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Add to SafariWhen comparing Lightning vs Photon, the Slant community recommends Lightning for most people. In the question“What are the best Android web browsers?” Lightning is ranked 17th while Photon is ranked 26th. The most important reason people chose Lightning is:
This means you can help developing new features if you would like to contribute. Moreover you can inspect the code if you are concerned about privacy.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Free and open source software
This means you can help developing new features if you would like to contribute.
Moreover you can inspect the code if you are concerned about privacy.
Pro Built-in reading mode
Reading mode allows removing everything on a page but the content. It removes ads, styling and anything else that could get in the way of a comfortable reading experience.
Pro Slide-out tab switcher
Tab switcher can be quickly accessed by swiping from the left.
Pro Incognito mode
Pro True desktop browser experience
In flash mode you get remote access to desktop Firefox on a Linux server. Unbeatable desktop web compatibility on Android.
Cons
Con No bookmark folders
Bookmarks can't be organized into folders.
Con Videos are compressed twice
In Flash mode, you get an interactive streaming video of a desktop browser running on their server, but this means that when you watch videos (a major use case for Flash mode), which are already compressed, it has to be lossy compressed again to get to you, with noticeable loss of quality. So it's better to watch videos with Flash mode off if you can. There's also a bit of lag when scrolling and such.
Con Flash mode has ads
You can also get an annual subscription to turn these off, but it's $10/year. That's kind of pricey when you can get Puffin Browser Pro with unlimited service for a single payment of $4.
