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Helium stands on the shoulders of giants. This page acknowledges the incredible open-source projects and communities that make Helium possible.

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Core Foundation

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ungoogled-chromium

ungoogled-chromium

The privacy-focused Chromium variant that serves as Helium’s foundation
Helium is proudly based on ungoogled-chromium, a project that removes Google’s integration from Chromium and enhances privacy, control, and transparency.
It wouldn’t be possible for us to get rid of Google’s bloat and establish a development and building pipeline this quickly without ungoogled-chromium. Huge shout-out to everyone behind this incredible project!
Why ungoogled-chromium matters:
  • Removes Google-specific web service integrations
  • Disables background requests that communicate with Google
  • Removes dependency on Google web services
  • Enhances privacy and control over the browsing experience
Helium’s commitment: We intend to contribute improvements and patches upstream to ungoogled-chromium, giving back to the project that made Helium possible.

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The Chromium Project

The Chromium Project

The open-source browser engine at the heart of Helium
The Chromium Project is at the core of Helium, providing the fundamental browser engine and architecture. Without Chromium’s open-source nature and the dedication of its contributors, projects like Helium wouldn’t exist. What Chromium provides:
  • Modern, performant web rendering engine
  • Extensive web standards support
  • Security architecture and sandboxing
  • Developer tools and APIs
  • Cross-platform compatibility

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Upstream Dependencies

These projects contribute patches and improvements that flow through ungoogled-chromium to benefit Helium:
The Inox patchset provides privacy-focused patches for Chromium that remove unwanted tracking, telemetry, and Google-specific integrations.These patches help ensure that Chromium respects user privacy by default, removing features that phone home or track user behavior.View on GitHub
Debian’s Chromium package includes valuable downstream patches and improvements developed by the Debian community for enhanced stability, security, and integration with Linux systems.These patches often address security issues and improve compatibility with various system configurations.View on Debian Tracker
Bromite is a Chromium fork with built-in ad blocking and privacy enhancements, particularly focused on mobile platforms.Many of Bromite’s privacy-focused patches and improvements contribute to the broader Chromium privacy ecosystem.View on GitHub
Iridium Browser is a privacy-focused browser that contributes patches enhancing user privacy and security in Chromium.Their work on privacy improvements helps the entire Chromium-based browser ecosystem.Visit Website

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Additional Components

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uBlock Origin

uBlock Origin

The efficient, wide-spectrum content blocker
Helium integrates uBlock Origin to provide best-in-class ad blocking and privacy protection out of the box. uBlock Origin is maintained by Raymond Hill and contributors, offering unbiased ad-blocking without bloat. Our custom packaging: github.com/imputnet/ublock-origin-crx

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Open Source Philosophy

Helium embraces the open-source philosophy that makes all these projects possible:

Transparency

All code is publicly available and auditable

Collaboration

Contributing improvements back to upstream projects

Community

Built by people, for people, with love

Freedom

Respecting user freedom and control

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Thank You

To everyone who has contributed to these projects - developers, testers, designers, documenters, and users who provide feedback - thank you. Your work makes privacy-respecting software accessible to everyone.
Interested in contributing to Helium or any of these projects? Check out the respective GitHub repositories for contribution guidelines and ways to get involved.

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Contributing to Helium

Helium is open source and welcomes contributions. Whether you’re:
  • Reporting bugs
  • Suggesting features
  • Contributing code
  • Improving documentation
  • Testing beta releases
Your help makes Helium better for everyone. Visit our GitHub repository to get started.

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