[App] [7.+] FOSS Browser [Open Source]

[Oswald Boelcke]

@Gaukler_Faun: Thanks very much for this interesting browser. Just using it for one day but I've the impression FOSS Browser is going to become my daily driver. I downloaded the apk from F-droid after I became aware of it here.
I don't know if it's of interest to you and to how many languages FOSS Browser has already been translated but you might consider to promote your browser here for additional translations (post #2 shows active translators sorted by language).

...

To-do before release

• - waiting for translators
  - ...

I assume you don't require me for the German translations. However, don't forget there're other who are certainly keen to support translations. Please check here if some still missing languages are supported.
Excellent work by you, and your project deserves every support that is required in my opinion.
Just a little add-on: Your browser is even recommended here: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/empfehlungsecke/#android

 

[Nutzername]

Nice work. Is there an option to automatically open all the Tabs, that were open when I closed the App?

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Sorry for late reply, but there was many to do on work.

I assume you don't require me for the German translations. However, don't forget there're other who are certainly keen to support translations. Please check here if some still missing languages are supported.
Excellent work by you, and your project deserves every support that is required in my opinion.
Just a little add-on: Your browser is even recommended here: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/empfehlungsecke/#android

Hi,
thanks for your suggestion. At the moment I'm trying to set up crowdin as translation plattform. But there are problems. And I don't understand much from this things. But vacations started, so perhaps I'll get the time.

Nice work. Is there an option to automatically open all the Tabs, that were open when I closed the App?

No. Not in the moment. Since this is often requested, I'll possibly try to implement it in the future.

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

### v 6.5

So here is a small update:

- new: more font sizes (thanks @pbui)
- new: ECOSIA search engine
- new: open dialogs always expanded
- fix: exclude notifications from recent apps
- fix: some popup dialogs not opening
- fix: hide nav button

Thanks for your patience. Now I've vacations and perhaps a bit more time. Have a nice time.

 

[Oswald Boelcke]

So here is a small update:

- new: more font sizes (thanks @pbui)
- new: ECOSIA search engine
- new: open dialogs always expanded
- fix: exclude notifications from recent apps
- fix: some popup dialogs not opening
- fix: hide nav button

Thanks for your patience. Now I've vacations and perhaps a bit more time. Have a nice time.

Is this a beta and only available via XDA. Or will it be released on F-droid soon?
Enjoy your certainly deserved vacations and thanks very much for this great browser and all your efforts.

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Is this a beta and only available via XDA. Or will it be released on F-droid soon?
Enjoy your certainly deserved vacations and thanks very much for this great browser and all your efforts.

The update on PlayStore and F-Droid is uploading. Sometimes it takes a day or two. The version here on xda is the same. But they are not compatible to each other, because they are signed with different keys. So if you have it installed over a store, just wait for the update.

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Update v 6.6

There were some critical issues with 6.5, which are solved in version 6.6. Also some other fixes:

- fix: storage permission problems
- fix: location permission problems
- fix: lint issues
- fix: sort startsite by time
- fix: favorite site not loading on start
- fix: inputs not loading
- new: add to startsite from link context menu

 

[AlexBurnout77]

Hey, Mr Glauker; Thanks so much for this browser. I use it with Bromite, although I wanted to know if you have a better, more private WebView in mind.

Anyway, I also have a few improvement ideas! I won't even try to recommend a fix since I'm not that good of a coder.

1. The scrolling isn't as nice as it's on Chrome.
2. I wish the 'find on page' animation (when it goes to the found text) takes too long. Please make it linked to the system animations (if possible).
3. I wish the browser would show my bookmarks when I type the URL (or name, even) of the bookmark. Just like it does with history.
4. Can you please make the start;page black (or based on the theme)? #D
5. I wish there were no tabs when I press the menu button. It takes much longer to go to a specific button (like find on page) than it would be without the tabs. I would kindly suggest an option to remove the tabs and make it fully customizable or just two settings: tabs/no tabs.

That's all I can think of right now… hope it helped a little. God bless your work.

P.S.: I think I know why the scrolling is so annoying. It's the acceleration. Whenever I want to scroll and go quicker, the scrolling gets non-linearly faster and sometimes choppy.

 

[vewa52]

There were some critical issues with 6.5, which are solved in version 6.6. Also some other fixes:

- fix: storage permission problems
- fix: location permission problems
- fix: lint issues
- fix: sort startsite by time
- fix: favorite site not loading on start
- fix: inputs not loading
- new: add to startsite from link context menu

Hi Gaukler, thanks for the updates. I am still on version 6.4 as some websites render properly only on this version. For instance, the homepage of https://www.gotour.co.in renders properly only in 6.4 and not in other versions. Attached are the screenshots. In later versions, the homepage opens as a solid black page. Also, some websites which have a transaction page also do not render properly. Any suggestions on this. Am I missing something.

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Hey, Mr Glauker; Thanks so much for this browser. I use it with Bromite, although I wanted to know if you have a better, more private WebView in mind.

Anyway, I also have a few improvement ideas! I won't even try to recommend a fix since I'm not that good of a coder.

1. The scrolling isn't as nice as it's on Chrome.
2. I wish the 'find on page' animation (when it goes to the found text) takes too long. Please make it linked to the system animations (if possible).
3. I wish the browser would show my bookmarks when I type the URL (or name, even) of the bookmark. Just like it does with history.
4. Can you please make the start;page black (or based on the theme)? #D
5. I wish there were no tabs when I press the menu button. It takes much longer to go to a specific button (like find on page) than it would be without the tabs. I would kindly suggest an option to remove the tabs and make it fully customizable or just two settings: tabs/no tabs.

That's all I can think of right now… hope it helped a little. God bless your work.

P.S.: I think I know why the scrolling is so annoying. It's the acceleration. Whenever I want to scroll and go quicker, the scrolling gets non-linearly faster and sometimes choppy.

Sorry for the late replay. First of all: thanks for using "FOSS Browser" and thanks for the suggestions.
1. Test the update I'll release today and report back. It uses the new AndroidX libraries.
2. I can't influence this animation. But in the update I removed nearly all animations. So the experience is a lot smoother and faster, I think.
3. Yes I know that problem. I didn't find a solution until now. But time by time I'm looking into this.
4. What startpage do you mean? The first website that is loading?
5. I'll not implement such "big" things in future. "FOSS Browser" reached a state of "stable" by now. I don't have much time. So my main goal is maintaining this app and make it running on latest Android.

Hi Gaukler, thanks for the updates. I am still on version 6.4 as some websites render properly only on this version. For instance, the homepage of https://www.gotour.co.in renders properly only in 6.4 and not in other versions. Attached are the screenshots. In later versions, the homepage opens as a solid black page. Also, some websites which have a transaction page also do not render properly. Any suggestions on this. Am I missing something.

Please test the update I'll release to day. On my site the website gets displayed. I even could make screenshot.

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Update v 6.8 (WIP)

Hallo Community,

sorry for not replying for so long. My vacations were great. Then school and work (I'm teacher started) and time passes by. Android 10 got released. And so I started to prepare "FOSS Browser for Android 10. I switched to the new AndroidX libraries, improved the settings.
With Android 10 there are many changes in the API concerning storage permissions on the external SD-card,. As I want "FOSS Browser" to be integrated in the system as good as possible, I had to change the saving location of backups (/Android/data/de.baumann.browser/files/browser_backup/) and screenshots (/Pictures/Screenshots/). Dowloads and PDF-files are still in the Downloads directory.
I also made a lot of changes under the hood. So please test and report back your impressions.

Greetings
Gaukler Faun

Changelog v 6.8 (WIP)
- new: follow system theme
- new: moving to AndroidX libraries
- new: favorite settings
- updated: settings (especially filter settings)
- updated: saving locations of backups and screenshots

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Help translating

Now you can help translating "FOSS Browser":
https://crowdin.com/project/foss-browser

 

[vewa52]

Please test the update I'll release to day. On my site the website gets displayed. I even could make screenshot.

Thanks Gaukler . I think the issue is fixed in the 6.8 WIP version. No issues here.

 

[Deleted member 5420251]

Now you can help translating "FOSS Browser":
https://crowdin.com/project/foss-browser

Brazilian Portuguese fully translated

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Test Version

Hi,

next version is in progress. You can see the changelog below.

• Are there any problems for users (especially the theme settings) using an Android version < 10.
• If there are some amoled display users out there, please test the new Amoled theme.

I would also be happy if you share the link to the Crowdin page. There are some languages, which are not translated completely. It would be nice if someone could help: https://crowdin.com/project/foss-browser

Changelog v 6.8 (Work in progress)
- new: follow system theme
- new: Amoled theme
- new: moving to AndroidX libraries
- new: favorite settings
- updated: themes
- updated: Turkish translation
- updated: Czech translation
- updated: Brazilian translation
- updated: Russian translation
- updated: settings (especially filter settings)
- updated: saving locations of backups and screenshots
- removed: tinting of toolbar
- removed: open links in background

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Brazilian Portuguese fully translated

I lost a string. Now 10 % are missing. Can you please update?

 

[Deleted member 5420251]

I lost a string. Now 10 % are missing. Can you please update?

Updated

 

[vewa52]

Hi Gaukler, figured out something new. When you install DarQ and force enable dark theme with FOSS browser theme set to 'Light" mode, I was pleasantly surprised to see all websites show up with dark mode enabled with images in color. Something similar to Samsung's dark mode in their internet browser. This is so much better than the inverted gray scale feauture which displays pictures in B/W. Can you figure this out and enable it as a native feature in the browser? Btw I am on 6.9. Thanks.

 

[Gaukler_Faun]

Hi Gaukler, figured out something new. When you install DarQ and force enable dark theme with FOSS browser theme set to 'Light" mode, I was pleasantly surprised to see all websites show up with dark mode enabled with images in color. Something similar to Samsung's dark mode in their internet browser. This is so much better than the inverted gray scale feauture which displays pictures in B/W. Can you figure this out and enable it as a native feature in the browser? Btw I am on 6.9. Thanks.

Hi,

thanks, for still using FOSS Browser. It got a little bit quiet here. But I'm still supporting this project. At the moment I'm working on a bigger update. Stay tuned, I'll give you an apk to test.

In next release the native dark mode of webview will be supported. You need to use latest webview to get this feature. Latest Bromite-webview will also work.

Regards
Gaukler Faun

 

[vewa52]

Hi,

thanks, for still using FOSS Browser. It got a little bit quiet here. But I'm still supporting this project. At the moment I'm working on a bigger update. Stay tuned, I'll give you an apk to test.

In next release the native dark mode of webview will be supported. You need to use latest webview to get this feature. Latest Bromite-webview will also work.

Regards
Gaukler Faun

Awesome!! Looking forward to it