Samsung Internet 15 adds new widget and updated Chromium engine

XDA

Samsung Internet 15 update brings a new widget and updated Chromium engine

By Corbin Davenport

Published Aug 16, 2021

Samsung Internet 15 has been released, and the update brings a new widget, enhanced anti-tracking technology, and an updated Chromium engine.

Update 1 (08/16/2021 @ 02:27 PM ET): Samsung Internet 15 is now available from the stable channel. Click here for more information. The article, as published on July 12, 2021, is preserved below.

Samsung Internet is one of the few replacements for Google apps created by Samsung that people actually want to use. The browser's speedy Chromium engine and customizable interface has made it a popular choice, even on non-Samsung devices (where it is available through the Play Store), and now a beta release for Samsung Internet 15 is available.

The new release is based on Chromium 90, a slight upgrade from the Chromium 87 engine found on Samsung Internet 14. That means the browser supports some newer web APIs, such as overflow:clip in CSS and the Declarative Shadow DOM. The upgraded engine also technically supports Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) tracking, Google's proposal for replacing cookies, but Samsung doesn't seem to have the feature enabled right now.

Samsung Internet 15 has a new "enhanced anti-tracking technology," which is intended to prevent some methods of fingerprinting. The browser also now remembers when you enable Secret Mode (Samsung's name for Incognito), and will stay in the mode after you re-open the app until you turn it off. Finally, Samsung has added a new search widget, which opens the browser with the address bar selected — just like the widget Chrome has offered for years.

The new release comes two months after the last major update entered beta testing, Samsung Internet v14.2, which added page position sync across Galaxy phones and tablets. The update also added S Pen air actions, allowing page navigation using stylus gestures.

You can try out the new update by downloading Samsung Internet Browser Beta from the Play Store. The update is still rolling out, though, so you might have to wait another day or or two.

Update 1: Stable release

The Samsung Internet 15 update is rolling out now in the stable channel. The latest stable release includes all of the features added to the beta, including an updated Chromium engine, new anti-tracking tech, a new search widget, and more. The update is rolling out slowly to users, so you may not see the update ready in Google Play. If that's the case, you can sideload the update by downloading the Samsung Internet 15 APK from APKMirror.