It is without a doubt that the very inception of the internet rendered libraries of books useless in the span of a mere few years. Over the course of decades, searches have increased, with demanding optimization and a variety of topics to browse through. Mankind’s next best invention was the introduction of smartphones – the internet wherever you go. All smartphones have some kind of a service or other that allows the user to browse through the interweb, this is what we famously call a browser. But now, in 2019, with so many options to choose from, which one would be the most reliable without any significant burden on your phone’s storage and memory?
For Android, as we speak, the choices truly are endless. Ranging from classics like Google Chrome to the feature rich ones like Firefox, there are clearly more than enough browsers to fit ones liking. In this article, we will be favoring the audience who really are running low on storage and RAM, and could very well use a browser that’s lightweight, but still functional. Without any further a due, let’s kick our list off with something familiar!
Top 5 Lightweight Browser Apps for Android in 2019
To make sense of our ratings, we have picked browsers available on the Google Play Store which have appealing features and have arranged them in descending order of the file size and how much storage each of them takes up after it’s done installing on your device.
5. Opera Mini – 8MB/29MB
Kicking the list off is a popular browser, and for all the good reasons. Don’t let the latter adjective in the name of Opera Mini fool you – it’s got you covered with a host of options and features that you would otherwise not expect from a lightweight browser. Opera works with its advanced proxy server to compress all the webpages, which results in a load time of 3 to 4 times faster than it normally is. This is the only big feature separating the Mini from the regular Opera Browser. If you dive into the Settings, you can change the theme to make it your own, and even have a detailed look at your data consumption and how much you’ve saved by using Opera Mini. This browser is in many ways a direct competitor to UC Browser, which is yet another service that works on similar principles, however thanks to the popularity and ease of use, Opera takes the win.
With a mere size of 8MB prior installation, and with only 30MB to spare in reserve, Opera Mini is a worthy browser for your device.
4. Google Go – 5MB/18MB
The next on our list is brought to you by Google itself, which means you can expect great stability and fluidity whilst your time with the browser. Google Go is no where as feature packed as Google Chrome is, but it doesn’t slack off in the design department, following Google’s Material V2 code all over. All the elements are vibrant and beautifully placed, easy to access. Google claims with reducing the amount of bloat, all searches consume over 40% less of your mobile data, and load over twice as fast. This is not to say that the browser lacks a few important options though. From the Settings, you may choose to block any explicit content if you so wish to, and even select a background if you think the plain white is too boring for your taste. There’s a lite mode which further reduces data consumption, albeit at the cost of design and fluidity.
Overall, with only 5MB to spare, you should really consider Google Go as your browser of choice.
3. Firefox Lite 3MB/11MB
Being one of the biggest competitors to Google Chrome for PCs, Firefox also has quite the influence in the Android realm. Known well for its intuitive design and vibrant UI colors, Firefox Lite also follows the same footsteps, but with an emphasis on data saving and memory management. Firefox Lite has a turbo mode, which when enabled, blocks all the images in searches and disables all ads to provide the fastest searches on any browser we’ve tested. It comes baked in with a Private Mode, which instantly deletes all the cache and data after you’ve done browsing a webpage. If you want a good mix between design and performance, we could recommend Firefox Lite to you without any second thoughts.
Thanks to its beautiful design and a laughable 3MB consumption space, Firefox Lite is more than a worthy choice in finding a lightweight browser.
2. XBrowser 1MB/3MB
Coming next to the first place, we have a popular browser. With over 1 Million downloads, it isn’t surprising why XBrowser is a promising alternative to a normal chunky browser. It packs in a number of features, all with a very consistent and minimal design. The animations are smooth, and the elements are big and easy to understand. XBrowser has a variety of features up its sleeve, namely a built-in ad-blocker, incognito mode, a toggle to switch Java Script on or off, and ever has a functional night mode. Unlike many other browsers on this list, users can also change the directory where the download files are saved to. This may prove useful especially to those people who want to sideload all their downloads to an SD Card instead of the internal storage
With only a megabyte in download size, and a mere 3 MB post installation, XBrowser is one of my favorite among this list thanks to the many features it boasts to offer.
1. Via Browser 500KB/2MB
Closing this list off, we have Via Browser at number one. It boasts an astonishing 500KB download size, which makes it the smallest in our list, and possible on the whole of the Play Store. But don’t let is storage size fool you – Via Browser has all the features that one would consider as essential. These include an incognito mode, a night mode, a fully functional built-in translator, and even a QR Code scanner. All of this comes in a package that has a beautiful and to the point interface. Via Browser also allows the user to customize the homepage to suit his/her needs the best. Lastly, the browser comes equipped without any push notifications which means zero to none RAM consumption while the app is in the background.
With only over 500KB to spare, it would be foolishness to not consider this pick if you’re really low on storage. At the number one spot, Via Browser takes the crown for being the best lightweight browser available for Android.
That just about covers our list for the Top 5 Lightweight Browser Apps for Android in 2019. Which one was your favorite and why? Do let us know in the discussion box below. If you have any queries regarding any of the apps aforementioned leave a comment below, we would be glad to clarify your doubts
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