What are the advantages of portable apps? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 day ago by starlight@lemmy.ca to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I recently learned that you can make many apps such as browsers portable on a USB drive and I was wondering, aside from being able to take it on the go, what other advantages does portable apps have? I know it won't take up much storage. Is there any privacy benefits?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] plateee@piefed.social 21 points 1 day ago

I've seen them used less for privacy and more for getting around permissions/limitations on controlled systems like work laptops. (That's assuming work devices haven't locked down or disabled USB drives.)

More often than not, there will still be some artifacts left over, whether it's recently access files or terminal history that indicates a portable device/app was used.

If you're looking at USB things specifically designed for privacy, something like Tails is where it's at.

this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026

32 points (97.1% liked)

Asklemmy

53213 readers

666 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS