v0.20.0-alpha-13

Highlights

• History is now container-aware. Browsing history can show which container a visit came from, and the History screen can be filtered by container.
• Containers now have an Exclude from History option. When enabled, pages opened in that container are not recorded in browsing history.
• Containers now support Strict Mode, allowing only assigned sites to load in that container.
• The tab bar can now be placed on the left or right as a vertical side rail.
• Site data clearing can now optionally close the current tab after clearing.

Container History

• History entries can now display their container, making it easier to understand where a visit came from.
• The History filter menu now includes container filtering.
• When a container filter is active, clearing history only clears that container’s history.
• Deleting a container now offers an option to also delete that container’s history.
• If you delete a container without deleting its history, those visits are kept but shown without a container.

Privacy Improvements

• Added Exclude from History to container settings.
• This is separate from Exclude from Search Index: it prevents the container’s visits from being recorded in browser history, not just local search.
• This option requires cookie isolation to be enabled for the container.
• History exclusion is applied early during startup, including restored tabs.

Container Strict Mode

• Added Strict Mode to container site assignments.
• When enabled, only sites assigned to that container are allowed to load there.
• Unassigned sites are blocked instead of loading inside the strict container.
• Sites assigned to another container continue to be redirected or handled according to their assignment.
• This also requires cookie isolation.

Toolbar And Tab Bar

• Added new Left and Right tab bar positions.
• These create a vertical side rail for tabs, address/search controls, toolbar actions, contextual actions, and pinned add-ons.
• Vertical side rails can be swiped away.
• Swiping vertically on the rail switches tabs.
• Quick tab switcher layouts, accordion container tabs, pinned add-ons, contextual toolbar buttons, and toolbar previews now adapt to the side rail layout.
• Long-pressing a container header in the accordion quick switcher now opens that container’s settings.

Smaller Improvements

• Clear Site Data now includes Close tab after clearing.
• Link context menus now let you choose a different tab type when opening a link, such as regular, private, or isolated tabs where available.
• Selecting a smart bang/search shortcut now highlights the existing query so it can be quickly replaced or submitted with the selected provider.
• Bookmark-type history visits are now handled more gracefully.

Notes

• Existing history is not automatically assigned to containers after updating. Container labels apply to newly recorded visits.
• Container history labels are local to WebLibre and should not be expected to sync across devices.
• In the narrow vertical side rail, tab titles and inline close buttons may be hidden to save space. Tab actions remain available through tab menus.

v0.20.0-alpha-12

This alpha focuses on smarter search, better privacy controls, smoother browser behavior, and fixes for Tor/onion and proxy workflows.

What’s New

• Added Popular Sites suggestions in the search/address screen. WebLibre can now suggest well-known websites as you type, even if they are not in your browsing history yet.
• Added an option to clear Recent searches when deleting browsing data.
• Recent searches can also now be included in the automatic privacy cleanup used by Incognito Mode.
• Bookmark list preferences are now remembered. Your bookmark sorting and “folders only” view should stay the same after restarting the app.

Privacy & Security

• Improved .onion site handling. Typing an onion address without http:// or https:// now opens it over http://, matching how many onion services are expected to work.
• WebLibre now avoids forcing HTTPS upgrades for .onion sites, improving compatibility with Tor onion services.
• If you explicitly type an https://...onion address, WebLibre still keeps HTTPS.
• Custom Tracking Protection now has a separate switch for blocking ads, analytics, and social trackers.
• Added a Content Blocking Database setting for GeckoView’s built-in blocker lists. This setting requires an app restart.

Fixes & Improvements

• Fixed SOCKS proxy setup so the SOCKS version is selected from valid options instead of being entered as a free-form number.
• SOCKS proxy versions are now saved in the format expected by the proxy engine, reducing failed proxy configurations.
• Reduced unnecessary browser screenshot work while full-screen panels like Settings, Search, or Tabs are open. This should make those screens feel smoother.
• Added an advanced option to unload the web engine while it is covered by full-screen overlays on newer Android versions. This can free resources, but may reload pages when returning.
• Improved state handling in several UI areas, including settings sliders, top-site reordering, toolbar state, and search result cards.

v0.20.0-alpha-11

Reader mode improvements

• True black (AMOLED) reader mode. When you have "pure black" enabled, the reader's dark theme is now genuine black instead of dark grey — easier on the eyes at night and easier on the battery on OLED screens.
• Cleaner, more readable articles. The reader layout got a refresh: improved spacing and typography, edge-to-edge images, nicer quotes and lists, and properly wrapped code blocks so nothing spills off the side of the screen.
• The font/appearance button now toggles. Tap it once to open the appearance controls, tap again to close them — as you'd expect.
• Appearance controls no longer get hidden behind the toolbar. Under edge-to-edge layouts the controls bar could end up tucked under the bottom bar; it now always sits cleanly above it, even as the bottom bar shows or hides.
• You can always get the toolbar back while reading. Previously, if you hid the toolbar while in reader mode, the font button took over its spot and left no way to bring the toolbar back. Now a small "show toolbar" button appears stacked above the font button.

Home screen

• Reworked layout. The quick actions — New tab, View tabs, and Resume last tab — are now near the top where they're easier to reach.
• New "Support WebLibre" banner. A dismissible card explains the optional Supporter subscription, which funds development and powers the features that need a hosted service (WebLibre Search and encrypted account sync). The browser and all its privacy features remain free and need no subscription. The banner automatically hides if you're already a supporter or once you dismiss it.

Floating action button

• Steadier, smarter floating button. The draggable button now anchors to the bottom-right corner so it stays put even when an extra button stacks above it, and it can no longer be accidentally dragged off-screen.

Fixes

• Fixed a sign-in glitch. On some devices the sign-in link was delivered twice in quick succession, which could cancel out a sign-in that had just succeeded. Signing in is now reliable.
• Better split-screen and pop-up window support. Resizing the app — split-screen, freeform, or pop-up windows — works more smoothly, and taps now land in the right place on the page in resized windows.
• Improved compatibility with older Android versions.

Performance

• Re-enabled the Impeller graphics engine for smoother rendering and animations.

v0.20.0-alpha-10

prepare new alpha

v0.20.0-alpha-9

Highlights

• Redesigned the Quick Tab Switcher into a new Tab Stacking system.
• Added new layouts: Accordion and Two Rows.
• Improved startup tab restoration so restored tabs appear earlier and are handled more safely.
• Added a new Refresh Rate setting for smoother scrolling on supported Android devices.
• Removed the Android “install unknown apps” permission from the app manifest.

Tab Switching Improvements

The Quick Tab Switcher has been reworked and is now configured through Settings > Toolbar Layout > Tab Stacking.

New options include:

• Accordion: shows containers as chips and expands the selected container inline.
• Two Rows: shows tabs from the selected container on one row and recently used tabs on another.
• Recently Used Tabs: keeps the previous recent-tabs style.
• Container Tabs: shows tabs from the selected container.
• Disabled: hides the quick switcher bar.

Other improvements:

• The active tab is kept centered more reliably while switching or reordering tabs.
• Container chips now show tab counts and use clearer container coloring.
• Tab chips can now show close buttons.
• The active tab always gets a close button.
• A new setting allows close buttons on every quick-switcher tab chip.
• Closing tabs from the switcher now uses the same confirmation and undo behavior as the regular tab menu.
• The maximum title width of quick-switcher chips is now adjustable.
• Pinned, private, isolated, sandbox, and nested tabs are represented more clearly in the switcher.

Better Startup and Restore Behavior

Tab restoration after app startup is now more robust.

• Saved tabs can appear earlier as temporary tab chips while the browser engine finishes restoring them.
• Tapping a tab that is still restoring now queues the selection and opens it once it becomes available.
• The app waits for the browser engine to report that restore is complete before cleaning up saved tab data.
• This reduces the chance of restored tabs disappearing during startup or when opening WebLibre through a shared link.

Private tabs are still not restored, matching the existing private browsing behavior.

Appearance and Smoothness

• Added Settings > General > Refresh Rate with System, High, and Low options.
• The default is High, which can make scrolling and animations smoother on 90Hz/120Hz Android screens.
• Low can be used to reduce battery usage.
• The status bar and navigation bar areas now better match the active container or toolbar color.
• System bar icons adjust for contrast so they remain readable.
• Toolbar animations and tab favicons should feel smoother.
• Recent tab entries now show container color and icon badges more clearly.

Settings Migration

Existing Quick Tab Switcher settings are migrated automatically:

• If the switcher was disabled, it remains disabled.
• Existing “recent tabs” and “container tabs” choices map to the new Tab Stacking options.
• New installs default to Accordion when container UI is enabled.

Notes

• The refresh-rate setting is Android-only and depends on device/OS support.
• Container-based tab stacking modes fall back to recently used tabs if container UI is disabled.

v0.20.0-alpha-8

Desktop Mode Overhaul

This release brings major improvements to how you control desktop mode — you can now set it globally, per site, or per tab.

• Global desktop mode. A new on/off switch in Settings → Browsing → Desktop Mode → "Always Request Desktop Site". Turn it on and every new tab will request the desktop version of websites by default. Flip it and all your already-open tabs switch too.

• Per-site desktop mode. You can build a list of websites that should always load in desktop mode, no matter what the global setting says. Add sites from the page menu (open the bottom sheet and flip "Always use desktop site"), or manage the full list in Settings → Browsing → "Desktop Mode Sites". Subdomains are included automatically — adding example.com also covers m.example.com and shop.example.com.

OLED / Pure Black Theme

A new setting under Settings → General → "Pure Black (OLED)". When you turn this on and use dark mode, the app's backgrounds switch from dark grey to true black. On phones with OLED or AMOLED screens, those pixels are turned off completely — saving battery and giving you deeper, richer blacks. Cards and menus stay slightly lighter so you can still tell them apart.

Tab Nesting Visuals

If you open links in new tabs, those tabs can become "child" tabs of the original one. Now the quick tab switcher shows small chevron icons that tell you how deep a tab is nested. You can control how many chevrons to show from Settings → Toolbar Layout → "Hierarchy Depth in Quick Tab Switcher". Set it to 0 to hide them entirely, or turn it up for more visual context.

Close Button on the New Tab / Search Screen

A new setting under Settings → General → "Show Close Button" adds an X button to the top-left of the new tab and search screen. Tap it to go back to the page you were on — no need for the system back button or a swipe gesture. Especially handy on e-ink devices or if you prefer a visible close button.

Misc

• Gesture toggle shows only when it matters. The gestures tile in the page menu no longer appears when no tab is active.
• Custom tabs color fix. When other apps open links in WebLibre, the color scheme now looks correct.
• Updated hardening preference parameters

v0.20.0-alpha-7

Extensions Can Now Access Your Bookmarks

Extensions like floccus (bookmark sync) can now read and organize your bookmarks. When you add or edit a bookmark in the app, extensions are notified instantly so your sync tool stays up to date. This is unique among mobile Gecko browsers.

Smarter Gesture Controls

• New "stroke interval" setting — Prevents accidental gesture triggers from fast, jittery finger movements. Found in Gesture Behavior settings.
• Easier action picker — Swipe down anywhere to dismiss the action selection sheet (not just a tiny handle).
• Quick shortcut — Long-press the gestures toggle in the browser menu to jump straight to gesture settings.

Reload Button Doubles as Stop

The reload button now shows an X during page load — tap it to cancel loading. No more hunting for a separate stop button.

Smoother Search & Tabs

• Find-in-page no longer pops up uninvited — When tapping a tab from search results, you'll see a simple prompt asking if you want to find that text on the page.
• Your keyboard stays put — Pulling down the notification shade or switching keyboards no longer kicks you out of the search field.

Performance Improvements

• Top sites on the home screen load more smoothly when scrolling.
• Container tab colors use less CPU, making tab switching feel snappier.

Smarter Search Shortcuts (Bangs)

Bangs like !g now match search results correctly even when search engines redirect between www.google.com, google.com, or m.google.com.

QR Scanner with Proper Permissions

The camera permission is now requested beforehand. If you deny it, you get a clear message instead of a broken camera view. If permission is revoked while the scanner is open, it closes gracefully.

Bug Fixes & Polish

• Home screen search widget now works properly again.
• Updated GeckoView engine and several dependencies for stability.
• General reliability fixes across the board.

v0.20.0-alpha-6

prepare new alpha

v0.20.0-alpha-5

Added

• Configurable touch gesture system — draw gestures on web pages to navigate, control tabs, trigger page actions, and more. Off by default; enable in Settings > Gestures.

Changed

• Browser menu reorganized: quick toggles use a segmented control, Tor/proxy controls live in a dedicated connection card with on/off toggles.
• Tor and WireGuard branding, status text, and labels are more consistent across the app.
• Pull-to-refresh no longer accidentally triggers on gesture strokes near the page top.

Fixed

• PWAs and standalone web sessions now handle popup/window-open requests more reliably (login, payment flows, etc.).

v0.20.0-alpha-4

What’s Changed

Added

• Added a new ML Downloads entry in Advanced Settings to clear downloaded AI models and runtime files.
• Added a custom container color picker for power users, including hex and HSL controls.
• Added site-assigned container auto-selection when opening shared content.

Changed

• Container colors now support two modes: standard seeded colors and custom direct colors.
• Container color styling is now applied consistently across chips, lists, selectors, tab UI, and recent items.
• The default container palette has been refreshed to produce more distinct colors.
• Local AI/ML on Android now uses the WASM ONNX backend instead of the failing native path.
• ML requests now include timeout handling and richer error details.
• Quick tab switcher scrolling was refined to reduce flicker and improve stability.
• Tab tree and tab header rebuilds were cleaned up for better responsiveness.

Fixed

• Fixed PWA/custom-tab toolbar visibility behavior.
• Fixed container assignment and container suggestion edge cases.
• Fixed ML embedding generation to avoid repeated work and handle cached inputs more reliably.
• Fixed clustering/suggestion behavior when multiple tabs share the same title.
• Fixed ML cache cleanup so downloaded models and runtime files can be fully cleared.