Puffin Web Browser is free to download from the Google Play Store but requires a paid subscription for unlimited use. A free evaluation is available for users to try out before subscribing to the service. This free evaluation is ad-sponsored and limited to one hour of usage per day. Only during the free evaluation period ads will be served and quotas enforced.
🚀 Wicked Fast: With our cloud servers handling even the most resource-demanding web pages effortlessly, websites can load at incredible speeds.
🔒 Cloud Protection: All Internet traffic from the app to our servers are end-to-end encrypted, therefore making it safe to use public, non-secure WiFi.
🎥 Flash Support: We constantly provide improvements to our servers, and the ability to view Flash content through the cloud.
💰 Data Savings: Puffin uses a proprietary compression algorithm to transmit web data to your device, and can save up to 90% of your bandwidth on regular web browsing. (Please note that streaming Flash content or videos requires more bandwidth than the normal usage.)
Features:
• Unparalleled loading speeds
• Fastest JavaScript engine
• Ad Blocker Included
• Mobile & Desktop modes for full web experience
• Download to cloud capabilities (up to 1GB in size per file)
• Theater mode for Flash videos and games
• Virtual Trackpad & Gamepad
• Adobe Flash Support
===== In-App Purchases =====
* $1 per month for Puffin Monthly Subscription
* $10 per year for Puffin Yearly Subscription
==== Limitations ====
• Puffin’s servers are located in the US and Singapore. Geolocation restrictions of content may occur if you are based in other countries.
• Puffin is blocked in certain regions (e.g., China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and some educational institutions (e.g., select schools within the United States).
For more information, please visit https://support.puffin.com/.
First, for all of those complain about ads, it is only $10 a year to be ad free. Pretty good deal IMO. My only gripes as others have noted, is not being able to turn off the news feed and not being able to get rid of Yahoo from the main page. Other than that, I really like it. i have an old phone that works fine for most things but web browsing was always painfully slow. Now pages load much faster. Fix the issues noted above and it would get 5 stars.
Only two critiques. I was about to subscribe but it’s missing one critical feature that I need. Most browsers have an ‘x’ next to the URL to stop a page from continuing to load. This browser only has the refresh button next to the URL at the top. Second, I think there should be more customization for the startup page when I first open the browser. I am unable to remove the ‘speed dial yahoo’ and the news interface. Other than that, best ‘desktop view’ mobile browser I have ever tried that works.
All y’all complaining about ads can use a different browser I pay $1 per month and have seen no ads whatsoever and this is by far the fastest web browser I have ever used! It’s definitely worth a $1 a month or $10 a year if you have a slower connection! This browser is built for simplicity and takes up a very small amount of storage on your phone compared to malware such as Chrome so don’t be surprised if it’s missing a few “features” also not a Chinese browser based in California I believe.
This app has gone down hill they basically beg for your money every day and if you don’t give it to them they throw a fit and don’t let you use the browser but there’s ways around it if your smart enough. Also there’s ads every half hour or so of use so they really don’t need the money as if there updating the app anyway it’s been exactly the same for over 2 years and had even gotten worse and now they have the audacity to ask for money. Edit you have went down to a 2.9 in overall reviews nice.
Amazing app I use anytime I’m not near my computer and need a desktop view of a website. Used to use it to play games but the support for games has sadly gone downhill. Would definitely recommend runs very smooth and saves data what more can u ask for? The bad reviews are from people with no offense a small brain. There’s nothing wrong with this app.
I use this browser a lot because it has flash support, plays webm files, and could pretty much do anything any other mobile phone browser couldn’t do. But, lately it has been letting me down. Browser takes long to open, photos take literally 2 minutes to load after opening a page, and then video and flash takes forever to load or buffer. And it’s only very recent that this has been happening. And the bad thing is that I can’t switch because I don’t know any other web browsers that do the same things that Puffin does. Or at least any good ones.
I’m not sure when it was implemented but now we’re forced to watch a 30 second ad in order to start browsing. I don’t mind the regular ads that occasionally pop up around the borders of the browser as long as it wasn’t intrusive. Now being forced to watch an ad before we’re allowed to do anything makes the browsing experience super intrusive. Uninstalled.
When I first got this app, it was perfect. Then they introduced ads and while some had an issue with it, I was perfectly fine with the inclusion. It’s a free app. But now you have a DAILY LIMIT? Yeah no, you just lost me. This makes it practically unusable. Really at this point they should just make the premium version the only one, as there is literally zero reason to keep using the free version compared to literally every other browser out there. Even with flash support, it’s BAD.
I like the features a lot. But it has constant connectivity issues, and often web pages won’t open at all. Sometimes the browser won’t even search when you press enter. I compare it to the other browsers on my phone to see if it’s the browser or my internet, and the issues are definitely with Puffin. As boastful as this app is, it’s very unreliable.
Been using this for years and have been able to put up with various small bugs, but the recent update has just ruined the app a bit. The ad at the bottom of the screen is not only an eye sore but it also prevents you from using the flash theater on any site which makes watching videos and playing flash games hellishly annoying (not sure if there’s an actual correlation between the two , just assuming).
Is a great browser with built in Flash. HOWEVER, lately I’m getting pop-up ads when trying to watch a video on this app. It would just be an inconvience but it doesn’t pause my video. But it’s a complete pain in the rear because it plays OVER/DURING my video. Get rid of ads (no one pays attention to them anyway or purposely clicks on them; usually an accident). It will randomly stop working or doesnt load. This had gone to fast down the hill…
Was once the best browser with android, popup blocking, flash support, and automatically blocking trackers. I used this instead of the default browser 100% of the time. Now you have to watch an ad to run flash, which was the best feature of the app. I understand needing some revenue, but it used to be a free feature, so why change it now?
The browser is slower than a snail trying to crawl on a slick log. I know for a fact that I’m not the only one that has complained about the full screen extremely loud ads that pop-up everytime you change web pages. This is the worst browser I have ever encountered. It’s nothing but a complete waste of space on my device and was a waste of my data to download this garbage. UNINSTALLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I used to really love this browser, but now it is just an absolute pain. It crashes, gets disconnected, and has way too many damn ads since the latest update. I’d like it if they would’ve kept it the way it used to be before the change, but they got really stupid with it. Not to mention, the banner at the bottom and “daily data usage” thing is ludicrous
This used to be a great app, and was useful for people who wanted to use flash player on their phones. However, the ads included on it are incredibly disruptive, and I’ve timed a combo of ads I could not get out of at over 1:55 seconds. If you try to swipe off, it opens the app store. If you click the x after the first ad finishes, it opens up another wait timer once again. They’ll probably reply saying this is “necessary”. It most certainly isn’t.
This app used to be a lot better. The only thing I used it for then was viewing flash-based content since no modern mainstream mobile browsers support it, and at that point it wasnt something you had to watch a fullscreen ad for. Now, you can either pay up or have an added layer of advertising. Wouldn’t be leaving a negative review if that’s just how it always was, but it ticks me off to have a surprise ad in my face when all I wanted to do was look at a 3 second animation.
Puffin is a good browsing app, giving you more options than most others. For instance game tools, a mouse, unique zooming tools and others! One of the features that is great for those of us that have limited storage space, is it can be moved to your external SD card! Detractions: The one detractor is it has high background memory usage! You have to go into settings and “force stop” the app to unload it. With My new Note 9 I have enough power to not worry about it, but Norton Mobile dings it.
Shakey! I installed because it was recommended as a secure and private browser. It’s not! The browser will not run unless it is given full access to locations permissions. Privacy settings are lacking in my opinion. The bowser forces a choice between four default search engines; Google, Bing, and two forign ones. Lastly, the browser crashes A LOT!!!
I’d give it zero stars because of the ads that occasionally pop up and take up half the screen instead of just the bottom and the daily usage limit don’t download this app it sucks, used to be good and I could stand the 30 second ads but since they started pushing a subscription to premium not worth the time or effort. If you don’t believe my review look at how many stars it had a year ago and compare it to today. And if you think the pro version will fix it you’re in for an unpleasant surprise.
This was my browser of choice until this fall when intrusive ads were added. There is already very limited real estate on a phone screen, the ad bar takes up a good portion of the screen making it a distraction when trying to use a webpage. To top that off, you will be in the middle of reading or checking email and be redirected to a full ad page. I have had this browser for years and will now be getting rid of it.
I use this to play browser games on my phone, which works fine, besides the low quality in theatre mode. However, it always crashes whenever I try to use it on my Chromebook, after I make up a search; it doesn’t even matter what the search is, it still crashes afterwards. I hope this gets fixed; otherwise, it’s neat and functional.
Overall, a really good browser with adblocker. My only issues deal with the Exit option on the menu: 1) There are too many useless menu items (Mouse, Keyboard, Gamepad, TV) and the result is that Exit, being at the bottom, means you have to scroll down to get to Exit. There should be an option in Settings to turn these off. 2) When you do Exit it doesn’t truly close and still leaves the last visited page available in Recent apps, which is counter productive to a private, Incognito browser.
It’s able to play games that are imbedded in websites better than most browsers, (less crashes), but it was also a lot slower. In other words it seems to manage to run the games better by slowing them to a crawl. When you combine this with the fact that it constantly runs ads that take up your screen space or forces you to stop what you’re doing to watch an ad unless you want to pay for a subscription, there are way better browsers overall out there that don’t have a subscription fee.
This app was used to be my favorite app. I use it everyday. Lately, it keeps freezing and unable to scroll up and down. Sometimes I could not push a button on web, then I have to refresh the web or press the home button and come back to the web again. Please roll back to the basic version again. No fancy features are needed. They create bugs and make it slow.
This browser is more Miss than hit. The Flash Player would be the only reason you would get this, but in my experience that’s not many sites nowadays. Flash will be obsolete in a few years, and other sites that I go to don’t need Flash. Hell, some sites reject this app out right. Saying it’s “too old.” This app it’s that the ads are a little too much. The browser is fast, but the ads are annoying. There’s no way to continue what you were doing without watching the ad, or getting their premium.
Even before the stuff going on now because of the pandemic the browser had issues connecting and holding a connection with internet. Doesnt matter if it was wifi or data. It also randomly reloads the page. The most annoying part is when it screws up and disconnects, it logs me out of everything & I have to log into all my accounts. Sometimes it also gets stuck on an ad, as in the ad doesnt show up at all, so the flash on that page wont work at all.
Does not do what I want. Downloaded because I have coursework for work that I need to do, and it has embedded flash videos on some of the slides. Well, since android chrome no longer supports flash player, I found this as an option. After having to watch ads for pages to load, I finally got to a slide with an embedded flash video. Just a blank space where the video should be.
Bruh, if I could give this a 0 stars, I would. Whose idea was it to put a banner ad on the bottom of the screen for this, where I can accidentally tap on it every time I use the micro-sized touchpad for mouse movement? And they removed the option to skip ads to disable Flash or do something else to keep it enabled, and force you to watch whatever 15-60 second video they drop in your face! Good thing Flash is useless at the start of 2021…
It was great until very recently. Now when you open it it’s just a white screen, a message saying it can’t connect to network, etc. I have to close and re open or keep hitting reconnect to server to make it actually function properly. I’ve used this browser for years but if this doesn’t get fixed soon I’m uninstalling and finding something better. I don’t recommend anyone bother downloading this until the devs get their app together.
I love using Puffin Web Browser for my phone and Chromebook! I recently started noticing the ads for flash usage, which I’m okay with, but I have one major issue with this web browser on my Chromebook. Every single time I scroll down using my trackpad, it crashes. I’m not sure why, but it just closes out and forces me to go back in the app. It also crashes at random times on my Chromebook, though this isn’t common. Love this though!
I’ve been using Puffin for awhile and like it very much. However, after the latest update, it will now not allow me to open the app without allowing it to use my location. That is unacceptable. If this isn’t changed soon, I will discontinue using the app and cancel my subscription. EDIT: The new monetization of this app makes it pretty much unusable. Specifically, the random popup that forces you to watch an ad in the middle of whatever you happen to be doing is just terrible. Uninstalling.
Amazing when it works. Often it just… doesnt? Puffin browser is one of the best browser out there — when it works. Its fast, looks sleek, and sort of plays flash! The flash support is meh at best, it usually just loads weird broken versions of the flashes. The reason for 2 stars is that — across multiple phones — sometimes you’ll start up the app and the browser just doesn’t load. Autosuggest works but you’re just stuck on a white screen and no pages load. Not even restarting fixes it.
Unusable. Before the update, the app was spotty at best. It would disconnect half the time so I spent time waiting for it to reconnect to the servers. After it forced me to update (it wouldn’t allow for to get past an update page) it now asks for usage data. I can’t use it without giving it permission to track what I see and where I’m at. Like so many other people here, no thanks. I’m pretty sure there are other browsers better than one that disconnects and tracks you.
Okay, for a long time I really loved this app. But these updates have been upsetting. Why do I get and ad when I go to certain websites? It pisses me off, and creeps me out, that it’s only a select few. I understand, Puffin employees gotta pay the bills, but god damn I’m sure you can come up with something better than this. Please either make ad distribution more liberal, or remove it. I understand that as a web browser, you look at and sell all my browsing data, but could you do it a bit more quietly? It feels creepy the way it won’t play ads on most sites I visit and then BAM, one site generates an ad every time. It feels almost like the engine is trying to direct me toward certain sites, which again is unbelievably creepy. I either want an explanation for why ads appear on certain websites, or a proper, more random feeling, distribution. Thanks! I’d hate to find a browser to replace Puffin after using it for so long. It really is a great tool, and I hope this weird ad thingy can be fixed. 🙂
This app was once the best mobile browsers out there, but recently it’s become one of the worst. I get that you guys need money and all, and as time went by I somewhat got used to the ad bar at the bottom of the screen, but the unskippable ads every hour AND time limit for free users? That’s a huge no from me. It’s made my experience with this app much less enjoyable. Unless you cut back on the ads and stop pressuring us to pay, my rating will remain 1 star.
Warning. Don’t update it if you use it FREE! I was ok with the pop up ads getting more frequent and interrupting. I got ok with the ad at the bottom ALL the time. Now, I am NOT ok with “you’ve used your limit for today, please purchase the paid version to continue” after one hour of use. It already crashed every few minutes, reloads, crashes again. Now all I can get is the Puffin loading screen. What’s the guarantee that it will improve on purchase? I’ll let you know.
This app used to be one of the best on the market, and it does what is advertised, but in recent updates the browser has been flooded with ads and has become slower because of it. If you want a browser that plays flash with no problems and don’t mind ads then this app is perfect, however the ads coupled with the slower load time really makes this app overall less usable as a main browser.
Good app for playing any flash content. It comes with a keyboard, mouse, and even a game pad for buttons. The only issue I see is the ads which only. Pop up from time to time, but other then that, I got to play super smash flash 2 on Android, so no complaints over here! Also if possible if you could add a feature to add more buttons to game pad, that’ll help. But so far so good.
Due to holding off updates until I read recent reviews, I avoided updating this app for months. Sure, the constant “we have a new version” screens were annoying, but I dealt with them. But as of now, I’m being forced to update or else I can’t open the app. Not even an option, just ‘update or else.’ I had to use a VPN just to grab my bookmarks and tabs. It’s sad to have to leave this browser behind. Even with an occasional ad on games I opened from my SD card, it was nice for a free version.
This is great. An amazing option for Flash on your phone. Very fast and smooth controls, accurate clicking. ABOUT THE ADS Some people have complained of ads. Let me explain: if You go to a page requiring Flash, an option appears asking if you wish to use paid version or watch ads. I chose ads. The ads are 30 seconds and you can skip after 5-10 seconds. I was able to play an entire game, going through multiple pages, after watching 5 seconds of an ad. I actually regret not watching the full thing just to support the app . Great App for those no longer with a computer or with a very slow one. Extremely smooth with great quality resolution. I had no trouble with even spot the Difference games on the smaller screen.