What’s New at Chimbori ✨
Hermit 18 — Sandboxed Lite Apps, Multiple Profiles and Containers
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Sandboxed Lite Apps, Multiple Profiles and Containers: Hermit is the first and only Android browser with Sandboxes: completely separate Containers that let you use Multiple Profiles. With the Sandbox feature, you can:
- Separate work accounts from personal accounts.
- Create a separate sandboxed environment for privacy-invasive sites like Facebook.
- Use multiple Google accounts, all active at the same time, in the same browser.
- Use Incognito Mode for sites that offer preferential treatment to first-time users (such as free access to paywalled content).
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Custom Dark Mode Styles: Instead of a small selection of styles, now you can create your own Dark Mode style by picking one from a million colors.
Hermit 17 — Your New Default Browser
- Set as Default Browser:
- Set Hermit as your default browser to open links from anywhere in the proper Lite App.
- If you don’t have a Lite App set up for a particular URL, then Hermit will open it in Incognito Mode by default.
- Get the best of Privacy, Performance, & Personalization in one easy-to-use app.
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Dark Mode Improvements: The new Dark Mode works much better than the previous implementation, on many more sites as well. Try it out!
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Gesture Navigation Support: On recent Android versions that support Gesture Navigation, Hermit now fully supports edge-to-edge display. When in a Lite App, swipe in from the bottom 200 pixels to open the Bookmarks drawer (left edge) or Quick Settings (right edge). Any area above the bottom-most 200 pixels will invoke the system gesture (Back button behavior).
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Configurable Content Blocker: Exclusively available to our Early Access subscribers, you can now select which specific kinds of content you would like to block in Hermit Lite Apps. Configurable categories include: Adware and Malware, Coin Miners, Misinformation, Hate, and Propaganda, Pornography, Gambling.
Hermit 16 — A Full Browser + Incognito by Default
- Enable as Default Browser: ✨ Your most-requested feature is finally here, in Early Access!
- Turn this on in Settings, and you can open all links from other apps within Hermit.
- Links will open in the Lite App if you have one, or in Incognito Mode otherwise.
- This is available today for our Early Access Program members, and in the future to everyone else in the next release.
- Incognito Mode: 🕵️ All web links open in Incognito Mode by default if there’s no corresponding Lite App already present.
- 100% Kotlin: 🧩 We have fully rewritten the app in a new language.
- Replaced several libraries with better Kotlin-friendly ones:
Hermit 15 — Search & Organize your Lite Apps
- 🆕 New UI for main screen! The Search Bar is now available for easy access at the bottom, while lesser used features such as “Create a Lite App” and “Settings” are now at the top (instead of in bottom tabs).
- 🆕 The “Tags” feature is now available to all Premium users (out of Early Access).
- 🆕 Create a Lite App from anywhere: One click to create a new Lite App from any deep linked page from another Lite App via the Quick Settings menu.
- ⚡ Several improvements to startup performance.
- 🐞 New workaround for Google Play related issues experienced by some users.
- 🐞 Fixes for Android 10 compatibility around Scriptlets & Fonts.
Hermit 14 — Better Native App Integration
- 🆕 Tags! Organize your Lite Apps better with tags. Many ready-made Lite Apps are already tagged, and you can also define and use your own tags. This is an Early Access feature in Hermit 14. Send us your feedback!
- 🆕 Grid View is now default for everyone, out of Early Access. Drag Lite Apps to re-order them in the grid. The list layout is now gone. To delete Lite Apps, open the Lite App, go to Settings, and pick Remove from the toolbar menu.
- ⚡ Keep Lite Apps in RAM longer: We heard from many of you that you would like to see Hermit Lite Apps stay in memory longer, so although a low limit helps Hermit work well on low-RAM devices, we’ve increased the size of saved state from 300KB to 800KB. Also, Lite Apps won’t be closed on pressing the Back button.
- ⚡ Open Native Apps: new privacy setting — Hermit can now open native apps with your permission if a Lite App asks for it.
- ⚡ Install Native Apps: new privacy setting — Hermit can now open Play Store with your permission if a Lite App asks for it.
- ⚡ Search Icon is now back in the toolbar! We heard from many of you that you preferred the one-click access to custom site search.
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⚡ Renamed Customization to Settings everywhere to reduce confusion between the two.