We Tested SalamWeb – The Halal Web Browser
7 min read
The world’s first Shariah certified web browser, SalamWeb, is designed & optimised with Muslim’s way of life in mind. Yes, you read that right, this browser will help you browse the Internet safely while keeping “haram” contents at bay. The term “haram” which translates as “forbidden”, refers to anything that is prohibited for Muslims, for instance, adultery, alcohol, gambling, pork, pornography and more.
With that being said, we installed SalamWeb browser on both PC and Android phone to test out how well this startup company take on the toxicity of the current Internet age.
Installation
First up, the installation.
The online installer takes quite some time to complete the download of the additional resources from its server. Nonetheless, it still gets the job done without installing additional bloatware.
Slow, but Halal.
Launching the browser and we are greeted by this familiar user interface. That goes without saying, since SalamWeb browser is based on Chromium open source web browser, naturally it will have a similar user interface. Surprisingly, it didn’t ask if we wanted to change our default browser to SalamWeb or not.
The mobile version of the SalamWeb browser can be installed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store. What annoys me the most is the persistent Salam utility bar that takes up a portion of the screen. There’s no way you can disable this feature. Perhaps they can make it automatically hidden when user is scrolling the page.
Settings
Before we start testing the browser itself, first of all, we must look through the settings and pre-installed extensions.
No pre-installed extensions nor bloatware. It seems all the Salam functions are built-in. Good job.
Make sure you pray on time.
A setting that we have never seen on other web browser before – prayer times calculation settings. It would be a plus if there’s a toggle to turn on alarm function to alert user that it is time to pray.
“beep beep, it’s Dhuhr prayers time (1:25pm)”
Then I found out that the browser actually supports user login. For science, I signed up with SalamWeb hoping that it could work wonders as if I’m using a Google account, synchronising all my browsing history, passwords and bookmarks across all my devices, including my Android phone which also sports a SalamWeb browser.
Hope is the keyword.
Turns out I just gave away my phone number (it requires SMS verification) and email address for nothing. Logging into SalamWeb account doesn’t do anything. Not even syncing your browser history or bookmarks. Instead, signing into your SalamWeb account only allows you to use the built-in chat application – SalamChat.
This feature is rather unique where the chat rooms are public and we have absolutely no information on how it really works. Especially when there is no add friend feature nor anyway to invite people you know into the chatroom. As of now, what I can learn from the system is through searching for chatrooms that is created nearby your location. So, some sort of geographically based public chat system?
Besides, another special feature is the SalamSadaqah where it seems like some sort of crowdfunding application that emphasises more on charity work. Great effort there I must say.
Testing the SalamWeb Browser
Search engines are literally the portal to the Internet where we search for websites that might have the information we needed. With that being said, the first test we have to do is no other than searching for “haram” contents using SalamWeb.
Since SalamWeb is using Google as default search engine, for comparison we will also perform a same keyword search using Google on standard installation of Google Chrome to see what kind of result we’re getting.
On SalamWeb, the first thing we notice is the “safe” and “ssui” parameters in the URL. They literally just force-enable safe search function on Google. Which means, the results are filtered in the first place, especially adult contents. This applies the same when we used Bing search engine, safe search turned on by default.
By the way, that’s the SalamProtect function which I presume it matches the URL with the database to determine if the website is appropriate or not.
The topic we will be searching covers:
- Alcohol
- Gambling
- Pork
- Pornography
[Disclaimer – From here onwards, some screenshots might be offensive to your lifestyle. Viewer discretion advised.]
Alcohol
As expected, Google Safe Search only filters adult and potentially offensive results, that’s why alcohol related search result is not really affected much. What about directly accessing the homepage of the said alcohol brands?
The result is somewhat disappointing but at least some of the websites still ask for your birthdate and reminds you that it is for non-muslims only.
Gambling
Moving on to gambling. And we’re happy to report this is the only page we manage to get no matter what keyword we used – Casino, Roulette, Poker, Blackjack, Slot Machine, Genting Sky Casino.
Until we changed the search language or if the gambling website is in other language.
Pork
As for the pork, nothing much is going on so far. Even websites with pork recipes loads without any issue.
Pornography
Then finally, the section where you guys have been waiting for – the good-ol adult related keywords and websites. The keywords include pornography websites, genres, terms (cum, MILF, etc) as well as specific body parts.
Surprisingly, only breast made it through the filter meanwhile penis, vagina and the rest got blocked out.
Obviously, pornography websites got filtered out. Except if you manage to find streaming sites that uses other language and the URL is still not within SalamProtect’s ban list.
What if you disable SalamProtect?
Turning off SalamProtect simply opens a new Incognito window. At this point, I don’t even know what to say anymore.
Final Words
Heck, I know YouTube comment section can be toxic at times but hiding all comments in all videos? That’s taking things a little bit too far.
The Internet is an accumulation of our past and current society. Everything got published and shared on each and every website & social media platform represents a point of view. Sometimes, even the most normal thing in life can be offensive to some others. That’s why it can be a very dangerous place given if the user is under-aged, sensitive to certain matters or anyone who can’t take on other contents available on the Internet.
The SalamWeb browser is (probably) created with this in mind, to protect ones’ lifestyle through careful screening of the contents before it reaches his/her retina. No doubt it is a great effort to promote safer Internet browsing at the same time works great as a family-friendly browser. It is basically a Chromium browser with safe search turned on, plus a filter that screens and slightly slows down your page loading.
Real life usage? nah, I’ll still stick to Google Chrome. The way to browse the Internet safely can only be achieved through learning, understand the threats and be discipline at managing your browsing habit.
Most importantly, have fun and be nice to everyone on the Internet.
