What Are The Best Android Browsers?

For one to determine the best android browsers available, one must first of all throw some light on the subject of Browsers.

Citing Wikipedia,  “A web browser is an application software for accessing the world wide web or a local website. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the web browser retrieves the necessary contents which are almost immediately displayed on the user’s device. “

While The knowledge of the above is much needed, there really is more one should know because it’s not enough for information to be gathered on the world wide web.

As such, it’s expedient that the best browser is used at least to save time and safeguard your privacy (not all programmers have your security at heart). 

This is why now is a great time to switch your phone’s default browser to one of the more private or faster alternatives. Why? So you might just end up with a better browsing experience. 

Personally, I would say, Google Chrome is the best Android browser. Yet, there are other browsers that are doing just as fine as Chrome does in terms of speed, privacy or readability, and for some unlike Chrome, their own VPN-like proxy services.

Quite a number of these Android browsers, Chrome inclusive offer syncing with their desktop versions to carry open tabs over to mobile devices, password managers to increase user-account security and other features ( like a dark mode/night mode for evenings and other low-light situations) that you’d love to experience. 

Without mincing words any further, Here are the best Android browsers you’ll want to try out on your smartphone. 

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Best Android Browsers For Your Smartphone

1. Chrome

Being the best Android browsers for most users, Chrome most often receives the complimentary nod as a favourite. 

Many people ordinarily have the app installed in their phones and so they just continue using it. 

There are four total Chrome browsers that exist. Let me highlight that in order of increasing stability- Chrome Canary, Chrome Dev, Chrome Beta and the regular Google Chrome.

If you want a glimpse at what’s coming soon to Chrome, or you want to test out some features that may never make it to the main Chrome browser, these three additional Chrome apps start with Chrome Beta, then Chrome Dev and finally, Chrome Canary are sites where you will find them.

It’s not a new thing that Chrome gives its users the option to access passwords they’ve stored previously.  As the dominant browser on the market, Chrome is also the most reliable option, as every web developer considers Google’s browser when building a website.

2. Opera

Specifically known for being fast and great at saving data, Opera is another mobile browser with a desktop counterpart that boasts all the benefits for users of both versions. 

Just like Chrome, Opera has a number of different best Android Browsers. The first is Opera Browser(which you can find on Google Play) featuring cross-device syncing with the desktop version, support for multiple platforms, auto-fills and a native adblocker.

The next is a mobile browser with modern mobile features like tracker blocking and ad-blocking. Are you wondering if I won’t mention its name? Of course not … It’s the Opera Touch. You can get it on the Google Play store as well.

Next comes, Opera Mini which is a lighter version yet known for its ability to save up to 90% of your data while using it. It has an adblocker, an offline reading mode and even more. Perhaps, you should check it out. Finally, there’s the Opera GX which is specifically a gaming browser.

Opera stands out from the rest of the best Android browsers with a data-saver mode that compresses videos as well as standard web pages. As a result, pages load faster thanks to the reduced data, and if you don’t have one of the best-unlimited data plans, then, you’re in safe hands. 

Opera is one of the fastest browsers known with only Chrome consistently outsmarting it. So one could tentatively call it the second-best Android browser although there is a more vivacious competitor with Chrome that we shall discuss next. One slight frustration with Opera is its convoluted interface: You may be distracted by the menus at both the top and bottom of the screen. Anyway, this doesn’t make it any less good. 

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3. Firefox

This is one powerful alternative if you want to avoid Google Chrome. What’s more? It’s Chrome’s biggest competitor. There’s hardly something that one has that the other doesn’t.

There are two really good Firefox browsers. Starting from the lesser, we have the Firefox Focus- a privacy browser with a ton of security and privacy feature.

In the same vein, there’s the Standard Firefox Browser with features such as cross-platform syncing, tracking protection, a built-in password manager and even more. If you are particularly security-conscious should take a look at the newer Firefox Focus.

Alternatively, there are more experimental versions of Firefox, Firefox for Android Beta and Firefox Nightly for Developers. As with Google Chrome, there’s a strong incentive to carry over Firefox to your Android phone if that’s the browser in which you do the majority of your desktop browsing. 

Your passwords, history and bookmarks will synchronize if you create a Firefox account and sign in to it on all your devices, and if you spend a lot of time on one tab on your desktop, Firefox on Android will highlight it for you on your phone.

If you are the sort of person who wants to decide how the tabs display in your browser, what colour everything should be and exactly which features you want accessible, then Firefox is for you.

If that sounds like a bad dream to you, however, you should look elsewhere, as even a basic setup of Firefox warrants some tweaking.

4. DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser

This is yet another good browser if you value privacy. It has a lot of basic stuff like forced HTTPS, a private search, and a close button that deletes your browsing data and closes all your tabs. 

DuckDuckGo also eliminates any ad trackers that may be trying to follow you around the web and automatically will default to the highest encryption available on the site you are visiting. It even gives each site you visit a “privacy grade” ranging from A to F so you can see exactly how bad or good any site is.

You should take note that your activity is not saved so depending on what you do on the web, it could be an advantage or otherwise a disadvantage.

So choose based on your personal needs and choices. If you are looking to keep your activity secure from even your carrier or the Wi-Fi network you are connected to, then you will need a separate VPN app for that purpose.

There are many VPN apps you could download on the web at will. Try visiting the Google Play store and you won’t be disappointed. 

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5. Microsoft Edge

What’s there to love about this browser? It’s a fast browser with a fantastic Read It Later mode. Isn’t that exciting. It’s a good one since It competes favourably with Chrome and Firefox in terms of functionality. 

Microsoft has delivered a compelling Chromium-based browser in the second version of Edge.  It’s a decent option that syncs up with your Microsoft account. That is, you can sync passwords, bookmarks and history if you want to do so.

Some of its amazing features include ad blocking, translation services, password management, tracking blocker, price checker, voice search and something called NewsGuard. That latter feature assesses news websites based on their “journalistic standards of credibility and transparency.”

However, Edge has killed its reading-list feature, which delivered the full-page version of an article rather than an abbreviated or text-only version of an article. 

Go check it out.

6. Vivaldi

This one stands out with its unique look and clever built-in features

The Vivaldi desktop browser was originally developed by the Opera team and the browser offers extensive customization options, but its Android counterpart is more focused on delivering unique features. 

Vivaldi’s Speed Dial is your main view, which is a visually appealing and easy-to-use quick launcher for bookmarks. 

If you’re always doing in-depth research work, you may appreciate the built-in rich text Notes tab, the native full-page screen capture, the Clone tab option that pulls up a duplicate of your current tab to avoid losing it, and the translation tool that can handle web pages in about 108 languages.

Regardless of your default search engine, you can do a quick switch to another search tool — eight popular options are supported — by just clicking in the address bar. The search icons will appear below. Tap on any of them and relax as you get a good browsing experience. 

7. Brave Browser

It came out in 2016 and has a variety of features that include Strong ad-blocking with a unique ad rewards system. 

Wanna know some fascinating detail about this company? Brave was one of the first browsers to offer a built-in mobile ad blocker, which is left on by default.

The Chromium-based browser provides users with the ability to pay websites for their content using the company’s Basic Attention Token (BAT) system, and Brave’s own privacy-minded search engine is now the default. I guess that great news to you. 

If you end up using the Brave desktop browser, you’ll no doubt enjoy the Android version as well, as it will sync over your content and carry over your Brave Rewards. It also boasts of battery life improvement! That sounds great, right?

Well, that’s not all… There are other features of Brave that cater to privacy, including forcing secure HTTPS connections when possible, blocking cookies and browser fingerprinting, and even blocking JavaScript, which will cripple many websites. However, the option to easily use the Tor anonymizing protocol hasn’t carried over from the desktop version of Brave. 

This brings us to the end of this article. so when next you want to install a new browser for your smartphone, check out these best android browsers.

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