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.Įach step down is trading in a bit of reliability, so you will likely want to turn to the traditional Chrome Browser for vital tasks. A recent update to Chrome added the ability to detect when you're using a compromised password as well as enhanced safe browsing. 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. 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.Ĭhrome 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. 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).

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. Gives Google more ways to track your activity -Lacks extensions

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. Brave emphasizes privacy, blocking all third-party ads and trackers and making the DuckDuckGo search engine the default.Īnd 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. Vivaldi packs in a QR-code reader and note-taking applet and captures full web pages. Edge lets you quickly organize information and finds shopping deals for you (if you're in the U.S.) 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. Likewise, Firefox, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Microsoft Edge sync across platforms and deliver lots of useful features. (The original Android 'Browser' has been deprecated.)Ĭhrome syncs well between its mobile and desktop versions, offers secure data storage for credit-card numbers, saves your passwords and blocks pop-up ads and malicious ads. Fortunately, it's the default browser on most Android phones. We tested nearly a dozen different Android browsers, but Google Chrome still came out on top as the best all-around choice.

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