Browser also keeps a blacklist of known malicious sites and will block users from loading those pages. There isn't a lot of malware that can infect iOS devices, but there are a lot of phishing sites that try to extract personal information from people using any platform.
AVG's Safe Browser probably won't be as quick to render pages as Safari, however. That's because Apple forces all third-party Web browsers for iOS to use the same underlying code as Safari, but without the extra speed boosts that the company adds to its flagship browser.
In a way, all third-party iOS Web browsers are really just slowed-down versions of Safari with different interfaces and extra features.