Putting the browser back to browsing

X Browser is a mobile browser for Android whose pitch is subtraction. No news feed, no push notifications, no process left running in the background, and small enough to stay quick. The install package is about 2MB, and the stated reason is that it relies on native system code instead of pulling in third-party frameworks and SDKs. Whatever one thinks of the slogan, the size is a verifiable claim, and it changes how the app behaves on a phone that is already busy.

Most browsers on an app store are described by what they add: a feed here, a small program there, a recommendation engine underneath. This one is described by what it leaves out, which is a harder thing to sell and an easier thing to notice after a week of use.

Blocking ads and running scripts

Ad blocking is built in rather than bolted on. It supports subscribing to mainstream rule lists such as EasyList and AdGuard, which between them cover banner ads, video ads and popups, and those lists are maintained by communities that react quickly when a site changes its markup. Because the filter is part of the browser, there is no separate app holding a VPN slot or asking for a second set of permissions.

The more interesting capability is userscript support. No script manager has to be installed first: a script written for GreaseMonkey or Tampermonkey installs directly, and most of them run unchanged. Page translation and smart pagination, two features other browsers sell as built-in additions, arrive this way instead. The result is a small core that grows only in the direction the user chooses.

Finding media and handing off downloads

Resource sniffing lists the audio and video a page is actually loading, so a clip can be opened in another player or saved directly. Downloads themselves can be delegated. Once a third-party downloader such as 1DM or ADM is attached, the browser stops pretending to be a download manager and lets a tool built for the job handle multi-threaded transfers, torrent files and M3U8 streams.

The small switches

Below the headline features sits a long row of controls: gesture operations, customisation of appearance and menu layout, read-later and offline reading, encrypted access to bookmarks and history, and a switch that stops pages from reading the clipboard. None of these is a reason to install a browser on its own. Together they are the difference between a browser that fits a habit and one that has to be worked around.

Privacy and the current version

Privacy is handled with restraint. There is no phone number binding and no third-party social account binding; when sync is needed, an email address serves as the account identifier and nothing more. The app requests very few permissions and does not keep a background process alive. According to the official changelog, the newest release as of September 2026 is 5.6.4, published on 15 September.

Who it suits, and who it does not

Anyone who opens a browser to read one page and then closes it will not notice much, because the differences only surface over time. The case is strongest for people who already know which scripts they want: a translation helper here, a pagination fix there, an ad rule for one stubborn site. Those users get a small program that works like a bench. People who expect a browser to carry a wallet, a news service and a video feed as well will find it deliberately incomplete, and that is the design decision rather than an oversight.

Anyone tired of news feeds and notifications inside a phone browser will find the combination of a small package, built-in script support and subscribable filter rules genuinely useful. It does not try to be everything. Extension capability is handed to scripts and to other apps, and the browser stays light by refusing to absorb them.