If you searched for kiwi extensions hoping to install Chrome extensions on your Android phone the way you used to, here’s the short version: Kiwi Browser is gone. The app that let people run desktop-style Chrome Web Store extensions on Android was discontinued and pulled from Google Play in early 2025, and there’s no official page left explaining why or what comes next.
That leaves a real gap for anyone who relied on Kiwi for an ad blocker, a password manager, or a note-taking extension on their phone. This guide covers what actually happened to Kiwi, which Android browsers still run extensions in 2026, how to move your bookmarks over safely, and why sideloading Kiwi’s old APK from a random website is a bad idea. Toward the end, there’s a note on protecting your desktop tabs too, since a browser change on your phone is often a good moment to check your setup on the computer as well.
What Happened to Kiwi Browser?
Kiwi Browser was discontinued and removed from Google Play in early 2025. Press reports covering the shutdown, including coverage from Neowin in early February 2025, describe an app that simply stopped being available; there’s no official Kiwi Browser page laying out the reasons or a replacement plan.
Practically, that means three things for anyone who still has it installed. First, you can’t download or reinstall it from Google Play anymore, so a new phone or a factory reset leaves you without it. Second, an app that isn’t listed in the Play Store doesn’t get security patches through the normal update channel, which matters more for a browser than almost any other app category. Third, if you’re on a phone that already had Kiwi installed before the pull, it may keep working for a while, but it’s effectively frozen software with no path forward.
Kiwi was built on the Chromium engine, the same open-source project behind Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Opera. What made it different wasn’t the engine, it was the extension support layered on top: Kiwi let you load Chrome Web Store extensions, something Google never enabled in Chrome for Android itself. That’s the feature this whole search is really about, and it’s the piece that disappeared along with the app.
Quick Answer: Which Android Browsers Run Extensions in 2026?
Firefox for Android and Samsung Internet are the two mainstream Android browsers that support installing extensions as of September 2026, while Chrome for Android still does not.
| Browser | Extensions on Android? | Where they come from |
|---|---|---|
| Kiwi Browser | No — discontinued, pulled from Google Play in early 2025 | Not applicable |
| Firefox for Android | Yes | Full Mozilla Add-ons (AMO) catalogue |
| Samsung Internet | Yes, on Galaxy devices | Galaxy Store |
| Yandex Browser | Yes | Yandex’s own extensions, plus Chrome Web Store and Opera catalogs |
| Chrome for Android | No | Chrome Web Store shows “Add to Desktop” only |
| Microsoft Edge for Android | Small curated set, per press reports (unconfirmed officially) | Not an official Microsoft page |
That’s the quick version; the differences matter once you try to install something. Firefox for Android draws from the same Mozilla Add-ons (AMO) catalogue used on desktop, which became fully available on Android in December 2023 — before that, only a short list of extensions worked there. Samsung Internet’s extensions are Galaxy Store items rather than Chrome Web Store listings, and the feature is tied to Samsung’s own hardware.
Yandex Browser for Android is a lesser-known option in Western markets, but it’s worth knowing about if it’s already on your radar: it supports its own extensions alongside ones sourced from the Chrome Web Store and Opera’s add-ons catalog. Chrome for Android remains the odd one out among the major browsers. Its Chrome Web Store still exists on a phone, but instead of installing anything, each listing shows an “Add to Desktop” button that queues the extension to install later on your computer, not your phone.
- Firefox for Android. The closest thing to Kiwi’s approach: a full add-ons catalogue, not a short curated list.
- Samsung Internet. Solid if you’re already on a Galaxy phone; extensions come through the Galaxy Store.
- Yandex Browser. Supports Chrome Web Store and Opera extensions too, if you’re comfortable with a less mainstream browser.
Why Did Kiwi Browser Support Chrome Extensions When Chrome Doesn’t?
Kiwi Browser added its own extension engine on top of Chromium, something Google chose not to build into Chrome for Android itself. Both browsers share the same underlying engine, but Chromium the open-source project and Chrome the Google app are two different things — Kiwi’s developer layered on CRX-file loading (the format Chrome Web Store extensions ship in) as a custom feature, not something that came free with Chromium.
Chrome for Android never gained that capability. Open the Chrome Web Store on a phone today and each listing shows an “Add to Desktop” button instead of an install option. It queues the extension so it installs later on a computer signed into the same account, not on the phone you’re holding, according to Google’s own support documentation.
That gap is exactly why Kiwi found an audience. People wanted ad blockers, password managers, and note-taking tools on their phone browser the same way they had them on desktop Chrome, and Kiwi was the mainstream option that delivered it using the same extension format. Losing Kiwi doesn’t just mean losing an app, it means losing the one browser that bridged that particular gap between desktop and mobile Chrome extension support. Firefox for Android and Samsung Internet fill part of that need, but neither one runs actual Chrome Web Store CRX files the way Kiwi did. They draw from their own extension catalogues instead.
How Do I Install Extensions on Firefox for Android?
Install Firefox for Android from the Play Store, then add extensions through its built-in Add-ons manager or addons.mozilla.org/android.
- Install Firefox for Android. Get it from Google Play if you don’t already have it.
- Open the Add-ons manager. Tap the menu button and look for Add-ons or Extensions, or go to addons.mozilla.org/android in Firefox.
- Find an extension. Search the full Mozilla Add-ons (AMO) catalogue. This became fully available on Firefox for Android in December 2023.
- Tap Add, then confirm. Review any permissions it asks for and confirm the install.
- Manage it later. Return to the Add-ons manager any time to disable, update permissions, or remove an extension.
Firefox for Android pulls from the same Mozilla Add-ons (AMO) catalogue as desktop Firefox, which Mozilla opened up fully to Android in December 2023. That catalogue is far bigger than anything Kiwi offered, and it includes ad blockers, password managers, and reading tools that cover most of what people used Kiwi’s extensions for.
One thing to watch: not every desktop Firefox extension has an Android-compatible version, since mobile extensions need to work with a touch interface. If an extension you relied on in Kiwi isn’t listed on the phone, search AMO directly rather than assuming it doesn’t exist — the in-app manager doesn’t always surface everything at once.
How Do I Get Extensions on Samsung Internet?
Open the Galaxy Store on a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet and install extensions from there, since Samsung Internet only offers extensions on Samsung’s own devices.
- Open the Galaxy Store app. This is Samsung’s own app marketplace, separate from Google Play.
- Search for Internet extensions. Samsung lists Samsung Internet extensions in a dedicated part of the store.
- Install the one you want. Tap install, then open Samsung Internet.
- Turn it on in Samsung Internet. Go to the browser’s menu, find Extensions, and enable the one you just installed.
Samsung Internet’s extension support is tied to Samsung’s own hardware and its own store, not the Chrome Web Store or Mozilla’s catalogue. If you’re on a Galaxy phone or tablet already, that’s a reasonable, low-friction replacement for Kiwi’s ad-blocking and privacy extensions. If you’re on a different manufacturer’s Android phone, Samsung Internet itself will still run as a browser, but its extension feature specifically is for Galaxy devices, so it isn’t a universal fix.
Compared to Kiwi, the selection is smaller and more curated, closer in spirit to Apple’s App Store approach to Safari extensions than to the sprawling Chrome Web Store Kiwi tapped into. For most people that’s a reasonable trade: fewer choices, but each one reviewed before it reaches the store. It’s still worth checking a listing’s details before installing anything unfamiliar, the same way you would on the Chrome Web Store or AMO — a smaller catalogue doesn’t automatically mean every entry is trustworthy.
Does Chrome for Android Support Extensions Now?
No. Chrome for Android still does not support browser extensions as of September 2026. Open the Chrome Web Store from a phone and each listing shows an “Add to Desktop” button rather than an install option, which queues that extension to install later on a computer signed into the same Google account, not the phone itself.
This is a long-standing gap, not a recent change, and it’s the exact hole Kiwi Browser used to fill by adding its own CRX-loading layer on top of the same Chromium engine Chrome uses. With Kiwi gone, that combination (Chrome’s engine plus real Chrome Web Store extensions) isn’t available on Android from Google’s own app anymore.
It’s worth noting Chrome on iPhone has a similar limitation for a different reason, tied to iOS’s general rules for browser apps. So if you’re used to extensions following you from your computer to your phone, that expectation doesn’t hold on either major mobile OS through Chrome specifically. Firefox is the one browser family that carries real extension support across both desktop and Chrome Android-style mobile use, which is part of why it’s the closest replacement for what Kiwi offered.
Extensions changed on desktop too. Chrome’s desktop extension platform went through its own shift recently: Manifest V2 extensions were disabled across Chrome by March 2025, and their listings were removed from the Chrome Web Store on August 31, 2026. If an old favorite extension seems to have vanished on your computer too, that’s likely why, not something specific to Android. See our guide on how to manage Chrome extensions if you need to sort out what’s left.
What About Edge and Yandex on Android?
Microsoft Edge for Android has a small, Microsoft-curated set of extensions according to press reports, and Yandex Browser for Android supports extensions from its own store plus the Chrome Web Store and Opera’s catalog.
| Browser | Extension source | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Firefox for Android | Mozilla Add-ons (AMO), full catalogue | All Android devices |
| Samsung Internet | Galaxy Store | Samsung Galaxy devices |
| Yandex Browser | Yandex’s own extensions, plus Chrome Web Store and Opera catalogs | All Android devices |
| Microsoft Edge | Small curated set (press-reported, not confirmed officially) | Rolling out per reports |
Edge for Android is the murkiest entry on this list. Press coverage from March 2025 described Microsoft rolling out a small, curated set of extensions to the mobile app, but there’s no official Microsoft support page spelling out which extensions, how to install them, or how broadly it’s available. Treat it as a feature in progress rather than something to plan a workflow around.
Yandex Browser for Android is more clearly documented: Yandex’s own support page states you can install extensions built by Yandex Browser’s developers, or pull from the Chrome Web Store and Opera’s add-ons catalogs. That’s a wider net than Firefox or Samsung Internet cast, on paper, though Yandex is a less common choice outside markets where it’s the default browser, and it’s worth weighing that against your comfort with a less mainstream vendor.
Opera and Opera GX for Android extension support isn’t something this guide can confirm either way. There’s no verified official documentation covering it at the time of writing, so check Opera’s own current help pages before assuming either way if that matters to you.
How Do I Move Bookmarks and Tabs From Kiwi to a New Browser?
Check whether you were signed into a Google Account inside Kiwi first, since that determines what you can recover.
Kiwi was Chromium-based, and Chromium browsers typically sync bookmarks to a signed-in account rather than storing them somewhere you can pull from an offline export once the app is gone. If you signed into Kiwi with a Google Account, there’s a good chance your bookmarks already synced and will show up in Chrome, or any other browser signed into that same account, on a different device.
If you never signed in, the picture is less hopeful. Kiwi no longer has an official support page walking through an export process, and since it’s been pulled from Google Play, there’s no current guidance from the developer on getting data out of an installation still sitting on your phone. If Kiwi is still installed and working, your best move is to check its settings for a bookmark export option before you uninstall it, rather than assuming that path will still be open later.
Open tabs are the more fragile part of this. Unlike bookmarks, tabs generally aren’t backed up unless a browser explicitly syncs them or a tool captured them before the app went away. If you had research tabs, shopping carts, or half-read articles open in Kiwi when it stopped being usable, there likely isn’t an official way to get them back now.
- Check your Google Account sign-in status. If you were signed into Kiwi, open Chrome on another device with that account and look for synced bookmarks.
- Install your new browser. Firefox for Android or Samsung Internet, based on what extensions you need.
- Sign in or import. Use the new browser’s own sync or import option to bring your bookmarks across.
- Rebuild what you can’t recover. For tabs that weren’t backed up anywhere, treat this as a clean start rather than a data-loss investigation.
Is It Safe to Sideload Kiwi Browser’s Old APK?
No, it’s not a good idea to sideload Kiwi Browser’s APK from a third-party website now that it’s gone from Google Play. Once an app is removed from an official store, the safety net that store provided (malware scanning, developer verification, a way to report and pull a bad update) disappears with it. Any APK you find for Kiwi now comes from a third-party site with no official page to check it against, which means you can’t verify whether it matches the last legitimate build, has been modified, or bundles anything unwanted.
This matters more for a browser than for most other app categories, because a browser handles your passwords, your browsing history, and often your payment details through autofill. An unmaintained, unofficial copy of a browser isn’t just missing new features, it’s missing security patches for vulnerabilities discovered after the app was pulled, and you’d have no way to know if a sideloaded copy had already been altered before you installed it.
If your goal is to get back the specific feature Kiwi offered (Chrome Web Store extensions on Android) sideloading its old APK doesn’t solve that either, since the extension ecosystem it tapped into keeps moving while the app itself stays frozen. Firefox for Android and Samsung Internet, both actively maintained, get you further than a frozen copy of Kiwi ever will at this point.
How Do I Keep My Desktop Tabs Safe While I Switch Browsers?
Switching your phone’s browser is a good prompt to check how well your desktop browser protects open tabs too, since the same kind of surprise (an app disappearing, a crash, an accidental “close all tabs”) can happen there.
If Kiwi’s shutdown caught you off guard with lost tabs on your phone, it’s worth asking whether your desktop browser would handle a crash, an accidental close, or a browser switch any better. Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox, and the other Chromium and Firefox-based browsers on desktop don’t automatically keep a long-term backup of every open tab beyond whatever their own session-restore feature offers, and that feature isn’t built for real recovery weeks later.
BelayTab is a free browser extension built for exactly this gap on desktop and Mac. It’s worth saying clearly that it does not run on Android or iPhone/iPad, so it won’t help with the Kiwi situation directly. Where it does help is your Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, Arc, or Firefox setup on a computer, or Safari on a Mac. It saves an open window as a named session with one click or Ctrl + Shift + S (Cmd + Shift + S on Mac), keeps tab groups, pinned tabs, and tab order intact, and also takes an automatic snapshot of every open window every five minutes and whenever a window closes, so a crash or an accidental close doesn’t have to mean starting over.
It’s free, doesn’t need an account, and doesn’t cap how many sessions or tabs you save. If you’re already using a tab-hoarding tool like OneTab or Session Buddy on desktop, BelayTab can import from those too, so switching your setup doesn’t mean starting your tab organization from zero the way a Kiwi replacement might. If you use more than one desktop browser and want your sessions to follow you between them, the optional paid Sync add-on covers that; everything else stays free. Install it once from the download page, and the next time a browser update, crash, or accidental close threatens your open windows, you’ll have a session to restore instead of a blank new-tab page.