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Add to SafariWhen comparing Samsung Internet vs GNU IceCat, the Slant community recommends GNU IceCat for most people. In the question“What are the best Android web browsers?” GNU IceCat is ranked 1st while Samsung Internet is ranked 20th.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Can be installed on any Android devices
Samsung allows this application to be installed to non-Samsung Android devices starting with Android 5.0 Lollipop.
Pro Ad-blocking features
Samsung Internet supports Ad-Blocking features such as AdBlock Plus, AdBlock, AdGuard, Disconnect etc., but must be installed separately through Google Play, which these apps can also used in other browser which supports Ad-Blocking.
Pro Sync with Google Chrome desktop app
Samsung Internet can sync the bookmarks and history to Google Chrome desktop app, where the Samsung Internet extension for Google Chrome is available.
Pro Picture-in-picture (PIP) video
Samsung Internet supports picture-in-picture (PIP) video, which means the video that played in this web browser can be pop-out and visible in the Android screen even if the browser is minimized.
Pro Light and smooth + has chrome extensions
Pro Notifications
Samsung Internet supports web notification from various websites such as Facebook, Telegram etc. which it will also works even if the browser is closed.
Pro Clean GUI
Pro Do Not Track features
Samsung recently collaborated with Disconnect to include do not tracking features to prevent any websites to track with each other.
Pro All the benefits of Firefox, but with 100% free software
Pro LibreJS
LibreJS blocks proprietary JavaScript code, ensuring your user freedom.
Pro Protects your freedom, certified free by the FSF
Pro Extra security and privacy features
Pro Made by idealists
It is part of the GNU Project.
Pro No spyware
Pro Https-Everywhere by default
Pro SpyBlock
Blocks privacy trackers.
Cons
Con Has the filter bubble
Like chrome, samsumg internet tracks you and filters your searches.
Con Not supported by Password Managers
BitWarden and LastPass do not work with the browser.
Con No data saving mode
Unlike Google Chrome or Opera, Samsung Internet does not comes with data saving mode which is a disadvantages for users who relies on limited data usage.
Con Android only
Android dropped older iOS support after about SI 3.
Con It's Google
Data collector!
Con Only for Samsung Devices
While the competitors are vendor-agnostic, this browser is only limited on Samsung devices and can't be found anywhere else unless you pull the APK for the browser itself from the device.
Con Too much bloat
The browser comes with 15 addons installed by default, most of which are useless or ruin one's browsing experience.
Con Requires too much unnecessary configuration to use
You have to manually delete all the bloated addons from your files (only for them to show up again when the browser is updated) and manually install some addons and themes that the browser labels as "corrupt".
Con Not up to date
Latest binary is still version 60.7 ESR and was last updated over a year ago
Con Mainly just an old Firefox
It is mainly a renamend older version of Firefox that comes preinstalled with some extensions.
Con Very slow boot time
It takes 10+ seconds for the browser to load up
Con Can't install some Firefox themes/addons
"Installation aborted because the addon appears to be corrupt".
Con Includes LibreJS by default with no way to remove it
Con Very slow boot time
It takes 10+ seconds for the browser to load up
Con Dependent on Mozilla
Since IceCat is based off Firefox, it's dependent on all of Mozilla's decisions.
Con Made by idealists
It is part of the GNU Project.
