The best Android browsers let you customize your mobile browsing experience the same way the best Android phones let you fine-tune the look of your home screen.
Now that Android 12 is generally available, now might be the perfect time to switch from your phone’s default browser to a more personal or faster option. This way you may get a better browsing experience.
While we still believe that Google Chrome is the best Android browser for most people, other browsers put more emphasis on speed, privacy or readability, and some even offer their own VPN-like proxy services.
As with Chrome, many of the Android browsers on this list can sync with their desktop versions, allowing you to access your history, save passwords, or even send open tabs on your computer to your phone.
Regardless of your needs and preferences, there is likely an ideal Android browser for you among the best Android browsers we’ve had the pleasure of testing and using.
What are the best Android browsers?:
We tested nearly a dozen different Android browsers, but Google Chrome was still considered the best option. We’re also happy that it’s now the default browser on most Android phones now that the original Android “browser” is no longer available.
Chrome syncs well between the mobile and desktop versions, provides secure data storage for credit card numbers, saves passwords, and blocks both pop-ups and malicious ads.
Meanwhile, Firefox, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Microsoft Edge also have the ability to sync across platforms which offers many useful features.
Opera can help you save data on your mobile plan by compressing web pages for faster loading, and also has a VPN-like proxy service to enhance private browsing. Edge is great for mobile shopping because it allows you to quickly organize deal information, but you must be in the US to use this feature.
Vivaldi has a QR code reader, a note-taking app and saves entire web pages. Brave emphasizes privacy by blocking all third-party ads and trackers as DuckDuckGo’s default search engine.
At the same time, Firefox is in a league of its own with a huge number of browser extensions and nearly endless customizations in addition to Picture-in-Picture mode and a removable search widget.
In addition to its private search engine, DuckDuckGo also has an Android browser that does not track you and automatically protects all your online connections.
The best browsers for Android:
If you love living in the Google ecosystem and feel like you’ve benefited from the fact that the company knows everything about your online life, it’s hard to justify avoiding the default browser on most Android devices.
Syncing the mobile and desktop versions of Chrome is useful because you can use the passwords you have stored in Chrome (as long as you don’t use the best password managers). As the dominant browser in the market, Chrome is also the most reliable option as every web developer takes Google’s browser into account when building a website.
Chrome offers many additional features, such as secure payment method storage, simplified data storage mode, automatic translation of dozens of languages, blocking malicious ads, blocking pop-ups and the ability to group tabs.
This doesn’t match the wealth of features offered by Firefox or Opera, but Chrome certainly ticks most of the critical boxes. A recent Chrome update added the ability to detect when you’re using a compromised password, as well as improved browser security.
If you want to get a taste of what Chrome is coming soon, or if you want to test features that may never make it to the regular Chrome browser, there are three more Chrome apps available, starting with Chrome Beta (opens in a new tab) ) and then Chrome. Dev (opens in a new tab) and finally Chrome Canary (opens in a new tab).
Each step in experimental territory offers some reliability, so you’ll probably want to use the traditional Chrome browser for important tasks. But it’s nice to try out future features that are currently going through Chrome’s development cycle.
And if you’ve been using Chrome for a while, we recommend checking out our guide to speeding up Chrome on Android.
