Solipsism Browser

Solipsism Browser is an Android WebView browser built around a rail-first, one-handed interface. It turns the usual browser chrome sideways: navigation, tabs, search, QR scanning, refresh, and the overflow menu live in a compact left or right rail, leaving the page itself as the main surface.

The current identity is privacy-aware, highly tactile, and mobile-native. Solipsism combines a Material Design 3 Expressive-inspired UI with compact rail modes, a customizable homepage, practical browsing tools, and privacy controls that are meant to feel close at hand instead of buried in menus.

What Makes It Different

• Rail-first browsing: A left or right side rail keeps browser controls reachable without covering the web page.
• Compact by design: Small, Medium, Large, and Super Compact rail sizes let the UI adapt to different hands, screens, and habits.
• Material 3 Expressive direction: Rounded surfaces, motion, shadows, themed colors, and physical-feeling popup menus shape the app’s visual language.
• Custom homepage: Wallpaper support, bookmark shortcuts, and a quiet Solipsism start page replace the generic blank tab feeling.
• Privacy tools: Incognito browsing, ad blocking, cookie controls, WebRTC settings, clear-on-exit options, and Decoy Mode for history replacement.
• Fast daily actions: QR scanning, find in page, add bookmark, downloads, install website as app, share, copy link, and history tools are designed for mobile use.

Core Features

• WebView browsing with tabs, tab overview, and animated tab switching from the URL rail.
• Vertical URL rail with a horizontal full-URL editor when needed.
• Built-in QR scanner with light and dark mode support.
• Bookmark list and homepage bookmark shortcuts.
• History page with Clear All History and Decoy Mode.
• Download handling with a donation prompt section.
• Install Website as App using Android pinned shortcuts.
• File upload support through Android’s file picker.
• Fullscreen video support with system bars and rail hidden during landscape fullscreen playback.
• Material-style settings with grouped sections, search, appearance controls, privacy controls, and accessibility options.

Privacy And Decoy Mode

Solipsism includes conventional browser privacy features such as incognito mode, ad blocking, cookie controls, stored data cleanup, and WebRTC toggles.

Decoy Mode is a more opinionated Solipsism feature: from the history page, long-pressing Clear All History can replace recent browsing history with randomized, realistic-looking browsing sessions. The generated activity follows coherent browsing paths across search, Amazon, Reddit, and YouTube-style destinations instead of creating a flat list of unrelated searches.

Appearance

The app is designed around the rail:

• Put the rail on the left or right.
• Choose rail size, including Super Compact mode.
• Match rail colors to Android system theming.
• Use dark or light mode-sensitive UI.
• Customize the homepage wallpaper or keep it blacked out.

Build

Requirements:

• Android Studio or Android SDK command line tools
• JDK 17 or newer

Debug build:

.\gradlew.bat assembleSolipsismPlusDebug

Release build:

.\gradlew.bat assembleSolipsismPlusRelease

Lint:

.\gradlew.bat lintSolipsismPlusDebug

Generated APKs are written under:

app/build/outputs/apk/

Permissions

Declared permissions:

• INTERNET: access the web.
• ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE: respond to network availability.
• INSTALL_SHORTCUT: support installed website shortcuts.
• POST_NOTIFICATIONS: display browser notifications.

Requested only when needed:

• CAMERA: QR scanning and optional WebRTC video capture.
• RECORD_AUDIO and MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS: optional WebRTC audio capture.
• ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION / ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION: website location requests when enabled.

Support

If Solipsism is useful to you, development can be supported on Ko-fi.

License

Solipsism Browser remains licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. See LICENSE.