WebLibre: A Privacy-Focused Gecko-Based Android Browser

General Project Showcase
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Hi Privacy Guides community,

I’m excited to introduce WebLibre, which is an independent browser for Android devices, built on Mozilla’s Gecko engine and Mozilla Android Components. It combines strong privacy defaults with containers, isolated tabs, built-in Tor and proxy routing, Firefox-compatible extensions, on-device search, and flexible tab management.

WebLibre is not a Firefox fork. It is its own browser experience, designed for people who want familiar everyday browsing without giving up control over how sites, identities, and network connections are separated.

What Makes WebLibre Different

Privacy controls that you can tune

New installations start with strict tracking protection. WebLibre also includes DNS over HTTPS, HTTPS-only protection, removal of tracking information from URLs, Global Privacy Control, fingerprinting defenses, site isolation, an Intent Gatekeeper for links opened by other apps, and optional screenshot protection.

You can change each privacy setting. Stronger protection can break some websites, so you can add an exception for a site or use a less strict mode.

Learn more: Privacy overview | Threat model

Tabs, containers, and profiles

  • Open Regular, Private, or Isolated tabs. Each isolated tab has a separate session from every other tab. Unlike private tabs, isolated tabs remain open after you quit and reopen WebLibre.
  • Organize tabs in list, grid, or tree views, with parent-child relationships, stacking, filtering, pinning, bulk actions, and a quick switcher.
  • Use Containers for different activities and assign sites to them automatically.
  • Enable Cookie Isolation on a container to give it separate cookies, logins, and site data, then optionally add clear-on-exit rules or per-container Tor/proxy routing.
  • Create separate Profiles for independent tabs, bookmarks, history, logins, extensions, feeds, and settings. Profiles can be backed up and protected using compatible Android device authentication.

Learn more: Tab management | Containers | Profiles

Built-in Tor and proxy routing

WebLibre includes Tor without requiring a separate Tor app. Route regular browsing, private tabs, or selected cookie-isolated containers through Tor, with bridge options such as obfs4 and Snowflake when needed.

The built-in proxy client supports SOCKS, HTTP, WireGuard, Shadowsocks, and a dozen more protocols. Connections can be created manually or imported from subscriptions, QR codes, WireGuard files, and sing-box JSON.

Learn more: Tor integration | Proxy connections

Firefox-compatible extensions

Install uBlock Origin during onboarding, discover add-ons in WebLibre’s in-app store, use a custom collection, or install a local .xpi file. Installed extensions can be updated, configured, and pinned to the toolbar from inside the browser.

Not every desktop Firefox extension works well on Android. Add-ons that depend on desktop-only interfaces may be limited, and unsigned extensions should only be installed from sources you trust.

Learn more: Extensions

Search locally before searching the web

The address bar can search open tabs, bookmarks, saved feed articles, history, and popular sites before sending a query to a web provider. The local search index can also index the text of pages you visit on your device, with controls for private tabs, individual containers, and index deletion.

Bang providers and custom search engines let you send a query directly to a specific website. Local results stay on your device. If web autocomplete is enabled, partial text is sent to your selected suggestion provider; submitting a web search sends the full query to your selected search engine.

Learn more: Personal Local Search | Bang providers

Reading and organization tools

  • On-Device AI can suggest draft containers and names from open tab titles. It is optional, requires confirmation before changing anything, and may download a model to your phone.
  • Page Translation translates supported languages on-device after any required language-model download.
  • Reader Mode, PDF/Markdown/full-page export, a QR scanner, and installable web apps are built in.
  • RSS/Atom feeds and Small Web discovery help you follow and find independent sites.
  • Firefox Sync can synchronize tabs, bookmarks, and history with your other devices.

Learn more: On-Device AI | Content tools | Full documentation

You can find further information and additional features in the (documentation: https://docs.weblibre.eu/
The code (and install instructions) is available here: GitHub

7 Likes
Android browsers spoofing timezone.
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Does it or will it contain hardening from IronFox?

The container tabs feature sounds interesting, I’m thinking it can help solve some of Android Gecko’s site isolation problems!

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It contains a curated list of hardening presets that are individually controllable via settings, giving users full control. In IronFox, the hardenings are compiled into the APK, whereas WebLibre provides a transparent and dynamic settings page with explanations etc.

1 Like
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Just tried it, it’s great that you’ve changed the UI compared to other similar browsers, truly an excellent browser, with many features, really good job!

Perhaps the only negative point I find after a few minutes of use is the fact that when clicking the URL, it appears too high on the screen, making it inconvenient to modify.

But I repeat, great job. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

1 Like
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Thank you! And yes, I’m agreeing on the address field, the position is not ideal there… Will be reworking the Tab UI in the next days to make it more convenient.

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This is not very libre if you’re pulling in Google Play Services:

Screenshot From 2025-07-28 21-43-46
Screenshot From 2025-07-28 21-43-46829×950 34.3 KB

You’re just using their prebuilt binaries and not compiling from source?

Also wtf:

Screenshot From 2025-07-28 22-04-14
Screenshot From 2025-07-28 22-04-14656×300 9.65 KB

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The F-Droid builds will be ready in a few days I expect. Thanks for letting me know about the resources, I need to check how they can get replaced.

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Are you using fennecbuild?

edit: it seems you are:

then why are you having the github release not be the source built version?

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Yes, its a slightly modified fennecbuild, the progress is tracked here: New App: eu.weblibre.gecko (!24560) · Merge requests · F-Droid / Data · GitLab

I’m working on getting everything switched to the fennec builds, also the github builds. Will probably set up a maven server, but need to do more research on what will be the best way to not hinder local development and possible contributors.

I could already get rid of gstatic from the docs btw, should be already live by now. Rest will thrown out soon.

Edit: Reason for the GitHub builds still relying on mozilla maven is because I’m having quite a vivid release cycle in the alpha phase and in that way builds are ready in usually around half an hour. Building every time the entire mozilla libs is taking a minimum of 4-6 hours with average workers. I need to check what is possible to avoid those rebuilds every time and still comply with f-droid.

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In the most recent release this should be more convenient now, as the address is now displayed in a bottom sheet.

The browser is now finally available on F-Droid: WebLibre: Private Browser | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

2 Likes
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Hi, I’ve been using the F-Droid build for a few days. The browser surely feels snappier than the IronFox. The UI feels refreshing with other forks look just the same. Here are just a few suggestions:

  • There are few frictions, especially when opening and closing the tabs.
  • The web engine hardening gets turned off every time I close the app.
  • The tab bar doesn’t show on the new tab unless I open a sit.
  • The Bang Categories seems like an amazing feature but there’s not enough clarity on it. It is something that should be worth working upon, and maybe even the something the browser could be marketed at.
  • Some basic settings are still missing that are staple in other browser, like customizing the autocomplete, or the address bar can’t be moved on top.

Overall, this is a great project and already a solid browser to use. If you’re open to it, I’d love to connect and share more structured feedback. I can put together a proper UX audit/journey write-up with ideas that I think could really help this project stand out. Happy to contribute wherever useful.

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It appears the settings stick, but the toggle state resets.

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Thanks for the feedback! There is currently an issue regarding query parameter stripping that is now controlled when bootstrapping the engine ([bug] complete hardening auto turned off · Issue #27 · FaFre/WebLibre · GitHub) that’s the reason why complete hardening is not showing complete. All other hardening features stay active, you can control that for each setting indicating the closed lock icon. Looking forward to push an update the next few days fixing that.

Input for proper UI/UX is very welcomed! The project is still in an early stage, so much room to get creative. It would be great if you could communicate this in form of GitHub issues like linked above, so everything is consolidated.

I could not reproduce The tab bar doesn’t show on the new tab unless I open a sit.to get it solved some screenshots or videos would help explaining whats happening there. Please also do open an GitHub issue for that, so I can fix it. Thanks.

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It’s been a while and the project has been actively developed during the past months! Its worth having a look again, a lot has changed since last August. I updated the first post adding some recent information.

2 Likes
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Just downloaded it to check it out on GrapheneOS. Would be even better to have an “Add to Obtanium” link directly on the docs page or your Github directly. I had to manually search, add, and download.

1 Like
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If you are gonna take preferences from Phoenix, at least give some credit.

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Thanks for pointing that out @any1 . The docs are still in early preview state as I just rewrote them a few days ago. If you find anything else, please let me know (also please feel free to raise a issue directly in GitHub - FaFre/weblibre-docs · GitHub ).

The attribution for the hardenings is now online here: Web Engine Hardening :: WebLibre Browser
I also added Fennec attributions on which base the deps are getting built here: WebLibre Browser Documentation

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Added today to play with

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Thanks to a growing community, a lot of new features and improvements have found their way into WebLibre over the past few weeks, forming a new major update: https://github.com/FaFre/WebLibre/releases/tag/v0.11.0 (the F-Droid update will follow in a few days)

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I’m testing the modifications, and so far, I’ve identified some areas that require potential improvements:

  1. Improve browser performance for resource-intensive sites without compromising security and privacy.

  2. It has many options; however, the password option, for example, is not available in the synchronization settings.

  3. Integrate Spanish language support for the interface.

Question: Does it have real-time notification synchronization for new updates?

Keep improving the browser based on this engine.