I have been a Chrome consumer because it got here to Android, and I nonetheless use it greater than I ought to. However there’s one factor I’ve labored round for years: Chrome on Android has by no means supported extensions. Not in 2012 when it launched on the platform, and never now in 2026. I don’t suppose it is a bug or an oversight; slightly, I believe it is a deliberate determination Google hasn’t proven a lot curiosity in reversing.
So once I need to run uBlock Origin, Bitwarden, Darkish Reader, or any of the extensions that grace my desktop looking, I’ve needed to look elsewhere. The excellent news is that an fascinating group of browsers has stepped in to fill that hole.
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Firefox
The one which rewrote its personal rulebook
Credit score: Sagar Naresh/MakeUseOf
In actual fact, Firefox does one factor Chrome will not do on Android: it natively helps cell extensions. Now, Firefox would not assist Chrome extensions, and it is higher to get that out of the way in which early. What it does have is its personal add-on ecosystem by means of Mozilla’s AMO (addons.mozilla.org), and that house has expanded fairly a bit. Since Mozilla opened it up correctly in late 2023, it has grown from a curated handful to over a thousand Android-compatible extensions. The catalog consists of uBlock Origin, Privateness Badger, Bitwarden, Darkish Reader, SponsorBlock, and Immersive Translate (which handles translations throughout internet pages, PDFs, eBooks, and even video subtitles).
Firefox can be the one browser on this record that is totally open supply, finish to finish, as a result of it is not constructed on Google’s Chromium. It runs by itself Gecko engine, and that alone provides its extension ecosystem a barely completely different persona. Mozilla’s Beneficial Extensions program places add-ons by means of a proper safety and performance evaluation earlier than they earn the badge. So sure, the catalog is smaller than the Chrome Net Retailer, nevertheless it’s additionally extra thought of. In case you care about realizing what’s really working inside your browser, Firefox makes a reasonably sturdy case for itself.
OS
Home windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
Value mannequin
Free
Firefox is a free, open-source internet browser developed by Mozilla, targeted on velocity, privateness, and safety for customers on all main platforms. It consists of superior options like tabbed looking, a built-in password supervisor, personal looking mode, sturdy tracker blocking, and customization by means of hundreds of extensions and themes.
Kiwi
Not the fruit
Kiwi Browser launched in 2018 as a private aspect undertaking by developer Arnaud Granal, who wished Chrome extensions on his Android telephone and determined to construct his personal answer. By 2019, it had full assist within the Chrome Net Retailer. By the point it shut down in January 2025, it was pulling in 1,000,000 downloads a month — which, paradoxically, is a part of why it needed to shut. A undertaking constructed by one individual of their spare time can not sustainably assist a consumer base that measurement, and Granal mentioned as a lot in his Discord announcement.
The extension framework that powered Kiwi did not disappear; it was as an alternative merged into Microsoft Edge Canary earlier than the undertaking was archived. The final steady Kiwi APK remains to be out there on the official GitHub repository and nonetheless capabilities for individuals who need to set up it outdoors the official retailer. Though I perceive that many individuals may be cautious of working an unmaintained browser as a every day driver, particularly when contemplating the explanations to watch out when sideloading Android apps. And in equity, safety patches stopped with the undertaking. Personally, since I wrote about it and examined it myself, I have not run into any points to date, although that is extra of a reassurance than a assure.
OS
Android
Value mannequin
Free (open-source)
Kiwi Browser brings full desktop-style Chrome extension assist to Android, together with built-in advert blocking and a quick Chromium-based engine. It’s a light-weight power-user browser that allows you to customise cell looking far past normal Chrome.
Quetta
It confirmed up when the sector emptied
When Kiwi Browser shut down and was archived in early 2025, it left behind a really particular hole. There was all of a sudden no Chromium-based Android browser that would pull extensions straight from the Chrome Net Retailer with out workarounds. Quetta stepped into that vacuum rapidly and cleanly. It helps each the Chrome Net Retailer and Microsoft Edge Add-ons natively, and putting in extensions is so simple as faucet, verify, carried out. Simply as vital, extension pop-ups behave as they do on desktop, opening as small inline overlays as an alternative of hijacking a full tab. That is a element many cell browsers nonetheless wrestle with.
Past extensions, Quetta has a couple of additional methods up its sleeve. There is a built-in video downloader that handles codecs like MP4, M3U8, and HLS, so it will probably seize extra complicated streams that different browsers are inclined to miss. The advert blocker depends on what it calls an “AI⁺” engine, utilizing machine studying to detect advert conduct slightly than relying solely on static filter lists. In follow, it usually picks up dynamic advert parts that slip by means of on cell. Privateness options are additionally pretty complete, with tracker blocking, fingerprint safety, and a biometric-locked Knowledge Vault for looking historical past and delicate recordsdata.
That mentioned, Quetta remains to be discovering its footing. It is very a lot Android-first proper now, however a Home windows model is on the roadmap, which ought to finally spherical it out into a correct cross-platform setup.
OS
Android
Value mannequin
Free
Quetta is a privacy-focused cell browser with built-in advert blocking, tracker safety, and a clear distraction-free interface. It additionally helps extensions and safe looking options whereas staying light-weight and quick.
Lemur
The overachiever no one talks about sufficient
Lemur is not precisely a family identify but, and it would not include the lengthy, virtually nostalgic backstory of Kiwi or the popularity of Firefox. However below the floor, it is constructed on a stable Chromium base, and it reveals. Like Quetta, it handles extensions from each the Chrome Net Retailer and Microsoft Edge Add-ons with out fuss. In actual fact, it tends to run Edge extensions a bit extra gracefully than you would possibly anticipate. It additionally helps you to sideload extensions as native CRX or ZIP recordsdata, which is a vital win should you like experimenting with area of interest instruments or working one thing you constructed your self.
Tampermonkey working totally inside Lemur is one other element price listening to. That opens the door to consumer scripts that may reshape web sites at a deeper degree. You may bypass restrictive layouts, tweak YouTube’s interface, or add options that conventional extensions do not cowl. The interface can be extremely modular; it helps a novel “Infinite” homepage the place you may group incessantly used extensions and internet hyperlinks into folders, very like an Android dwelling display.
OS
Android
Value mannequin
Free
Lemur is a light-weight Chromium-based Android browser that helps Chrome and Edge extensions. It focuses on velocity and suppleness, letting you customise cell looking with desktop-style add-ons.
Yandex
The browser that crossed its personal borders to get right here
Yandex Browser is the product of Russia’s largest tech firm, and carves out its area of interest with a hybrid extension mannequin that pulls from a number of ecosystems without delay. It is one of many few Android browsers that formally helps add-ons from each the Chrome Net Retailer and the Opera Add-ons catalog, which opens up a reasonably huge toolbox. Not every part constructed for desktop interprets completely, nevertheless it handles productiveness and media-focused extensions particularly effectively, which is the place most individuals are inclined to spend their time anyway.
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It additionally comes with a built-in safety layer referred to as “Defend,” which actively scans your put in extensions and might step in to disable something that begins behaving suspiciously or seems to mess together with your knowledge. Its most futuristic trick is AI-driven video translation powered by its Alice AI. The browser can take a video in one other language and overlay a real-time, synchronized, synthesized voice-over. That is complemented by a summarization characteristic that scans lengthy YouTube movies or articles and arms you a compact record of key factors with timestamps, which is kind of helpful whenever you’re making an attempt to determine whether or not one thing is price your time.
Turbo Mode additionally stays a staple characteristic. When your connection slows down, Yandex routes visitors by means of its servers to compress knowledge earlier than it reaches your telephone. Pages load sooner, and also you burn much less knowledge within the course of. The Tableau homepage rounds issues out with a customizable dashboard that surfaces climate, notifications, and fast shortcuts, turning the beginning web page into one thing nearer to a management panel than a clean tab.
OS
Android, Home windows, iOS, macOS, Linux
Value mannequin
Free
Yandex is a Chromium-based browser with built-in advert blocking, sturdy security measures, and a customizable interface. It additionally consists of Turbo mode, good search instruments, and extension assist for a sooner, extra versatile looking expertise.
That is what occurs when another person does Google’s homework
The story of extensions on Android cell is actually the story of what occurs when a platform’s hottest browser refuses to maneuver. Chrome’s determination to maintain extensions off Android wasn’t made yesterday, and it hasn’t reversed, so the browsers above have every, in their very own means, determined to make the transfer themselves. Some are polished sufficient to switch Chrome fully. Some are constructed to be used circumstances Chrome was by no means going to serve. And certainly one of them was a one-man undertaking that lasted seven years, modified your complete dialog, after which stepped apart. The house it left behind turned out to be larger than anybody anticipated.
