Is Opera GX Safe? Is This Gaming Browser Actually Safe To Use?

If you are a gamer, you probably would have already come across the Opera GX browser.

Opera GX is a special version of the popular Opera browser launched specifically for gamers. It is known for features like CPU, RAM, and Network limiters thus helping gamers with the best experience while gaming.

Everything seems alright until you come across a bad article about Opera GX saying that it steals your personal data. You listen to things like Opera GX doing several vicious things like stealing credit cards, selling your passwords etc etc.

So, what is the real truth? Is Opera GX safe? Does it sell your personal data? Or is it just a fake story circulating on social media? Let us know everything today..

5 Features that make Opera GX browser safe to Users:

Before jumping straight to conclusions, let us first go through some of the features provided by Opera GX, that are developed in view of its user’s safety and privacy.

Free VPN:

VPN has become a part of everybody’s browsing culture, where we tend to hide our IP to bypass through some restricted content and also to protect our privacy, security & safety.

While most browsers provide VPN extensions and VPN apps, Opera GX comes with an in-built VPN, which is completely free and unlimited. Thus we need not install any third-party VPN services or apps which sometimes are a source of system malware.

Ad Blocker:

With more and more ads increasing day after day, ad blockers are slowly becoming an essential part of one’s browsing. With Opera GX, you’ll get an in-built Ad blocker that quickly blocks all ads while browsing.

Thus websites load faster, and your system resources are better utilized.

You can change/Delete cookies:

Just like any other trusted browser, Opera GX also provides you the ability to change how it handles the cookies stored in your browser.

So, to change how Opera GX handles cookies, you can

Go to Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security > Privacy & Security > Site settings and click Cookies. Choose your preferences.

You can also delete cookies stored in your Opera GX browser, whenever you want with just a few clicks.

Go to Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security, click Clear browsing data, and select Cookies.

You can Manage Location Sharing Preferences:

Some untrustworthy browsers don’t let you manage your location sharing preferences, thus accessing your location data without your consent. However, Opera GX gives you complete control and lets you manage your location sharing preferences whenever you want.

So, if you don’t want to share your location details with your browser, you can simply deny it.

Go to Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security > Privacy & Security > Site settings and click Location.

Cryptojacking:

Cryptojacking is a way of cyber attack where attackers infect your computer and use them to secretly mine cryptocurrencies.

Opera GX comes with an in-built cryptojacking prevention tool that prevents attackers to use your computer for cryptojacking.

Big Question: Does Opera GX Collect your Personal data?

Does my browser collect my personal data? This is one of the biggest questions many people ask regarding any browser they use.

So, does Opera GX collect your personal data? To know the answer to this question you need to give a glance at the privacy policy of Opera GX gaming browser.

Privacy policy of Opera GX:

When you install an Opera application, a random installation ID is generated. We may collect this identifier, as well as your device ID and hardware specification, operating system and environment configuration, and feature usage data.

Opera GX clearly mentions that they do collect your system data like your current hardware specifications, operating system info, and other relevant data.

So, what does Opera GX do with this data? Of course, they claim that they use this data for product improvement and to resolve browser bugs. However in addition, to this, they also use this data to show targeted ads. Yes, the ads you see are targeted to you based on your data collected while browsing the Opera GX browser.

Here is what they claim about ads in their privacy policy.

Personalized Ads: Based on advertising IDs and your general location, some of our mobile applications may serve targeted ads. These ads are provided by our monetization partners. You can always adjust your personalized ad choices in the application’s “Settings” menu or through your operating system’s settings.

Except for the product improvement and ads, Opera GX no way uses your data for other purposes. Also it no way collects your personal passwords, credit card data for any purposes.

So, Is Opera GX actually Safe?

To answer this question, I’ll divide my answer into two parts..

If your POV is Privacy:

If your point of view is privacy, then Opera GX is just like any other browser out there. I cannot claim that Opera GX provides complete anonymity and privacy, as it does collect your system data upon acceptance. (However, most of the popular browsers also do the same thing as collecting data, for better user experience and ads.)

So, if you are not worried too much about privacy and seeing targeted ads, you can safely go with the Opera GX browser. Contrary, if you want complete anonymity, Opera GX may not be the best bet for you.

If your POV is losing financial/personal information:

If your point of view in terms of safety is to avoid personal loss of data, then let me tell you Opera GX is one of the safest browsers in the market.

Opera GX is based on chromium, which is the same as most of the top browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Yandex use. Moreover, Opera GX further adds some above-said safety features for more protection.

So, you are completely safe to use Opera GX browser, and no way need to worry about the loss of your financial data or passwords. You also won’t get any in-built virus or malware at any cost with the Opera GX browser installation.

Although the choice of whether to use Opera GX or not, is in your hands, I personally feel that the Opera GX browser is completely safe and just collects some basic data just like any other browser does.