Updates and Changelog

Fixed

Downloads from signed-in sites now complete more reliably, including files that continue through another file service.

Fixed in 5.1.88

Improvement

An optional download log makes it easier to understand a tricky file transfer when you choose to turn it on.

Improvement in 5.1.88

Fixed

Address entry stays dependable across long links, returning Home, and everyday editing on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Fixed in 5.1.88

Improvement

Compatibility Mode now keeps its site controls close at hand and makes the current protection state easy to see.

Improvement in 5.1.88

Improvement

Address editing and page controls feel more direct, with clearer choices when a site needs a compatibility exception.

Improvement in 5.1.87

Fixed

Passkeys and hardware security keys now get the system authorization they need before sign-in begins on Mac.

Fixed in 5.1.84

Improvement

Sharing a page and responding to site prompts now fit more naturally into the flow of browsing.

Improvement in 5.1.84

Improvement

Settings and Library are easier to scan, with your browsing tools gathered into one responsive place.

Improvement in 5.1.83

Improvement

Sync gives you more control over which settings travel between devices, with steadier conflict handling.

Improvement in 5.1.81

Improvement

Completing an address while you type is now off by default, with a new setting, Complete addresses as you type, to switch it on. With it on, it waits for a pause in your typing and steps back out if you keep going, so it never sits on top of what you are writing. Either way the suggestions list below the address bar offers the same matches and never changes what you typed.

Improvement in 5.1.80

Fixed

On the Mac, dragging across the address bar now selects the text. The address bar sits in the tab strip, which handles dragging the window, and that was claiming the drag, so part of an address could not be selected with the mouse.

Fixed in 5.1.80

Improvement

A bug report now carries the details needed to act on it: which platform and device it came from, the window and screen layout, your text size and appearance, the blocking settings in effect for that tab, and the most recent page-load errors the app saw. None of it is gathered in the background. It is collected only when you open the report form and press Send, and the report screen lists it all first. No browsing history is included, no persona names, and recent errors record the site name only, never the full address.

Improvement in 5.1.80

Fixed

The page now runs all the way to the bottom edge on iPhone and iPad. With the navigation bar moved to the top, or tucked away by auto-hide, a strip of empty background was left along the bottom, black in dark mode. Thanks to the reader who reported it.

Fixed in 5.1.80

Fixed

Switching a tab to a different persona now stops the page that was already there, so a video or a sound from it can no longer keep playing out of sight.

Fixed in 5.1.79

New Feature

While the address bar is active, an arrow button appears at its trailing edge. Click it to go, so getting to a page never depends on the Return key or the on-screen keyboard.

New Feature in 5.1.79

Improvement

The familiar Control-Command-F shortcut now enters and leaves full screen, the way it does in other Mac browsers.

Improvement in 5.1.79

New Feature

Save your postal and contact details in Passwords & Cards, then click into a street or city field on any form and pick a saved address. The rest of the form is filled in for you, including the state and country menus.

New Feature in 5.1.78

New Feature

Save a page to read later, from the Bookmarks menu on the Mac or the page menu on iPhone and iPad. Your reading list syncs between your devices, marks an item read when you open it, and lets you remove the ones you are done with.

New Feature in 5.1.78

New Feature

VanBrowser is now fully translated into Russian and Ukrainian, bringing the app to eleven languages.

New Feature in 5.1.78

Fixed

Logins you saved while using a persona now keep filling in after that persona is deleted, on every one of your devices.

Fixed in 5.1.78

Improvement

The search box in Passwords & Cards now has a row of its own, with room to see what you are typing.

Improvement in 5.1.78

Fixed

A file that a site hands out only to signed-in visitors now downloads correctly, because your sign-in travels with the download request. An error page is still never saved in place of the file you asked for.

Fixed in 5.1.77

Fixed

The download arrow in the Mac PDF viewer now saves the PDF to your Downloads folder, like any other download.

Fixed in 5.1.77

New Feature

With a hardware keyboard attached to your iPad, Command-T opens a new tab, Command-W closes the current one, Command-L jumps to the address bar, and Command-R reloads the page. Hold Command to see the list.

New Feature in 5.1.77

Improvement

Clicking the address bar now selects the whole address, so whatever you type next replaces it. Once the field has focus, clicking again puts the cursor exactly where you want it.

Improvement in 5.1.77

Fixed

Typing an address you have visited before now completes only as far as the site name, so pressing Return takes you to the site instead of to a page deeper inside it. Full addresses from your history are still offered in the list below the address bar.

Fixed in 5.1.77

Improvement

Some search engines run a short verification step before they show results. That step now keeps working after your ad and tracker lists refresh, and the option to retry without blocking stays out of the way until the check has finished.

Improvement in 5.1.77

New Feature

If a search engine changes how it works, VanBrowser can fetch a small fix from vanbrowser.com and apply it right away, without waiting for an app update. It runs only when you click the button on the stuck-search notice, unless you turn on the optional setting to check automatically. The request carries the app version and nothing else.

New Feature in 5.1.77

Improvement

Send a bug report or a broken-site report and the confirmation now shows your ticket number, so you have something to quote if you write in about it.

Improvement in 5.1.77

Fixed

Every tab now keeps its own Developer Tools logs. The Network, Console, Storage, and other panels show the activity of the tab you are looking at, and a private tab's data goes away with the tab.

Fixed in 5.1.77

Fixed

Sites that loaded normally but whose buttons did nothing now work. A tracker rule meant only for background pings was also being applied to the ordinary connections a page needs in order to respond to a click. Reported by a reader on a real-estate listing page whose View Map button did nothing.

Fixed in 5.1.77

New Feature

On a site with more than one saved login, clicking the username or password field now offers your saved accounts so you can pick one.

New Feature in 5.1.75

Improvement

A verification check that never finishes no longer leaves a search stuck: VanBrowser offers another search engine, or one retry of that page with blocking set aside.

Improvement in 5.1.75

New Feature

Websites can ask to send you notifications, and nothing appears until you allow it; every answer is remembered per site and can be changed in one place.

New Feature in 5.1.74

New Feature

Browsing history now syncs across your devices with iCloud Sync on, as its own optional switch, and private windows never record any.

New Feature in 5.1.74

New Feature

Downloads can be paused and picked up later, even after quitting and reopening the app.

New Feature in 5.1.74

New Feature

A Share button on the Mac sends the current page to Mail, Messages, or AirDrop, and File, Open File opens local PDFs, images, and media in a tab.

New Feature in 5.1.74

New Feature

A Website Data explorer in Settings lists every site that stored data, sortable by name, size, or date, with per-site removal.

New Feature in 5.1.74

Fixed

Handing the page you are reading from an iPhone or iPad to your Mac now completes.

Fixed in 5.1.73

New Feature

A site that wants your location now asks first: Allow, Allow Once, or Don't Allow, with a Precise toggle. Your answer is remembered for that site and persona, location is never handed over without it, and an indicator shows while a site is watching. A live watch pauses whenever the app is not in front.

New Feature in 5.1.73

New Feature

Approximate mode shares city-level location only, coarsened before the site sees it. With VanBrowser Pro, a persona can instead report a city you pick or coordinates you type, chosen offline and kept consistent with that persona's timezone. Coordinates go from your device straight to the site you allowed.

New Feature in 5.1.73

Improvement

When a site opens a pop-up that the pop-up policy blocks, such as a search result or a step in a login, VanBrowser now names the site and offers to allow pop-ups there from then on, instead of the click appearing to do nothing.

Improvement in 5.1.73

New Feature

Polish is the app's eighth language, translated throughout with its full four-form plural grammar.

New Feature in 5.1.71

New Feature

Tabs on Other Devices shows what is open on your other Macs, iPhones, and iPads when iCloud Sync is on; private windows are never included.

New Feature in 5.1.71

Fixed

Printing a PDF now prints the document itself, including PDFs behind a login or a proxied Persona.

Fixed in 5.1.71

Improvement

The switch that darkens web pages now sits directly under the Theme picker and is named Dark Mode for Websites, so it is clear that the Theme restyles the browser while this darkens the pages themselves. It is in Settings on iPhone and iPad for the first time.

Improvement in 5.1.71

New Feature

A new install now opens with a brief welcome tour covering personas, the tracker-blocking shield, and the live status bar, plus the configurable tab layout on the Mac.

New Feature in 5.1.71

Fixed

Changing a persona's SOCKS5 proxy now takes effect the moment you click Apply. New and existing tabs no longer keep using the previous route while the Settings tab stays open.

Fixed in 5.1.71

Improvement

The Mac status bar now shows the main page's HTTP response code, so a 404 or a 500 is visible even when the site returns a normal-looking page.

Improvement in 5.1.71

New Feature

VanBrowser can now be set as your default browser on iPhone and iPad, so links from other apps open here.

New Feature in 5.1.69

Fixed

VanBrowser can now be chosen as your default browser on iPhone and iPad, in Settings, Apps, Default Apps, Browser. Links you tap in other apps then open in VanBrowser.

Fixed in 5.1.69

New Feature

Saved cards now fill on more Mac checkouts, including forms whose fields carry no standard markup, and right-click offers a Fill Credit Card menu.

New Feature in 5.1.68

Improvement

Settings on iPhone and iPad now shows the app version and build number.

Improvement in 5.1.68

New Feature

Tabs in the Mac tab bar can be dragged to reorder, or dragged across a group header to file them into that group.

New Feature in 5.1.67

New Feature

Customize the Mac toolbar: hide or rearrange the Home, Bookmark, Shield, Cookies, Downloads, and Persona buttons, or switch to a minimal layout.

New Feature in 5.1.66

Fixed

A page's own Print button now works, so receipts, boarding passes, and order confirmations print straight from the page.

Fixed in 5.1.66

Fixed

Searches containing & or + now reach the search engine intact, including through slash commands like /g and /ddg.

Fixed in 5.1.66

New Feature

Older devices that only speak TLS 1.0 or 1.1, such as a router or camera, can be reached again after a clear warning about the risk.

New Feature in 5.1.66

New Feature

Tree Style Tabs on the Mac: a tab opened from a page nests under it, branches collapse, and the whole tree returns with session restore.

New Feature in 5.1.65

New Feature

Force Dark Mode on any website, keeping its colors, images, and brand accents; pages that are already dark are left alone.

New Feature in 5.1.65

Improvement

Busy pages are noticeably faster after removing injected-script overhead that ran on every focus event.

Improvement in 5.1.65

New Feature

VanBrowser is fully localized in German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese, right down to the developer instruments.

New Feature in 5.1.64

New Feature

Translate any page into your language, entirely on your device, so no page content is ever sent away.

New Feature in 5.1.64

New Feature

Put your tabs where you want them: top, bottom, left, or right, including two vertical sidebar layouts with room for full page titles.

New Feature in 5.1.64

New Feature

Pick up the page you are reading on your other devices with Handoff; private windows are never advertised.

New Feature in 5.1.64

New Feature

Each site now remembers your zoom level, in any tab and after a relaunch, with nothing recorded from private windows.

New Feature in 5.1.64

Fixed

Pressing Command-F while Find in Page is already open now puts the cursor back in the find field and selects the text there, so you can type a new search straight over the old one.

Fixed in 5.1.64

New Feature

Private Browsing on iPhone and iPad: a separate set of tabs that records no history, keeps no cookies or site data, and is never saved.

New Feature in 5.1.62

New Feature

Your full history now opens in a searchable tab on the Mac, grouped by day, and any entry opens with a click.

New Feature in 5.1.62

Improvement

The shield menu now changes protections for the current tab only, and each tab remembers its choice across a relaunch.

Improvement in 5.1.62

Fixed

Apps you download now open normally. Because VanBrowser runs sandboxed, macOS was marking finished downloads in a way that made Gatekeeper refuse to launch them. macOS still runs its full security check on anything you download.

Fixed in 5.1.62

Fixed

Printing a page and choosing Save as PDF now names the file after the page, not after the persona you were using.

Fixed in 5.1.62

Fixed

The downloads button no longer keeps a leftover count: the badge updates the moment a download finishes, fails, or is cancelled.

Fixed in 5.1.60

Fixed

A link opened from another app now lands in a tab, with no stray built-in window opening alongside it.

Fixed in 5.1.60

Fixed

In Passwords and Cards, the toggle, search box, and buttons stay pinned at the top, even when the list is empty.

Fixed in 5.1.60

Improvement

Every field in the Add and Edit Card form is now a labeled, bordered box, so it is clear where you are typing.

Improvement in 5.1.60

New Feature

Press and hold Back or Forward to see this tab's history and jump several pages at once; a quick tap still moves one step.

New Feature in 5.1.60

Fixed

Sites that ask for your location now take their normal no-location path instead of claiming the browser cannot do it.

Fixed in 5.1.60

Fixed

Pinch to zoom now works on every page on iPhone and iPad, including sites that ask the browser to switch it off.

Fixed in 5.1.60

Improvement

A broad accessibility pass on iPhone and iPad: spoken labels on every control, Dynamic Type, Reduce Motion, and stronger outlines with Increase Contrast.

Improvement in 5.1.60

Fixed

Open this tab in persona now holds. On a site you had already assigned to a persona, the tab used to snap straight back to the assigned one.

Fixed in 5.1.60

Fixed

When VanBrowser is already running and set as your default browser, a link clicked in another app now opens in a tab in the window you are using, with no extra window on the default page.

Fixed in 5.1.59

Fixed

The tab bar now behaves correctly with many tabs open, whatever the width of your screen.

Fixed in 5.1.54

New Feature

Saved Passwords now has a search field, so you can narrow the list by username or by site.

New Feature in 5.1.54

Improvement

Clearer cookie and Persona handling, so it is easier to see what is happening with third-party cookies.

Improvement in 5.1.54

New Feature

Bookmark import and export now report what happened: how many bookmarks were added, or that the file could not be read or saved.

New Feature in 5.1.54

New Feature

Never save passwords for this site is now a third option on the save-password prompt, and it sticks across launches. Silenced sites are listed in Passwords with an Allow Again button.

New Feature in 5.1.54

Fixed

A Persona routed through a SOCKS5 proxy now fails closed when the proxy is unavailable instead of connecting directly. Settings will not accept an incomplete proxy, and a failed proxied load says the proxy may be down.

Fixed in 5.1.54

Improvement

A site with a self-signed, expired, or mismatched certificate now shows a warning with real choices: go back, continue just this once, or always trust that exact certificate on that host.

Improvement in 5.1.54

Fixed

Deleting a cookie that WebKit cannot remove one at a time now escalates the delete, and says so inline if the cookie still cannot be removed, instead of reporting success.

Fixed in 5.1.54

Fixed

Submitting a login now shows a single save-password prompt instead of a stack of identical ones, and Not Now stops it re-asking for that login during the session.

Fixed in 5.1.53

Fixed

Reddit's Log In and Sign Up buttons work with Tracking Protection on. An orphaned sign-in container was covering them and swallowing clicks; it is now hidden.

Fixed in 5.1.53

Won't Fix

acehardware.com does not work reliably even after entering a zip code. The cause is the number of trackers on the site itself, which is not something the browser can or should work around.