If you want to try out a new web browser and have at least a little bit of technical experience, Vivaldi It’s what I usually recommend.
Vivaldi launched just over a decade ago with the focus squarely on power users. It offers an abundance of tab management tools, endlessly customizable keyboard shortcuts, and an endless list of settings to make the browser behave the way it wants. You want it.
Just as importantly, Vivaldi is the rare tech tool that feels like it’s right at your side. It does not collect your browsing data, but contains… The privacy policy is easy to readAnd it never tries to push you into weird cryptocurrency schemes or VPN subscriptions. The company is employee-owned and doesn’t have to jump on new fads just to please investors.
But as a person Vivaldi has been used since the beginningI was also frustrated with the browser. In some ways, it is less It is more powerful than other browsers that do not explicitly meet the needs of power users, and it also misses some features that may be part of its mission.
While I always find myself back with Vivaldi, the next improvements should dissuade me from thinking about jumping ship.
Commitment to support uBlock Origin
Michael Crider/Foundry
uBlock Origin is a great ad blocker that’s very popular among tech enthusiasts, but Chromium-based browsers like Vivaldi won’t support it forever without intervention. This is because Google is moving to a new extension platform called Manifest V3 and gradually preventing users from installing uBlock Origin (and other Manifest V2 extensions) from the Chrome Web Store, which Vivaldi is based on.
Vivaldi clarified that it has no plans to continue supporting uBlock Origin. In a June 2024 blog postthe company supported Google’s move to Manifest V3 and pointed to the built-in ad and tracking blocker as a viable alternative to third-party options. “Here at Vivaldi, our policy has always been to build the most important functionality into the browser, so you don’t have to trust an unknown third party and worry about the risk of it disappearing,” the company wrote.
Sorry, but this is a withdrawal. The blocking tools included in Vivaldi are Less effective for privacy than other browsers It is less customizable than uBlock Origin. Besides, there are other browsers like brave and Opera I’ve found ways to keep uBlock Origin available. (Ironically, Vivaldi’s founder John von Titchener was one of the founders of Opera, and created Vivaldi in 2015 because he… He was tired of the way his old company diluted the product.)
A browser that prides itself on letting users craft their own experiences shouldn’t decide which ad blockers those people can use. It should help them use what they want.
Sync the entire experience across devices
Jared Newman/Foundry
Like most other browsers, Vivaldi offers a sync feature to access your bookmarks, history, and open tabs across all devices. But what’s missing is a way to sync your full Vivaldi setup so you get the exact same experience on any device.
For example, Vivaldi has a useful tab management feature called Workspaces, which lets you switch between different sets of pages in the tab bar. This is useful if you are doing some projects and want separate lists of tabs for each. Currently, there is no way to access the same workspaces across devices. You can use Vivaldi’s synchronized tab view to see what’s in your workspaces and manually open each page, but you can’t set up a set of tabs that are immediately available everywhere.
Vivaldi’s web panels don’t sync across devices either. Web panels are one of Vivaldi’s great features, letting you quickly glance at favorite sites with a slide-out sidebar view, but setting them up takes a lot of time and effort. When you move to another device, you have to do it again. Vivaldi doesn’t even sync themes across devices, so the browser may look completely different when moving from one device to another.
Surely you’re not the only one who uses Vivaldi on more than one computer? Syncing my entire setup and all my tab groups across devices would be valuable — perhaps enough to warrant paying for it — but Vivaldi doesn’t offer anything close to that at the moment.
Bring extensions to your mobile app
Jared Newman/Foundry
Extensions are an essential browser tool for power users, allowing you to add new features, change website behavior, and get faster access to important information. On desktop, I use the extensions to replace the standard New Tab page, check Amazon price records, create private email aliases, and more.
But none of these customizations are available in the Vivaldi mobile app, which doesn’t support add-ons at all. To make matters worse, a bunch of Vivaldi’s competitors already offer extensions on mobile:
- Orion for iOS Allows users to install extensions from the Chrome Web Store or Firefox add-ons.
- Firefox Offers Thousands of accessories For its Android application.
- Microsoft Edge It offers extensions for its Android app also.
Support for the mobile extension should be a slam dunk for Vivaldi. Instead, it’s another area where other browsers that aren’t focused on power users somehow do a better job.
Create a best-in-class tablet app
Jared Newman/Foundry
I’ve recently replaced some of my laptop usage with an iPad Pro, and the only thing I miss is access to the full Vivaldi experience.
The Vivaldi tablet app is nothing like the desktop version. No support for vertical tabs, no web panels, no workspaces, no display of recently closed tabs, no user-made themes, no custom keyboard shortcuts, no active tab search… I could go on.
Most of these omissions apply to Vivaldi’s phone app as well, but I’d expect a lightweight browser on such a smaller screen. On a larger tablet, the user experience needs to be a lot closer to what Vivaldi looks like on a desktop, otherwise there’s not much point in using it. For now, I’ve been using Orion’s iPad app instead, because it at least supports add-ons (which, again, Vivaldi doesn’t).
Do more and do it better, Vivaldi
Vivaldi recently made a big deal about how it doesn’t integrate AI into its browser, arguing that AI features sap the fun of the web and sap users’ curiosity. I have no problem with Vivaldi taking this position, but it doesn’t help the browser improve.
Instead of defining himself as he is noVivaldi must take a stand on what is in it He is And what it is Actually trying to be. For me, this means building more ways to customize and control the browser experience for people who care deeply about such things.
Further reading: I got tired of Chrome’s BS and switched to Vivaldi