I’ve used Samsung Browser for years, but this is why I won’t go back to Chrome

I’ve been a supporter of Samsung Browser for years. When everyone seemed to complain about Samsung bloatware, I was busy making sure Samsung Browser was my default. It still has more features than Chrome, and it’s a more flexible option.

If you haven’t used it in years, I highly recommend giving it another shot. I promise you’ll view Chrome differently if you do.

Still, there are reasons to switch to Samsung Browser that don’t make for a flashy commercial.

If you’re serious about privacy but want an excellent user experience, Samsung Browser offers plenty of tools to keep your information private.

Anonymity on the internet is near impossible, but I’m going to take any advantage I can get to claw back some of my data.

That’s why I use Samsung Browser, and why you’d be smart to take a closer look.

I almost hate how good Samsung Browser is at blocking trackers

You’d be shocked at just how many sites want your data

Part of me doesn’t even want to know how aggressively websites track me and in such great numbers. It’s alarmingly high, but if you’re serious about privacy, you can’t live in the dark.

Samsung Browser does a fantastic job laying out the threats and how best to stop them. The information is easy to read, and I can adjust the level of security I need with just a few toggles.

I can even turn on a strict version of Samsung’s Smart anti-tracking, which will block all trackers. Samsung claims that ads will have minimal personalization, even though some sites that require information to be kept won’t work properly.

Still, if you want to lock down your browser experience completely, you have the power to do it with a couple of clicks.

I didn’t even know sites could gather information about me through CAPTCHAs, but Samsung Browser has a setting that lets you skip them as long as the site you’re visiting supports it.

You also get a list of all the sites that attempted to track you. I personally can’t do anything with that information, but it’s comforting to see the system in action.

What’s great about Samsung Browser is that most of this is on by default. I don’t have to know anything about which privacy settings are best to get some protection.

Sometimes Incognito mode just isn’t good enough

Keep everything separate without losing information

If you’re a new Samsung Browser user, I could see you equating Secret mode to Incognito mode in Chrome. Both offer enhanced privacy compared to normal browsing, but Samsung takes it a step further.

Incognito mode doesn’t save your browsing history or data for sites you visit. It’s a one-off browsing session, and when you close out the tab, it’s like it never even happened.

Sure, some of your data is kept temporarily, but after all the tabs are gone, and you’re not going to revisit those sites quickly, everything goes away.

Samsung Browser works a little differently. Your information is still kept separate for normal browsing, but it doesn’t go away. It’s kept in a private space that you can come back to. You can have separate bookmarks and tabs.

It’ll still delete your temporary browsing data when you close all tabs, but if you have sites you often visit that you want kept private, you can lock that area.

I know everyone’s mind will immediately jump to some nefarious reasons why you’d want to keep a separate browsing space, but there are legitimate reasons why you’d want to.

If you have sites for work you frequent or deal with sensitive data, you don’t want people to have access to that while just looking at your phone.

I know my toddler has a habit of pulling up things on my device that I didn’t think were possible, so Secret mode would be a great way to require biometric authentication before she can do any real damage.

She gets to play Pokémon Go on my phone and scroll through photos of herself, and I get to avoid the backend of Android Police breaking — everybody wins.

Please note that with either browser, your information and data are still visible to your ISP, work network admin, school network, and similar places.

So don’t think because you pop over to Secret mode, you get a blank check to do things you shouldn’t be doing.

Samsung Browser has a better overall experience

I hope Samsung keeps working on it

I was concerned by the recent news that Samsung Messages is going away.

Samsung and Google’s software integration is tighter than ever, but I hope that doesn’t extend to Samsung Browser. It’s a fantastic alternative to Chrome, and it offers features like extensions that Google’s mobile browser doesn’t.

I love the menu layout, and that I can choose different search engine options with a click. It’s a browser that feels like it was designed by people who actually use it.

And while I don’t really care about the Galaxy AI functionality Samsung just added, some of the translation features are useful.

Samsung Browser feels like the complete package

Google Chrome works well enough, but branching out offers a better alternative.

Samsung Browser does the basics, with enough extra features to keep me sticking with it over Chrome. I love how easy it is to protect some of my data, and while it’s unsettling to see just how many sites track me daily,

I’m glad Samsung Browser gives me enough tools to keep at least a little privacy on the internet.