Android Browser Vivaldi 5.6 Update: New Features, Customization, More

Vivaldi's 5.6 update is now live with a new and convenient Mastodon integration feature, among several changes.

Android browser Vivaldi has launched its update to version 5.6. The browser update is headlined by a new, customizable menu bar, hardware key authentication integration, enhanced navigation, and other new features included in the patch.

Notebook Check reports that the update's entire version number is 5.6.2867.36. The updated Vivaldi Browser is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Vivaldi Browser for Android received a minor update on December 3 and is now at version 5.5.2807.43.

Vivaldi 5.6 Now Enables Mastodon Integration

Vivaldi has become the first web browser to have its own Mastodon instance, according to Engadget.

Users can discover a new icon in the sidebar of the Vivaldi Panel that allows them to visit Mastodon with just one click after the recent update.

In fact, Android Police reports that Vivaldi has long supported the decentralized microblogging platform Mastodon in order to further its philosophy against what it refers to as "surveillance capitalism," along with the trackers, data, and advertisements that go along with the idea.

Access to social.vivaldi.net now requires an active Vivaldi.net account. However, anyone can browse and join the instance with new login information. If a person chooses to create a presence on Vivaldi Social, their username is immediately reserved when they create a Vivaldi account.

Vivaldi 5.6 Update Changelog

Aside from the major Mastodon integration, Vivaldi's 5.6 update features several new features and fixes included in its changelog. Among the major improvements include the following, according to Vivaldi's changelog:

New Features

• Panels (Mastodon): Add 'Vivaldi Social' as one of the default web panels
• Tabs: Allow pinning tabs in a stack
• Settings: Re-structure settings order and add colored icons
• Search: Add You.com to the US, Canada, UK, and Germany search dropdown
• Accessibility: Insufficient contrast for placeholder texts

Address Bar

• Autocomplete and selected items are different
• Autocomplete ignores case
• "Bookmarks Results" is not in the correct position
• Change the way we sort bookmarks
• The correct item is not selected
• Will not autocomplete when entering a space
• Will not clean suggestion results when disabling suggestions
• The dropdown can lose the selected item
• Frequently visited sites appear even when the option is disabled
• Keep the selected item when typing the full URL
• The saved password popup isn't properly written
• Search using a keyword with more than one letter will suggest from keyword
• Select the shortest search first in the typed history
• Selection flickering in the address field
• Shift+Del in address bar history results moves selection upper and updates results below it
• Wrong search suggestions show

Tabs

• Change "Clone" to "Duplicate"
• Incorrect alignment of tab tiling
• Pinned tab stacks are not listed in the window menu
• When pinning a stack via the context menu should say "Pin Tab Stack"
• Wider gap between tiled Tabs
• Check box not visible in tasks panel

Settings

• Mail account setup should fit in two columns
• Rocker settings are displayed incorrectly in some languages
• "Show Separator Below Pinned Tabs" should be enabled by default
• Add command always focuses on the last command
• Empty space command chain in settings
• "Save Link As..." is missing from Menu Customisation
• Change POST configuration
• Misaligned default Search Engine select dropdown