14 DAY TRIAL // After announcing the Vivaldi for Android mobile web browser, Vivaldi Technologies shared with us some details on how they managed to build a secure and privacy-aware browser on Android.
We all know that Google's Android mobile operating system ships with a built-in web browser core, which is based on the same code that Google Chrome was built it. This internal browser core lets users view basic web pages when setting up their Android device for the first time.
Once the device is all set up, most probably the user has installed his favorite web browser app from the Play store. This is where Vivaldi for Android comes to fill the gap, as it's not using Android's built-in browser core, which makes it secure and privacy-aware.
How Vivaldi for Android was built
In a new blog post, Vivaldi Technologies explains how they managed to stay away from Android's built-in browser core to protect your privacy and keep users' data secure at all times, because we're all aware by now that Google's code doesn't really offer the privacy and security levels Vivaldi needs.
As such, Vivaldi Technologies built the Vivaldi for Android mobile web browser on top of the latest Chromium code using in-house developed alternatives to Google's web browser core for Android. This allowed them to implement their Sync functionality without using the Google Sync server to keep your data secure.
"It took us a while to build our own Sync system but we knew it was important to get that one right, as we wanted to ensure that our Sync feature won’t be sending data to Google," explains Jarle Antonsen. "In Vivaldi, all Sync data is protected using end-to-end encryption. The encryption happens on your device, allowing you to use a password that is never sent to us."
By not using Google's browser core for Android, Vivaldi for Android doesn't send any of your data to Google, like Chrome does, thus protecting your privacy at all times, and lets the developers add independent features. Vivaldi Technologies also disabled the tracking of any behavioral actions, as well as user action metrics.
At the moment, Vivaldi for Android is in beta stages of development, but Vivaldi Technologies promises to offer the same level of customization on mobile as you're used to on the desktop, and that's because Vivaldi for Android uses its own UI built on web technologies. You can try the Vivaldi for Android beta version right now from Google Play Store.