Samsung Internet Wikipedia

Android web browser developed by Samsung

Samsung Internet Browser (or simply Samsung Internet or S Browser[1]) is a mobile web browser for smartphones and tablets developed by Samsung Electronics. It is based on the open-source Chromium project. It comes pre-installed on Samsung Galaxy devices. Since 2015, it has been available for download from Google Play,[2][3] and recently it is also available for their Tizen-based smartwatch via the Samsung Galaxy Store. Samsung estimated that it had around 400 million monthly active users in 2016. According to StatCounter, it had a market share of around 4.98% (among 53.26% for all Chrome variants) around May 2018.[4]

Most of the code differences to the standard Chromium code base were introduced in order to support Samsung-specific hardware, such as Gear VR and biometric sensors.[5][6]

History[edit]
Samsung Internet replaced the stock Android browser as the default on Samsung Galaxy devices in 2012.[7] Around early 2013, it was decided to base the browser on Chromium, and the first Chromium-based version was shipped with an S4 model later that year.[8]

VersionChromium versionRelease dateNotesVersion 4Chromium 44early 2016secret mode, content cards, a floating video, a video history feature, web push, service workers, custom tabs, and a content blocker extension.[9][10]Version 5Chromium 51December 16, 2016web payment and an enhanced video assistant.[11][12]Version 5.4Chromium 51Beta March 2017,[13]Stable May 2017[14]

tab navigation with a swipe gesture, a quick menu, an enhanced navigation page (China only), and a content blocker status UI (in menu).[15]Version 6.2Chromium 56October 30, 2017high contrast mode and night mode.[16][17]Version 6.4Chromium 56February 19, 2018download manager and enabled Web Bluetooth by default.[18][19]Version 7.2Chromium 59June 7, 2018WebGL2, Intersection Observer, Web Assembly and Protected Browsing.[20]Version 7.4Chromium 59August 19, 2018authentication with Intelligent Scan, a customised Reader Mode and Download History improvements.[21]Version 8.2Chromium 63December 21, 2018improved Download Manager, an improved Reader Mode, bug fixes and stabilization, and quick access sync via Smart Switch.[22]Version 9.2Chromium 67April 2, 2019removed the “video assistant” extension that was added in previous versions as a “quick menu”, adding a redesigned app icon, a further redesigned user interface and respective one-handedness, Smart Anti-Tracking, an option to turn on Save All Images, as well as bug fixes and stabilization.Version 9.2.10.15Chromium 67May 19, 2019a +10 and -10 sec seek function for YouTube web videos, optimized RAM usage, and fixed two bugs affecting Dark Mode and the Iris auto login in DeX Mode.Version 9.4Chromium 67July 22, 2019a QR Code reader, a Tab manager for tablet devices, a Notification manager for Web pushes, History navigation in each tab, video autoplay control, a Rename function while doing “add to home screen”, and a Pause/Resume function for “Save all images”, in addition to bug fixes and stabilization.[23]Version 10.1.00.27Chromium 71September 8, 2019Quick Access data synchronization and an even furthered refined user interface, and including bug fixes and stabilization.Version 10.1.01.3Chromium 71October 3, 2019fixed bugs affecting mirroring in Bookmarks, History and Saved pages for right-to-left languages and refined the user interface again.Version 10.2.00.53Chromium 71November 24, 2019Video assistant, a Contact us icon, a feature which allows which apps use Samsung Internet, a customizable menu, a renewed Tab manager, a once again refined user interface, an improved high contrast mode and bug fixes and stabilizations.[24]Version 10.2.01.10Chromium 71January 14, 2020an optional Picture-In-Picture video, fingerprint-enabled Easy sign-in in Samsung DeX stand-alone mode, an enhanced scroll capture and fixes crashes caused by certain conditions.Version 11.1.1.52Chromium 75February 25, 2020Browser Extensions, (which require Android Marshmallow or later and a Galaxy Store account), a redesigned Go to Top button and UI, Quick access, bug fixes and stabilization, and improving performance.Version 12.0.1.47Chromium 79June 19, 2020Open links in secret mode from the context menu, more password manager apps are allowed to autofill ID and passwords, and stability and security improvements.[25]Version 13.0.1.64Chromium 83November 19, 2020Hide status bar option for Infinity Display, Enhanced Smart Protection, Additional gesture support in Video Assistant[26]Version 14.0.1.62Chromium 87Beta March 2021[27],Stable April 17, Security Control Panel for Enhanced Privacy, Apply device font settings to web pages (in Labs), Enhanced Smart Anti-Tracking (v3.0)[28]Version 15.0.2.47Chromium 90Beta July 2021[29]Stable August 28, Introduce Smart Protection, a technology to protect users against fingerprinting. Quick Search and Fast Navigation to make it easier to search for information from the home screen.Version 16.0.2.19Chromium 92Stable November 26, 2021[30]

Version 17.0.6.9Chromium 96Stable June 14, 2022[31]

Version 18.0Chromium 99Beta June 28, 2022[32]Stable Aug 6, Toolbar customization, CNAME Cloaking ProtectionVersion 19.0Chromium 102Beta August 23,2022[33]

WebXR IncubationsSupport[edit]
The later version (v6.2) of Samsung Internet for Android supports all Android 5.0 and above phones.[34]

Previously, (v5.0) Samsung Internet for Android was only supported on Samsung Galaxy and Google Nexus phones with Android 5.0 and above.[35]

Features[edit]
* Content blocking extensions[36]
* Gear VR and DeX integration[37]
* KNOX Support
* Tabbed browsing with up to 99 tabs, where opening the 100th tab closes the earliest tab.[38]
* Bookmark Synchronisation
* Ad Blocking
* Reading Mode
* Saved Pages
* “Secret mode” and biometric authentication[39] (unavailable in Knox-tripped devices, which is disabled by eFuse hardware upon unlocking the bootloader[40])
* Secure Web Auto Login
* SPen features
* find on pages
* Support for service workers and Push API
* Dark Mode
* Customise Menu
* Video Assistant
* QR code scanner
* Smart anti tracking

[41]

The Saved Pages feature has been criticized for lack of data portability, due to the pages being stored in a locked directory from which they can not be exported and backed up by the user.[42][43]

References[edit]