Android tablet opening browser wanting to download an app

Likewise, Firefox, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Microsoft Edge sync across platforms and deliver lots of useful features. Opera compresses data to save on your cellular plan and load pages more quickly, and also offers a VPN-like proxy service for more private browsing.

Edge lets you quickly organize information and finds shopping deals for you if you're in the U. Vivaldi packs in a QR-code reader and note-taking applet and captures full web pages.

Brave emphasizes privacy, blocking all third-party ads and trackers and making the DuckDuckGo search engine the default. And Firefox is in a class of its own, offering a huge number of browser extensions and nearly infinite customization, as well as a picture-in-picture mode and a detachable search widget.

Speaking of DuckDuckGo, it too has an Android browser, which doesn't track you at all and automatically ramps up all web connections to the highest security possible. If you're happy living in the Google ecosystem and believe you've benefited from the company knowing everything about your online life, then it's hard to justify avoiding the default browser on most Android devices.

Syncing between mobile and desktop editions of Chrome is helpful, giving you the option to access passwords you've stored in Chrome provided you don't use one of the best password managers , that is. 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. Chrome offers extensive additional features such as secure storage for payment methods, a "Lite" data-saver mode, automatic translation of dozens of languages, a malicious-ad blocker, a pop-up blocker and the ability to group tabs.

This doesn't quite match the abundance of features that you can get with Firefox or Opera, but Chrome definitely ticks most of the mission-critical boxes. A recent update to Chrome added the ability to detect when you're using a compromised password as well as enhanced safe browsing. 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, there are three additional Chrome apps starting with Chrome Beta , then Chrome Dev and finally, Chrome Canary.

Each step down is trading in a bit of reliability, so you will likely want to turn to the traditional Chrome Browser for vital tasks. But it's fun to try out upcoming features currently working their way through Chrome's development cycle. Opera is another mobile browser with a desktop counterpart that boasts all the benefits for users of both versions. 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 , you won't burn through your monthly data allotment as quickly. Opera also offers a built-in free VPN -like feature that gives you a virtual IP address, although notably, you can't use both the VPN feature and data-saver mode in tandem. Technically, the "VPN" is a proxy service for the Opera browser app only. To encrypt other apps' communications, you'll need one of the best Android VPN apps.

Even with its many features, Opera was one of the fastest browsers that I tested, with only Chrome consistently outperforming it. 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. Opera also offers a few variants of its browser.

Opera Mini is focused on the data-saving side of things, while Opera Touch is geared toward a one-handed browsing experience. 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 sync if you create a Firefox account and sign into 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. For better or for worse, you can customize Firefox to an astounding degree, with different themes and extensions that can tweak just about every aspect of the browser.

If you are the sort of person who wants to decide how the tabs display in your browser, what color everything should be and exactly which features you want accessible, then Firefox is for you. If that sounds like a nightmare, however, you should look elsewhere, as even a basic setup of Firefox warrants some tweaking. Firefox fans who are particularly security-conscious should take a look at the newer Firefox Focus. It drops some of the functionality of its elder sibling in favor of privacy protection.

A recent Firefox update brought over the Firefox Focus feature to always open links in a private tab. Speaking of that Firefox update, the browser now has a dark mode and a grid view for open tabs. The URL bar has been moved down to the bottom of the screen, which Firefox did to accommodate larger phones. You can move the bar back to the top if you prefer. A new Collections feature lets you organize and save tabs, which should help with research projects.

DuckDuckGo, built around the DuckDuckGo search engine and based on Chromium like Chrome and Brave , doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of the rest of the best Android browsers. Yet it makes up for it with its singular focus on keeping your activities private.

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. While the browser itself isn't reporting any of your activity back to the DuckDuckGo search engine, this still falls far short of a VPN.

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. DuckDuckGo doesn't have a corresponding desktop browser, or any way to set up a DuckDuckGo account, so you won't be able to sync across devices.

But that's kind of the point of this privacy-minded service. Microsoft has delivered a compelling Chromium-based browser in the second version of Edge. The Android version has undergone a snazzy revamp to match the desktop browser although you can customize its look and feel , and it's a decent option that syncs up with your Microsoft account.

Microsoft Edge has finally added extension support, and it also offers several extras that are extension-based in other apps, such as an ad blocker, translation services, password manager, tracking blocker, price checker, voice search and something called NewsGuard.

Sadly, 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. Unlike the desktop version of Edge, the mobile browser lets you swap out the default search engine easily, so you can use Google instead of Bing in your Microsoft browser if you want to — but we've found that Bing works pretty well too.

The Vivaldi desktop browser offers extensive customization options, but its Android counterpart is more focused on delivering unique features. When conducting online research, 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 handles web pages in languages.

There's even a QR code reader to take you to websites without having to open a dedicated barcode-reading app, and a fun built-in 2D shooting game.

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 one to use it. I appreciate this preference for delivering the text as quickly as possible, but waiting until I scroll to load the rest of the page's content is taking this too far and ultimately a worse experience.

While it lacks extension support or more powerful ad-blocking features found in some of the other best Android browsers, Vivaldi offers a compelling feature set that I hope to see its developers continue to build upon. Since I last tested the browser, an update has added support for custom ad-blocking lists, and you can now move the address and tab bars to the bottom of your screen if that's how you roll. Brave was one of the first browsers to offer a built-in mobile ad blocker, which is left on by default.

I found that that only a few sites that I read regularly were registered with Brave's BAT tokens, but this will obviously vary greatly from user to user. The browser itself covers all of the basics and adds a couple of nice touches, such as the ability to set different preferred search engines on standard versus private tabs and some fairly granular privacy settings.

There aren't many options to customize the look or feel beyond turning on a dark theme or moving the address bar to the bottom of the screen, but Brave does let you group tabs. There are other features 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.

As far as browsing goes, the initial load times on Brave are comparable to our other top options, which is odd given that Brave strips out ads and trackers which should in theory be slow components to load.

In fact, a recent update looked to bolster Brave's syncing features. Editor's note: Flynx has not been updated in Google Play since April , and reports indicate that it may have been abandoned. Our email message to the developer bounced and the developer's website does not load properly. Included is per-site settings just in case you need that. It also boasts optimizations for speed and battery life improvements. You can even keep track of all the stuff that it blocks.

In real world use, it is highly functional and even occasionally fun to use. It also has most of the basic features like bookmarks, history, extensions , and a privacy incognito mode. The app is entirely free with no in-app purchases or ads. Dolphin Browser has seen a lot of success on Android.

It has a decent set of features as well. That includes theming, flash support, ad-block, incognito mode, and some tertiary features like gesture controls. There is also add-on and extension support if you need that along with a native ad blocker.

However, it retains a position on this list for still being more than good enough to be here. DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser is a reasonably good alternative for folks who value privacy. It has a lot of the basic stuff like forced HTTPS, a private search, and a close button that deletes you browsing data and closes all of your tabs. Additionally, the app gives each website a privacy grade on an A-F scale so you can see exactly how bad any given site is.

Of course, it blocks trackers and stuff like that as well. Ecosia is an environmentally friendly mobile web browser. It features all of the usual stuff like bookmarks, multiple tabs, a private browsing mode, and downloads. Thus, it looks and feels a bit like Chrome as well.

The big draw here is the cause. The trees thing is a bonus. There are two really good Firefox browsers. The first is the standard Firefox Browser. It features all of the good stuff such as cross-platform syncing, a rock-solid browsing experience, tracking protection, a built-in password manager, and more. The second good Firefox option is Firefox Focus, a privacy browser with a ton of security and privacy features.

You can find the standard Firefox Browser at the button below or check out Firefox Focus here. They are both excellent Android browsers. Of course we give the obligatory nod to the most popular Android browser. Many people have this pre-installed on their devices and opt to just keep using it. It features syncing with Google Chrome on desktop along with the latest Material Design, unlimited browsing tabs, deeper integration with Android, and plenty of other features for both basic browsing and power users.

There are four total Chrome browsers. Choose at your own risk. Google Chrome almost always has the latest Android features before other browsers as well. Kiwi Browser is one of the newer Android browsers. It uses Chromium as a base. Thus, you may recognize a lot of its visual elements and settings options. It also loads pages pretty well. There are some UI tweaks as well, such as the address bar resting on the bottom of the app instead of the top.

It also does the usual stuff. Lynket is formerly the popular Chromer browser. The rebrand came in early It works best for multi-taskers, frequent browsers, and people who really like Chrome Custom Tabs. Microsoft Edge is a surprisingly decent mobile web browser.

It competes favorably with Chrome and Firefox in terms of pure functionality. You can can sync passwords, bookmarks, and history if you want to. Plus, you can continue browsing on the desktop version from the mobile version and vice versa. This used to be an original browser from Microsoft.