Samsung has updated its browser for Android with support for content and ad blocking plugins. Samsung’s browser is pre-installed on the Galaxy devices, and is also available on Google Play store as ‘Samsung Internet for Android’. The new update is available for devices running Android Lollipop or higher version starting today.
The new feature is similar to Apple’s Safari browser in iOS 9 that allows users to install apps that block ads. The feature is said to help reduce web page load time and much better user experience.
Samsung has tied up with a few third party ad blocking apps such as Adblock Fast and Crystal. In order to use ad blocking on the browser, users will first have to download either of these apps, which will activate the ad block menu in Samsung’s browser. Users can then go to Settings -> Advanced on the browser and activate the ad block setting.
ALSO
According to the team behind the Adblock Fast, the app helps web pages load 51 percent faster than usual load time. The app is available on Google Play store, and is also available for Chrome and Opera mobile browsers.
“Samsung is rolling content blocking out to hundreds of millions of Android users with an over-the-air update and they’ve partnered with us to again make Adblock Fast the first free and first open-source ad blocker on this platform,” said the team on its website.
Popular ad block app for iOS, Crystal, is also available for Samsung’s browsers. “Crystal is able to load many different community supported filter lists for blocking adverts in different international regions, block privacy intrusive trackers, malware domains and social networking annoyances,” explains the developers team on its website.
While Samsung would like to have every iOS feature on its devices as well, the process is anything but simple, especially considering popular third-party Android browsers like UC Browser comes with a built-in ad blocker. It remains to be seen how many users who understand ad blocking and are tech savvy enough to go through the multiple hoops, actually use Samsung’s pre-installed browser instead of Google Chrome and other third-party browsers.
Samsung is not the only company looking at ad blockers as a differentiating feature. Asus too recently announced it would be integrating AdBlock Plus in its stock browser.
Top Brands
