Kiwi Browser update for Android introduces Chrome Extensions support
Kiwi Browser, a mobile web browser for Android that is based on Chromium, introduced support for Chrome browser extensions in its latest update.
Chromium is the source for many browsers on Android including Google Chrome, Brave, Opera, or the soon-to-be-released Vivaldi browser.
Google never added extensions support to the mobile version of Chrome; a likely reason is that it is an effective option to reduce content blockers on Android devices. Android users have plenty of options when it comes to content blocking, e.g. by using Adguard or a DNS solution, but content blocking would probably be bigger if Chrome would support extensions.
Previous Kiwi Browser versions came with different features that distinguished the browser from the majority of Chromium-based browsers. Kiwi Browser supports native ad blocking, a built-in dark theme, bottom address bar, and accessibility features.
The latest update introduces support for Chrome extensions. The developer notes that all extensions that don't rely on x86 code are supported by the browser. If you always wanted to run a Chromium browser with uBlock Origin installed on Android, that is your chance now as that extension and many others are supported now.
To be fair, Kiwi Browser is not the first Android mobile browser that is based on Chromium that supports extensions. Yandex Browser, by Russian Internet giant Yandex, introduced support for Chrome extensions last year already.
If you look beyond Chrome, Firefox supported extensions in its mobile browser for Android for a very long time.
Kiwi Browser is available on Google Play but the latest version of the browser is also available on the project's GitHub page. Since it takes a while before the new version reaches everyone on Google Play, you may want to download and install the mobile browser on GitHub instead as you can be certain that you are getting the latest release version. The release is signed.
Installing Chrome extensions in Kiwi
You need to prepare Kiwi Browser to support Chrome extensions; it is an easy two-step process:
- Load chrome://extensions in the Kiwi Browser address bar.
- Switch on Developer Mode.
The easiest option when it comes to installing Chrome extensions in the mobile browser is to open the desktop version of the Chrome Web Store in Kiwi browser. Just use this link if you have troubles locating it.
All that is left is to find extensions that you want to install. Tap on the install button (add to chrome) to start the installation process. Kiwi Browser displays a prompt that highlights the extension's extra permissions, and if you accept it, installs the extension in the browser.
Closing Words
Support for extensions is certainly a strong argument for a mobile browser but not the only one; Firefox would have a much bigger market share if it would be one of the main factors when selecting mobile browsers.
Now You: how important are extensions for you? (via XDA)
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?