Many web browsers use Chromium as their base. One such browser is available for Android and is called Kiwi Browser. It was developed by XDA Senior Member arnaud42. Kiwi targets users with features like a built-in ad blocker, encryption protection, and most importantly, extension support, a feature that most Chromium-based browsers, most notably Google Chrome itself, do not offer on mobile.
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It's not easy for an independent developer to maintain a Chromium fork that diverges in many ways from the main codebase, which is why updates to Kiwi Browser have been slow and the underlying Chromium version has been out of sync with Google's releases. It's getting even harder to keep up with the Chromium release cycle, as Google recently moved from a 6-week schedule to a 4-week one. However, that could change soon, as future updates to Kiwi Browser will automatically include the latest version of Chromium.
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This is thanks to work being done on a project called “Kiwi Next,” where “Kiwi Browser automatically updates with the latest Chromium.” The developer tells us that they’re working on scripts and automation tools to follow the new Chromium release cycle more efficiently. This will hopefully keep Kiwi in sync with the latest version of Chromium, so that users don’t have to miss out on critical bug fixes or new features of the browser. Automatic updates can lead to unexpected bugs due to code conflicts from the merge, but it seems that the developers have figured out how to quickly integrate their existing code on top of the latest version of Chromium.
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In addition to the Kiwi Next project, the developer is also working on a major new update to the Kiwi Browser app. The latest update is based on Chromium version 93.0.4577, so website compatibility has been significantly improved, as has performance, thanks to all the improvements Google has made in recent months. The update also brings an improved content blocker, new DevTools, fixes for several issues with broken clicks, fixes for many blank pages, a new night mode, and a new notification management system.
But because the update is based on the latest version of Chromium, the legacy vertical tab switcher has been completely removed from the codebase. You can check out the latest update for Kiwi Browser on the Google Play Store now. The Play Store version is only 49MB in size, as the developer says it has switched to the new delivery mechanism, but if you grab the update from another source, it will be over 150MB in size.
