This guide will provide you with a list of the best web browsers that you can download and install on all your Android TV & Fire TV devices to be able to browse the net right from the big screen
The arrival of smart TVs and android TV in particular, has revolutionized the way we watch TV and created a fabulous environment for entertainment inside our houses. Being able to use your Wi-Fi connection to stream movies, TV shows, sports events, and other types of content on the big screen is an amazing experience indeed. Yes, with android TV devices you have a wide range of possibilities even surfing the net.
You certainly have noticed that no android TV device, being a smart TV or a TV box, comes with a default browser. This means that android TV OS is primarily designed for entertainment and won’t offer you the best net surfing experience. Yet, sometimes you have no other choice but to surf the net right from your Android TV device more particularly to download and install apks.
With the absence of a built-in browser in your Android TV device and with the need to use one, you might feel confused about where to start.
The number of web browsers for Android TV is not very high at least when talking about the official play store, but this is not the only way to find the best browser for you.
Although we are used to using Chrome and other browsers on our phone, the truth is that they are not optimized for Android TV. In most cases, and especially if we only have a typical television remote, it is difficult to navigate web pages using Google Chrome and other similar browsers.
For this reason, some specialized browsers adapt to those controls and make it much easier to visit links or read pages, without having to connect a mouse and keyboard to your Android TV.
To make things easy for you, we have already tested many available browser apps for android TV and come up with the best. You will find the best browser apps available in the official Play Store for Android TV and also the best browsers you can sideload from other sources
the Best web browsers for android TV & fire tv
Puffin TV Browser
Puffin TV Browser is a special edition of Puffin Web Browser optimized for the Android TV. It is the best web browser that you can find by searching the Android TV Google Play Store. It is perfectly adapted to use with the TV remote control, it has favorites, the content loads normally and most of the elements are reproduced correctly on the screen.
Puffin TV Browser removes the traditional web browser UI for a fully immersed Android TV experience. Puffin UI is kept as subtle and intuitive as possible. For example, Puffin TV automatically recommends the most popular sites for users.
Puffin’s servers are located in the US and Singapore. Geolocation restrictions of content may occur if you are based in other countries.
TV Bro
TV Bro, one of the best web browsers you can have on your Android TV, is an open-source web browser optimized for Android TV media boxes.
It is the only browser to date that offers adaptive mouse speed control and full remote control support and advanced customization.
TV Bro optionally uses search solutions and voice search from Google.
The TV Bro web browser has a multilingual interface, and also requires an android version of at least 5.0 Lollipop installed on the device. Without advertising.
Amazon Silk Browser
The Amazon Silk Browser is specifcally designed for Amazon devices, such as the Amazon Firestick, Fire TV, Fire TV Cubes, Fire HD tablets, and more.
Since Amazon Fire TV devices run the Android TV OS, Silk Web Browser perfectly work on other streaming devices with the same Android TV OS.
Amazon Silk Web browser can be downloaded directly from the Amazon App Store. Users no longer need to go through the sideloading method to get a browser on their devices.
With Amazon Silk browser installed, you can use your Fire TV device to browse the internet as you would do on your computer, TAblet or mobile. You can visit streaming websites to watch movies and TV Shows, or Live TV. You can Download applications that are not available in the official App store, including Movie streaming APKs and Sports APKs.
TVWeb Browser: a simple and effective browser
TVWeb Browser is a browser specifically designed to be used on Android TV. Hence, it is one of the most efficient available for this operating system.
It stands out for its minimalist and simple interface, where we only have a bar on the left side of the screen with bookmarks, favorites, and browser settings. This app, in addition to offering you the basic options of any browser also offers voice search and is very easy to use with an Android TV remote.
Downloader app: an all-in-one tool
Downloader App allows Android TV owners to easily download files from the internet onto their devices. You can enter a URL that directly points to a file, or you can sideload the web browser plugin to download files from websites.
>>> Check out : Install Downloader App on Fire TV & Android TV
The Downloader App supports remotes and game controllers, so a mouse and keyboard are not necessary. This browser can also be used for general web surfing with full-screen mode, zooming, and quick access to favorites/bookmarks. Favorites allow you to easily save and open frequently visited URLs. Once files are downloaded, you can use the app’s basic file manager to open them, install them if they are APK applications, or delete them.
Google Chrome
Strangely, Chrome doesn’t come pre-installed on the Android TV operating system. Perhaps even more bizarre that there is no dedicated version of the Android TV app and it is not available on the Android TV Play Store.
However, those oddities don’t stop you from installing Chrome on your Android TV. You can install the application on your Android TV box using the web version of the Play Store. Some devices will even allow you to install the application using a voice command.
Using Google Chrome on Android TV has both advantages and disadvantages. On the professional side, if you are already a Chrome user, you will have access to all your bookmarks, browsing history, and other synced content.
One of the downsides is that Chrome probably won’t work with your existing Android TV remote, making it a bit more difficult to use than other options.
Open Browser
Open Browser is a lightweight and easy-to-use web browser for Android TV that is popular in more than 20 countries.
The new, second version of Open Browser features a completely new UI for TVs and smart boxes. The UI itself, quite simple and made in Material style. It is easy to control the browser using the remote control. The application has a multilingual interface, and requires an android version of at least 7.0 Nougat installed on the device. No ads. Full support for Android TV and remote control.
Another important thing is that the Open Browser, if desired, itself selects personalized content based on the mechanism of recommendations based on artificial intelligence. Recommendations can be not only from the field of streaming media, but also such things as news, videos, games and so on.
Firefox for Android TV
Update: Firefox is discontinuing support for Amazon Fire TV. The app will continue to work, but will stop receiving security updates and other improvements on April 30, 2021.
Firefox TV is an app officially available from the Amazon App Store in the US. Right after installation, you can launch popular video sites like YouTube and load any website address.
There’s no bug – we’ve featured a web browser for Android TV. And it is that the adapted version of Firefox works perfectly: just install the APK on the Android TV device and navigate. Its use is perfectly adapted to the remote control of the TV and offers an experience as complete as it is simple. In our opinion, it is the best app for what we are looking for: surfing the web from TV.
Firefox is very well adapted to use from the remote control, it is fast rendering pages, offers great web compatibility, allows you to synchronize Firefox bookmarks, and even send pages from another Firefox browser. It is extremely functional.
Opera Browser
One of the most secure web browsers is Opera and it supports some Android TV features.
As the official application is not available, Opera needs to be installed from an external source. However, using an Android remote control app, you can access its features like speed dial, offline pages, etc. Opera’s most prominent feature is its support for an ad-free web browsing experience. Therefore, Opera on Android TV will load the pages at a faster rate.
Note that Opera has already tried an Android TV browser version called then Opera TV browser which is now Vewd browser. It was not included in our list because it is a total failure.
DuckDuckGo browser
If you are looking for privacy while browsing the web, then the DuckDuckGo Browser is the choice.
Again, this browser lacks official Android TV support but provides limited features when installing third-party sites. It is one of the best browsers to control your privacy on the web. Duck Duck Go will block trackers from stealing your information and will never let them track you.
JioPages TV
JioPages TV is a Google Chrome-based TV browser from Indian developers. It is available for downloads on Sony, Philips, and Toshiba TVs. There is an ad blocker Adblock Plus.
The browser has its own built-in download manager. You can download documents, images, videos and other files. There is also an installer of .apk files. You don’t need a file manager to install applications. By default, all files are downloaded to the Downloads folder.
The JioPages TV browser can stream media, and thanks to its built-in downloader it can download data from the web, bypassing the limitations of TV manufacturers Sony, Toshiba, Philips and others. It also uses secure search when surfing the web, hides ads, and protects personal data in private browsing mode.
BrowseHere
TV browser BrowseHere is one of the most UI refined TV internet web browsers available for free for TCL Android TV and Android TV box and Android Set-top Box. You can easily stream movies, series, and surf the web. With built-in Android TV OS support, it is fully functional with the TV remote. It includes features such as bookmarks, browsing history, search engines shortcut, and cookies blockers.
We have listed the best web browsers for Android TV with and without native support. One way or another, most browsers don’t meet our requirements. So, we feel that the performance of the Puffin TV-Browser is much better than anything else. For the rest, you can choose any application from the list above if you don’t bother to transmit content from the browser.
If you have already used another browser for android TV you can share in the comment box so that everybody knows.
