Aloha Browser Grows Quietly with Privacy and Built-in VPN

Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox occupy almost all conversations about browsers. Meanwhile, an alternative created in Cyprus has been building its own space by bringing together browser, ad blocker, file manager, and VPN in a single app. It is the Aloha Browser, a project started in 2015 that is now available for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and, still in beta, Linux.

Aloha has not appeared now. The difference is that its expansion began to become more visible after the European Union forced mobile systems to offer browser choice screens. The company claims to have recorded a growth of up to 15 times in downloads in some European countries during the first year of these changes.

The number draws attention, but it needs to be understood correctly: it is data released by Aloha itself, not audited market share. Still, the mark of more than 10 million installs displayed by Google Play and the hundreds of thousands of reviews in stores show that we are no longer talking about an unknown experiment.

The story begins in 2015

Aloha Mobile says it emerged in 2015 with the goal of facilitating private access to the internet. Instead of competing for speed alone, the team has put privacy features within the browser itself, most notably VPN, ad blocking, protected tabs, and download management.

On Android, the first versions used the WebView provided by the system to display pages. This choice allowed them to advance faster, but also limited control over the engine. Over time, the team started to maintain their own version based on Chromium, called Aloha Core.

The browser grew first on mobile phones. The combination of media playback, downloads, protected files, and built-in VPN created a different package from traditional browsers. Then came the desktop versions, with Windows and macOS extending the product's reach.

2024: the browser engine becomes open source

In August 2024, the company open-sourced Aloha Core. At the time, it claimed to have approximately 10 million monthly active users and more than 250 million cumulative downloads.

Opening up the engine was important because privacy requires trust. Allowing researchers and developers to examine a central part of the browser increases transparency and makes it easier to identify problems. This doesn't mean that the entire product has become completely open, nor does it replace ongoing audits, but it was a relevant step for an application that asks the user for access to browsing and network traffic.

Aloha Core continues to be based on Chromium technology on desktop and Android. Therefore, the browser has not created an entirely new engine like Firefox's Gecko. It customizes the existing base to integrate its own features.

2025: Choice screens help Aloha in Europe

The Digital Markets Act, known by the acronym DMA, now requires large platforms to offer more freedom of choice. One of the changes was the presentation of alternative browsers during the configuration of devices in the European Union.

As of March 2025, Aloha reported that its downloads had grown up to 15 times in Italy, 12 times in Poland, 10 times in France and Spain, and nine times in Germany compared to the previous period. The company also said that users won by the screen of choice remained active at a rate twice as high as other organic users.

The data was published by the company itself and does not reveal the absolute size of each market. Even so, they show how a seemingly simple screen can change software discovery when the factory-installed browser is no longer the only visible option.

Also in 2025, Aloha for computers received Portuguese, Spanish, and Chinese, automatic update on macOS, and improvements to the VPN library. This made the desktop version more accessible to the Brazilian public.

2026: Linux, private cloud, and protected links on Android

The year 2026 brought the clearest expansion of the ecosystem. In February, the computer version gained split viewing, performance improvements, and video download on macOS. In May, the native beta version for Linux arrived, distributed in packages .deb e .rpm.

The release on Linux includes VPN, blocker, media download, Snips, and sync. For now, there is no official distribution through Flatpak, Snap, or its own repository, so updates and installation may still be less convenient than in established browsers.

Official Aloha Browser material featuring Custom Tabs and new AI assistant options on Android — On Android, the browser started to apply its features to links opened by apps compatible with Custom Tabs. Image: disclosure/Aloha Browser.

Aloha Browser for Linux official screen in beta version — The beta version for Linux arrived in May 2026 with packages for Debian and RPM distributions. Image: disclosure/Aloha Browser.

Official Aloha Private Cloud material with cloud symbol — Aloha Private Cloud offers 10 GB to Premium subscribers on iOS and Android. Image: disclosure/Aloha Browser.

In July, the company launched the Aloha Private Cloud. Premium subscribers receive 10 GB to store files and folders within the browser manager. Items are linked to the profile, can be streamed without prior download, and remain in the trash for 30 days. If the subscription ends, the storage goes into read mode for 30 days to allow export.

In August, Android started supporting Custom Tabs. When Aloha is set as the default browser, links opened within compatible apps can use its engine, its saved passwords, and its blocking of ads and trackers. Apps that maintain their own internal browser are not required to follow this choice.

The same update allowed it to choose the model used by the AI assistant and activate web search only when necessary. According to company policy, requests are brokered and not individually associated with the user, and queries are not used to train the models.

The most recent technical novelty came on August 14. The engineers explained that the remapping of 2,450 Chromium resources consumed about 300 milliseconds during startup on Android. The task was moved to the build process, reducing this step to approximately 12 milliseconds in internal tests. It is an unflashy optimization, but important on slower phones.

What Free VPN Actually Offers

In the free version, the VPN protects the traffic made within the browser and automatically chooses a connection. The company advertises unlimited use, AES 256-bit encryption, DNS leak protection, and a no-logs browsing policy.

Premium expands the service with a choice of more than 80 locations, higher-speed servers, automatic start, protection for the other applications on the device and Kill Switch. Therefore, Built-in VPN doesn't mean your entire phone is protected for free. This difference needs to be considered before replacing a dedicated VPN app.

A VPN creates a tunnel between the device and the service's server. This can hide the browsing from the owner of a public Wi-Fi network and reduce what the ISP can observe. It doesn't make someone invisible to websites they've logged into, it doesn't prevent cookie tracking, and it doesn't eliminate scams, malicious files, or dangerous extensions.

There is also an exchange of trust. Instead of the local provider seeing the destination of the connection, the traffic goes through the VPN infrastructure. Therefore, privacy policy, jurisdiction, audits, and business model are as important as the connect button.

What the privacy policy says

Aloha Mobile is registered in Cyprus and states that it does not log visited addresses, does not keep VPN access logs, and does not access cookies, passwords, or downloaded files. The company says it earns revenue from Premium subscriptions and partnerships, rather than selling browsing histories.

There are caveats in the policy itself. Some partners, such as search engines and integrated providers, may be given the real IP address. Features such as profile, support, Snips, cloud storage, and AI also require different treatments than simply loading a page.

The mobile app underwent an evaluation by Leviathan Security Group within the App Defense Alliance program, completed in July 2025 for version 7.3.2. This evaluation is a positive sign, but it should not be interpreted as public and permanent proof of all claims about no logs. An independent analysis by TechRadar rightly noted that the available document focuses on the security of the mobile application, without specifically demonstrating the entire operation of the VPN.

Another point worth noting: Google Play's data safety section, filled out by the developer, informs you that some categories of data may be collected or shared. This doesn't prove that browsing history is sold, but it does show why the reader should check the current store and policy statements before installing.

Free or Premium: where the difference lies

The browser can be used without creating an account. VPN inside Aloha, ad blocker, private tabs, biometric protection, and file manager are all part of the basic experience.

Features such as VPN country selection, device-wide protection, auto-connect, Premium servers, and the private cloud are tied to the subscription. Prices vary by platform and region, so the value shown within the app is the safest reference at the time of purchase.

The subscription model has an editorially important advantage: it offers a source of revenue that does not depend directly on the sale of advertising based on history. This does not eliminate the need for transparency about partners, telemetry, and infrastructure, but it better aligns the business with the privacy proposition.

Who Aloha Browser Makes Sense For

Aloha may be of interest mainly to those who want to reduce the number of installed apps. Browser, basic VPN, blocker, download manager, player, and protected files live in the same place.

It is also an interesting alternative for those who open a lot of links on Android and want to apply the same block to Custom Tabs. On the desktop, Portuguese and the arrival on Linux help, although the beta version still asks for caution from those who depend on the browser for critical work.

Those who need a system-wide VPN, infrastructure-specific audits, advanced corporate rules, or strong anonymity should compare dedicated services. Those who rely on very specific extensions also need to check compatibility before migrating.

Is it worth trying?

Aloha Browser doesn't need to immediately replace the main browser to be useful. You can test it as an alternative to public networks, separate browsing, downloads, or pages loaded within other apps.

Its quiet growth has a simple explanation: it brings together features that would normally require multiple installations and presents an easy-to-understand proposal. At the same time, privacy should not be accepted only as a slogan. The declarations of no logs, the difference between free and Premium VPN, and the treatments provided for in the policy need to be part of the decision.

After more than a decade of development, Aloha is no longer just a mobile browser with a VPN. The opening of the engine, the arrival on computers, the beta for Linux, and the pace of updates in 2026 show a project trying to become a complete ecosystem. It remains to be seen whether it will be able to turn growth into lasting trust outside the group of users who already know the brand.

Sources consulted

Counting completed on August 23, 2026. This content is editorial and was not sponsored by Aloha Browser.

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