Privacy Browser Android 3.20 was release on 11 March 2026. This release includes a major refactoring of the filter list system to make it more like the one implemented in Privacy Browser PC. This work took a lot of time and resulted in the release being delayed. The description of the filter lists in the app and on the website has been updated. The app now has a Filter Lists Activity, which can be accessed by tapping on the options overflow menu (the three dots in the upper-right corner) of the Requests Activity.
Details about an individual entry can be viewed by tapping on it. This allows you to check to make sure the entry has been parsed correctly and to see what it will block.
As part of this change, Fanboy’s Social Blocking List has been removed. This list is included in Fanboy’s Annoyance List, and having it as a separate entry didn’t end up adding anything of value in real-world usage.
The result of the refactoring of the filter list code is that it is much more accurate. Previously, I had to make several modifications to the filter lists to prevent unintended false positives. That is no longer necessary. But, more important than that, it is now much more resilient. Previously, it was possible for certain filter list entries to crash Privacy Browser. I believe that is no longer possible with this refactored code. This is an important step on the path towards allowing automatic updates to the filter lists and custom filter lists.
As part of this change, third-party requests are now defined as any difference in the fully-qualified domain name, to match Privacy Browser PC. Previously, differences in subdomains were not considered third-party requests.
The cache is now cleared after every page load. This has only previously been the case when Incognito Mode is enabled. This also brings the behavior inline with Privacy Browser PC, which disables the cache entirely.
A bug has been fixed that caused the navigation bar to not be hidden on Android <= 10 (API <= 29) when entering full screen browsing mode.
Another bug has been fixed that caused the bookmarks to draw underneath the status bar in the Bookmarks Database View Activity with a bottom app bar.
A bug was fixed that caused images to be loaded when the app restarted after being closed in the background even when the loading of images was disabled in the settings.
Beginning with Android 15 (API 35), Android can now automatically recognize MHT web archives, so it is no longer necessary to manually specify it in the Open dialog.
The target API has been updated to 36 (Android 16).
For several releases, my intention has been to implement fine-grained cookie controls. This is an complicated feature similar in difficulty to the refactoring of the filter list system. My intention is to not let anything get in the way of finally implementing this for Privacy Browser Android 3.21.
On a separate note, Android’s System WebView now only supports Android >= 10 (API >= 29). Because of that, the next release will bump the minimum API to 29.