My phone broke and I got stuck on web apps on Linux
My phone broke a few months ago, and being on Linux, I ended up living in the web versions of WhatsApp, Gmail, Facebook, PayPal, and even an invoicing tool I use for freelance work, all sitting in browser tabs, all the time. I didn't expect it to bother me…
My phone broke a few months ago, and being on Linux, I ended up living in the web versions of WhatsApp, Gmail, Facebook, PayPal, and even an invoicing tool I use for freelance work, all sitting in browser tabs, all the time. I didn't expect it to bother me this much. Every message and email was just... there, visible to anyone walking by my desk or glancing at my laptop in a café. I was hitting Win+L constantly just to step away for a minute. The blur extensions for WhatsApp Web exist, but they're single-tab fixes, nothing protects the browser as a whole, or survives a screen share, or hides the window itself sitting labeled "WhatsApp" in your taskbar. Anyone else run into this?
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which distro are you using, I imagine a python script with face recognition that auto locks the screen when you step away would solve the problem.
the page content
I'm on ubuntu
Then I'd make that the whole MVP and ignore the rest. Click an element, replace it with a local label, remember the rule per site. If that works reliably during screen sharing, I'd install it.
The useful version might sit one layer above individual sites: a browser 'privacy workspace' that can hide notification previews, replace tab titles/icons with neutral labels, and switch every sensitive tab to a cover screen with one shortcut. That would also help before screen sharing, which a WhatsApp-only blur extension cannot solve. I would keep the MVP brutally small: one shortcut, a configurable list of domains, and three actions per domain: blur content, neutralize the tab title, or show a full cover. No account or cloud sync. The harder question is whether people want automatic triggers, like webcam active or screen sharing detected, or whether that would feel too spooky. Which leak bothers you most in practice: the page content, notifications, or the taskbar/tab title?
Yeah, I like the idea.