The same way your Android device helps you fine-tune the look and feel of your home screen, a good open source Android browser should help you customize your mobile browsing experience.
While each Android phone comes with a pre-installed browser, there’s always the option to change your browser when looking for one that offers you a more upscale user experience.
That being said, let’s look at the best Android browsers in the open source category you may want to explore.
Find out the best alternatives to Opera browser.
Best Open Source Android Browsers
1. Brave
Brave is a privacy-first open source Android browser with excellent security and data syncing. What’s more, it offers rewards to its users.
Besides data syncing and fast speeds, Brave has tracker blocking, Android Autofill, dark mode, anonymous surfing through Tor connection, desktop sync, IPFS support, and a crypto wallet. Its ad blocker automatically blocks ads on all your pages.
To earn revenue, Brave’s rewards program provides Basic Attention Tokens (BATs) to users who view the alternative ads in its browsing stream. This helps ad publishers to get part of these tokens to support their work.
Brave is an excellent app that doesn’t track users. It also has a Brave shields feature that helps to minimize data wastage. Rendered by Blink engine, the browser can load sites six times faster than most browsers. And you can use it on Android, Apple devices, and PCs.
By teaming up with the Tor extension, you can browse privately without exposing your location or IP address.
Its security features include blocking of third-party cookies and script blocking. Brave is free to download from Google Play Store.
Discover the top alternatives to Brave.
2. Firefox Focus
Do you want to keep some things separate from your primary phone browser? Firefox Focus makes that easy. It blocks online trackers, and with a single tap, you can erase cookies, browsing history, and passwords.
The browser allows you to create one to four shortcuts on the home screen so you can access your best sites quicker without even typing a word.
I like this open source android browser for one thing: the distraction free design. Once I open it, all I see is the fantastic bar and the keyboard for fast searching. There are no open tabs, recent history, ads, past sites, and similar distractions.
This browser is backed by the non-profit Mozilla that champions for your online rights. So, you can be assured they won’t share your data with third-parties.
Explore similar browsers to Firefox in this post.
3. Opera Mini Browser
Opera Mini Browser is a lightweight Android browser with a 4.7-star rating on Google Play Store. It’s safe to use and provides a fast browsing experience without consuming large amounts of data.
The browser offers personalized news and will save you close to 90% of data without compromising browsing speed. You get to download videos, apps, and other data fast through the Smart download feature. It has an ad-blocking feature too.
Among other Android browsers, this is the only one with a built-in feature for sharing files offline. It comes with an easy to maneuver interface that lets you open multiple tabs and shuffle between them easily.
Its night mode feature allows you to read at night and perform other functions like bookmarking and saving websites.
4. DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is another privacy-focused Android browser offering immersive experiences to its users.
Although it lacks desktop sync support, extensions, and other advanced features, this browser is powerful and will never track you or your data. It not only blocks tracking scripts but also offers privacy ratings for sites by default. It also keeps a record of every tracker blocked.
Whatever information you are looking for, DuckDuckGo will lay it out in a way that is easy to grasp. On closing your browsing tabs, this browser will remove its cookies immediately. It never saves your search history to ensure your security.
It is simple, fast, and reliable, with a user-friendly interface. And you can download and use it for free.
5. Vivaldi Browser
Vivaldi is one of the most feature-packed Android browsers. All its features are well layered on an easy-to-navigate interface.
With vast customization options, you can tweak the interface and other functions of Vivaldi. It also presents your browsing history in graphic form.
Although it’s based on Chromium, Vivaldi doesn’t work the same way as Google Chrome. It allows you to pin sites to its sidebar, place toolbars in convenient places, and adjust the fonts and color schemes of your page.
You can customize your search and tabs and even place your notes panel with the history and bookmark lists. If you want to privately track multiple tabs, Vivaldi has a non-tracking search feature that lets you have total privacy.
Other notable features include web panels for smart browsing, a notes manager, ad blocker, native tracker, and a clock in its status bar. It’s great for power users.
6. Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a highly rated and most trusted and used web browser for Android, Apple devices, and desktops. It’s a universal browser that is fast and secure, with a simple interface.
It provides personalized search results, making your search time shorter and more precise. Before you finish typing what you want, it will show a drop-down menu with multiple suggestions.
Chrome offers you a lot more than immersive browsing experiences. It provides a built-in Google Translate tool, quick links to websites, and an enhanced downloading experience. With its incognito window, you can browse privately without leaving a trace in the browsing history.
A single Google account allows you to sync your browser history, favorites, and bookmarks to your work devices and tabs. Its safe browsing keeps your details safe and will alert you when you try to access dangerous sites that may threaten your personal details and files.
Chrome also comes with a Google Voice Search that interprets your voice accurately. If you want, you can use it to do a hands-free search to get information fast. With the Lite mode, you get to browse at high speed with minimal data.
Check out this post to explore more Chrome-like browsers.
7. Firefox Beta
Firefox is another excellent Android browser you’d want to use on your phone. It’s widely known for exemplary performance on personal computers.
It can be a great addition to your Android, considering its multiple add-ons and other cool features it has. It is fast and completely safe to use on all devices. It’s also quite private, blocking any trackers who try to slow down your browsing speed or steal your information.
The Android version can block over 2000 trackers and ensure your security while browsing. It has a straightforward interface and blocks unnecessary ads and third-party cookies. And you can sync this browser across devices.
With its download and password manager, you can browse easily and share links conveniently on various networks, including Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more. It has a fast and smart search function that saves you a lot of time searching for information.
Through Firefox, you’ll be able to mirror web content and videos to your TV as long as your devices have the streaming capability.
Also Read: Best Browsers For Low-end PCs
8. Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is a big name in the web market. People use it to surf through the net using PCs and Android devices.
MS Edge has a privacy and control feature that enhances your productivity and value. With a set of tools for blocking information tracking, blocking ads, and browsing in private, you are assured of a safe and secure browsing experience.
Its Ad Bloc feature blocks all the pop-up ads on your page.
If you are looking for a personalized browsing experience, you have it all with Microsoft Edge. It stores your passwords, saves your favorites, and tracks your downloads. Sync it across devices to avoid repetitive work.
Microsoft Edge has a Rewards program that gives you points when using the browser. The points will get you excellent discounts and shopping deals when shopping for stuff online.
It’s a free tool.
9. Samsung Internet Browser Beta
Samsung Internet Browser Beta comes from the renowned brand – Samsung. It has advanced browsing features that provide an outstanding browsing experience complete with security and privacy.
The browser allows you access to top-notch features like smart protection, which uses various protection techniques to safeguard your data. You can also block pop-ups from the security settings section by changing the default settings.
Its menu is customized, with a toolbar with various options to use. You can open up to 99 tabs simultaneously and still manage them effortlessly.
It also offers a partial desktop sync, dark mode, and a button layout.
10. Aloha Browser Turbo
Aloha is a free and fast browser for your Android phone. It offers private browsing through a Virtual Private Network (VPN). It is a full-featured browser with privacy and security measures in play.
While surfing the internet, this browser will block any pop-ups and advertisements on your page and protect your data with encryptions. It lets you keep your browser private and manage all your downloaded files.
From the browser, you can watch VR videos freely, lock your private tabs with fingerprint and passcode, and save your videos directly from your media player. And if you wish to transfer or share files between Android devices and PCs, the browser will help you achieve this over a Wi-Fi internet connection.
11. Avast Secure Browser
Avast Secure Browser comes with a VPN, ad blocker, and fast and secure browsing capabilities. It lets you browse anonymously by hiding you from trackers, ISPs, and hackers. With its AES-256 encryption technique, your password will be well protected.
Developed in 2016, this browser has built-in tools that protect your data and privacy. They include fingerprint protection, online tracking, an ad-blocker, an anti-phishing module, and a webcam guard that helps control those sites using your camera.
Its hack check feature helps you determine if your personal data has been compromised during a data breach or not.
Avast Secure Browser also comes with an antivirus that deals with online malware that may infect your phone and other devices connected to it. Other features include tabbed browsing, session restore, and password manager.
It also offers quick startup and navigation processes. You can customize your browsing modes and auto-detect when a video is available for you to download. The browser secures all your bookmarks, DNS, and IP address. And it allows you to block adverts and browse faster.
12. Dolphin Browser
Dolphin Browser may not be popular but is among the fast-loading Android browsers available. It comes with an HTML5 video player, flash player, and incognito browsing mode.
Its flash player enhances your gaming experience, allowing you to enjoy watching videos and movies on your device.
Besides fast downloading, the browser gives you bookmarks, a pop-up blocker, multiple tab bars, and more. Its ad blocker blocks any banners, pop-ups, and random ad videos.
Other add-ons include the Dolphin Translate feature, word to PDF conversion feature, video downloader, and more. It offers personalized search on various engines, including Google, Bing, Yahoo, Microsoft, and more.
You can perform hands-free web searches with Sonar by using your voice to search for products and information faster on the web.
Share materials and information easily on social channels with just a few clicks. You can also nickname your favorite websites for easy access whenever you visit or use a page.
Dolphin also provides a barcode scanner, battery saver mode, speed booster, Dropbox facility, and other enticing features.
13. Phoenix Browser
Phoenix Browser is a free browser offering quick video downloading processes, fast browsing, and a WhatsApp status saver plugin.
Phoenix is a very popular browser with more than 50 million downloads from the play store. It comes pre-installed on Infinix and TECNO devices, but you can still get it straight from your Play Store. It is a very lightweight app that consumes only 7MB of your data.
It is a small app with unique features that offer you the easiest time browsing and searching for information.
You get to save a lot of data, block ads, and enjoy video downloading with this intuitive browser. I know what you are thinking – that these features are also available on many other browsers.
Phoenix works differently, though. It uses a web view component built on Chromium, the popular open source code powering Chrome, Edge, and other browsers.
On this browser, each web page component loads well without breaking the site’s design and without rendering anything. Menus load seamlessly without much effort and work precisely the way they are meant to.
Phoenix is pretty fast. Everything loads almost instantly. Its approach to video downloading is incredibly unique. You can download videos from the web by simply loading the page containing the video. Once loaded, all you need is to click on the hovering download button and get your video downloaded.
The browser works on almost all sites, including Instagram.
You can play your downloaded videos directly on the browser using its inbuilt video player if you wish to. Lock your screen to prevent interference or distraction as you watch your videos.
When you don’t feel like loading any images, you can switch to the No Image Mode on the Phoenix browser. This will make it load only text, saving you a lot of data. It also has a reading mode that helps you focus only on reading content.
Besides its incognito mode, Phoenix also gives you the option known as Privacy Space. This option makes sure your browsing history does not overlap with your space by acting as a second space. You can access the second space by setting a code.
To clear data on Phoenix, use the one-click button found under the toolbox. Alternatively, toggle on the option to clear browsing data whenever you exit this browser.
14. TOR Browser
TOR is a free and open source browser that is based on Mozilla. It can encrypt your data in layers before transmitting it over the network.
The browser consists of 7000 servers (nodes) around the world. Since it’s run by volunteers, you also can be a volunteer and become one of its nodes.
While surfing the web, this browser lets you remain anonymous while providing a disruption-free surfing experience. It protects you and your data by changing your IP address constantly so no one can track you.
It also blocks third-party ads and trackers from snooping in on your page.
With automatic HTTPS encryption, your connection will always be secure. It deletes your browsing history and removes cookies every time you exit your browser. It also has three levels of security to choose from. You can adjust your preferred level using the slide bar.
To further strengthen privacy, TOR restricts taking screenshots. Its privacy settings include the Do Not Track mode, tracking protection, cookies, clear private data on exit, and more. There’s also a single click option for clearing all your private data. You also get to choose which data you want to keep and the one you want cleared.
When you enable the HTTPS Everywhere feature, your exit node (server) will not be able to snoop on your communications with the destination server. This means you can browse privately without worrying about your data safety.
The NoScript extension blocks JavaScript to keep you safe from any attacks from JavaScript. You’re also allowed to add more extensions from the list provided.
TOR has a New Identity feature that erases your cookies, bookmarks, history, cache, and also closes open tabs and creates a new circuit by changing your IP address.
It also has an intuitive interface, a default theme extension, and supports multiple search engines.
This browser is perfect for you if you need to browse the web with utmost anonymity. It offers high security and privacy levels. It is the only browser preferred by professionals who need to share highly sensitive data.
Also Read: Best Browsers For Torrenting
Final Thoughts
The best open source Android browser helps you safeguard your browsing data from internal and external threats.
All the browsers listed here are worth exploring as they have top-notch features that ensure your privacy and seamless browsing without the annoying ads.
For enhanced privacy, ensure you get the right browser that focuses on protecting your browsing activity from trackers.
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