Most of us use Chrome as our primary browser on our mobile devices and why not? Android devices come pre-installed with Google Apps which includes Chrome in it. But in today’s fast-growing world, you cannot afford to lose your precious data and your personal information in the wrong hands without your permission.
However, Google Chrome has been one of the best browsers around for a long time, but sometimes its data privacy concerns make us think again and switch somewhere else where we can get a secure experience.
So, let’s have a look at the top 4 best Chrome alternative browsers on Android devices! In this list, we have taken care of security, speed, features, and more while picking the best mobile browser for you.
1. Brave Browser: Fast AdBlocker
Well, if you are a tech enthusiast… You must have heard about the Brave Browser in the NEWS recently. Brave is creating a lot of buzz around the tech community and has crossed the 10 million-plus active monthly user mark recently.
Brave is based on the Chromium web browser but it claims to be faster than Google Chrome and Safari on mobile platforms for loading major NEWS websites.
Brave comes with a built-in ad-blocker, so you don’t have to install one separately.
The home page of the Brave browser has a cool feature to enjoy. There is a number count for how many ads, and trackers were blocked while you were browsing the internet along with the number of HTTPS upgrades and time saved by doing that. Yes! Brave offers HTTPS upgrades to make you a bit more secure while browsing by adding a layer of encryption.
In our tests, Brave was brave enough to block most of the third-party cookies and scripts while browsing with its built-in ad-blocker, and worked well to provide a better experience.
Well, as per Brave’s claim, website loading times are fast enough to some extent. Also, once you are on your favorite website reading articles and NEWS, you can click on the Brave icon at the top right corner to see how many Ads and trackers are being blocked currently. Also, you can manage your preferences to make sure what to block and what not! Remember the choices you make here would directly impact your browsing, so be careful before changing any settings here.
In the app’s settings, you get an option to select your default browser out of a total of seven options to choose from. You can also choose your browser of choice for private browsing. By default, once you go to private browsing for the first time, it makes DuckduckGo your default private browser, but you can change it from settings. Just like Chrome, you cannot take screenshots in private browsing mode.
Well, there is no option to delete all your browsing history with one tap here which our next browser of choice would offer and you can not add extensions in Brave mobile browser just like Google Chrome. However, if you are looking for a better, faster, and safer Google Chrome alternative for Android then your search might end on Brave Browser.
2.DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser
One of the most popular safe search engines, DuckDuckGo has its privacy browser on mobile devices. So people who are planning to ditch Google entirely from their lives can simply go ahead with DuckDuckGo. They are hitting hard on Google over its privacy concerns since the beginning of its inception and now they have started growing in the market.
App interface in the browser is very easy, you do not get a lot of flashy icons and features popping on the home screen. There is just a search bar and a flame icon a.k.a. “Fire Button” to delete all your browsing data and close all the tabs with just a single click. The fact that there is no private browsing mode available right now in this browser, this one-click operation takes care of this. Also, you can find the PRIVACY option here to opt for how to automatically clear the data and clear tabs, plus to delete data only or close tabs or both of them.
The party trick is yet to come, The DuckDuckGo privacy browser comes with a cool feature called privacy grade rating. Which gives ratings to the website from A to F depending on its security features and tracking activities.
So if a website gets an A-grade rating, it is the safest and does not track your activities online a lot. This feature is not limited to that only, once you click on the icon, you can see whether the website’s rating has improved from its previous rating or going down. For example, after a security update, a website might improve from a C to a B rating depending on which things were changed.
Overall with a base size of 11 MB only, DuckDuckGo is lightweight, fast, and safe for use. And do you know why I cannot stop admiring this app so much? It does not require any other permission to access your storage, also you have to permit it to ensure you can download stuff on your mobile device. No camera, no microphone, no position or GPS.
The setting menu is also simple. However, you can select dark or light themes depending on your personal preferences.
Simple, fast, secure, and effective… If you like a simple and clutter-free browsing experience, the DuckDuckGo privacy browser for Android is the best choice you can make to replace your Chrome life!
3. Puffin Web Browser
A very fast browser and the best app for people with a limited data plan at their disposal! As per Puffin developers, the Puffin web browser servers pre-process the data and compress it to give you faster website loading speeds. Plus, Puffin has a built-in feature to encrypt data to save you from unsecured public WiFi networks likely to be available in cafe shops.
The app experience is also simple but feature-rich. Once you turn on the browser, you will be greeted with quick access tabs including frequently used popular websites, bookmarks & history, downloads, and settings tabs. You can click on the upper right corner to quickly access all the open tabs and you can also go to private browsing mode from there. For a simple user or a layman, these options are enough and not too hard to understand, so the overall app-using experience becomes easy.
Interestingly, while surfing through your favorite web pages, you can see a simple option on the left-hand side bottom of your screen. Here you can enable an on-screen game-pad, mouse, or keyboard. Sounds too weird, right? But in my honest opinion, the on-screen mouse option is one of the best things you can ever get in a mobile browser.
If you are running limited on storage and data packages and you have to edit an important file for office work on the go, you can actually manage it quite easily with the help of an on-screen mouse. Operating online excel or Google sheets is too easy with this also if you want to have some fun, an on-screen game-pad helps you do that.
Just like other latest browsers, you do get an option to change the theme from light to dark in the settings option. Overall, Puffin is fast and easy to adopt compared to Google Chrome, plus it comes with a lot of features just like icing on the cake.
4. Samsung Internet Browser
Almost one-third population around the globe uses Samsung smartphones, so there is a chance that you have tried your hands on a Samsung Web Browser once in your life. Coming pre-installed in the Samsung smartphone or only being popular does not give the Samsung browser a cut in this list. Samsung web browser does have some cool features and tricks that get its name on the race of the list of better browsers than Google Chrome on Android.
Samsung web browser comes with an option to block trackers and scripts, which makes you a bit more secure, well compared to Google Chrome. In the settings, you can turn on the “High Contrast” mode, which is quite helpful for people with impaired vision.
Adding here, you can add third-party ad-blocking extensions in it.
Gesture navigation, Samsung’s integration with NEWS apps, and more… there are countless features in it that you can enjoy once you learn how to use it.
For high-end Samsung phones like Samsung’s S-lineup and Note series, it also supports ‘Dex Station’, where you can convert your smartphone into a PC just by connecting it with a monitor and IO devices
Yes! Features, fluidness, and limitless compatibility make Samsung Internet Browser a good Chrome alternative for mobile devices.
To sum it up, if you are looking for something secure alternative to chrome just like chrome, go for Brave Browser right away. For a clutter-free experience with good speeds and security, DuckDuckGo wins the race hands down. To get a better performer, safer, and feature-packed browsing experience, Puffin and Samsung web browsers might work.
Happy exploring and do let us know in the comments what Google Chrome alternatives you use.