App Review: Pure Browser (Android)

I do have Pure Browser linked on the Download Movies page, but its small size, speed, and ability to download videos beg for an individual review.

I came across this browser in looking for an option to download the Movie Night movies directly rather than having to stream them. With my notoriously unreliable internet connection streaming for me is often times difficult. Downloads can be resumed in several download managers, and strangely enough by Android.

I had found several browsers that are larger downloads and use more system resources as a result, but a compact and fast browser that does its own downloads rather than using the system downloader (apparently not mp4 friendly) seemed like something I wouldn't find. Interestingly I was looking for something else when I quite accidentally came across this browser; go figure.

Pure Browser is only a 2.6mb download compared to the other browsers I found to download videos weighing in at 23mb and up. It's two downsides, for me, are not having a tabbed interface like a regular browser, instead using the popup window to show tabs instead, and it requires Android 4.2 and up, and I prefer an app that will work down to Android 4.0 instead.

What it does have though is quite exceptional for its small size. A clear homepage screen displaying icons for your favorite sites, and it comes with many sites already included to save you time in searching them out. Plus adding sites to the homepage is a breeze and more intuitive than many other browsers I've seen using a similar homepage.

It also includes a built-in adblocker which appears to work. I have not done major surfing with this but have tested it out on Accuweather which is notorious, as are weather sites in general, for advertising, and the page was free of ads.

And of course the video sniffer, which you can turn off in settings if you need to, which automatically detects a video file and gives you a momentary popup dialogue asking if you want to download it; the dialogue will disappear in a few seconds to keep from interfering with the page. You can set the download directory in settings, and even after the video has downloaded you can also watch it in the browser without having to open a separate app.

You can get Pure Browser from APKPure. It is free and ad free.

Pure Browser has found a place on my phone's home page due to its features and smooth operation. It certainly competes with my goto browser and may eventually replace it. Having been updated just this past month is promising being it is current and I'm anxious to see what's to come.