Vivaldi (web browser)

Vivaldi

300px Vivaldi running on macOS
Developer(s)	Vivaldi Technologies
Initial release	April 6, 2016 (2016-04-06) (Technical Preview released on January 27, 2015 )
Stable release	Linux, macOS, Windows /  () Android /  ()
Preview release	Linux, macOS, Windows /  () Android /  ()
Written in	C++
Operating system	Windows 10 and later macOS 10.13 and later Linux Android 7.0 and later
Platform	IA-32, x86-64, ARM (macOS, Linux & Android only)
Size	Windows: 38.9 ~ 44.8 MB macOS: 60.4 MB Linux: ~45 MB
Available in	53 languages
List of languages Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Basque, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Frisian, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ido, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lojban, Macedonian, Norwegian (Bokmal), Norwegian (Nynorsk), Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Sardinian, Scots Gaelic, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Spanish (Peru), Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Type	Web browser
License	BSD-3 and Proprietary freeware
Website	vivaldi.com

Vivaldi (/vɪˈvɑːldi, vəˈv-/ ) is a freeware, cross-platform web browser with a built-in email client developed by Vivaldi Technologies, a company founded by Tatsuki Tomita and Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, who was the co-founder and CEO of Opera Software. Vivaldi was officially launched on April 6, 2016.

Although intended for general users, it is first and foremost targeted towards technically-inclined users as well as former Opera users disgruntled by its transition from the Presto layout engine to a Chromium-based browser that resulted in the loss of many of its iconic features. Despite also being Chromium-based, Vivaldi aims to revive the features of the Presto-based Opera with its own proprietary modifications.

Vivaldi released a mobile (Android) beta version on September 6, 2019, and a regular release on April 22, 2020.

As of April 2023, Vivaldi has more than 2.4 million active users.

History

Vivaldi began as a virtual community website that replaced My Opera, which was shut down by Opera Software in March 2014. Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner was angered by this decision because he believed that this community helped make the Opera web browser what it was. Tetzchner then launched the Vivaldi Community—a virtual community focused on providing registered users with a discussion forum, blogging service, and numerous other practical web services—to make up for My Opera's closure. Later, on January 27, 2015, Vivaldi Technologies launched the first technical preview of the Vivaldi web browser. Its name comes from the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, which, according to one of its creators, is an easy name to be remembered and understood worldwide.

In September 2021, Vivaldi replaced Firefox as the default browser on the Manjaro Cinnamon Community Edition, the decision its developers cited on its feature-richness and exceptional customisability. In December 2021, Vivaldi became the first web browser to be available for the Android Automotive operating system used in the Swedish electric vehicle manufacturer Polestar's Polestar 2. For safety purposes, the browser can only be used when the car is parked.

Releases

Vivaldi version history
Version	Date	Features
Technical Preview 1	January 27, 2015	Tab stacking Tab-bar placement Notes Speed dial Bookmarks manager Downloads manager Quick commands Mouse gestures Page actions Sidebar Coloured tabs Visual tabs Recently closed tabs Shortcuts
Technical Preview 2	March 5, 2015	Bookmarks bar On-demand image loading Fast forward Spatial navigation
Technical Preview 3	April 28, 2015	Tab stack tiling Unseen page marker Native window Auto-update Personal data importing Plug-ins on demand Background tabs loading indicator
Technical Preview 4	July 16, 2015	Startup options Colour schemes UI zoom HiDPI support Pinned tabs Task manager
Beta 1	November 3, 2015	Web-panels Chromeless UI Tabs visual navigation Private window Page loading progress indicator Typed history list Smooth scrolling Geolocation support HTML 5 H.264, AAC, and MP3 support Extensions support
Beta 2	December 18, 2015	Fast tab closing Bookmarks and notes trash Panel hiding Silent tabs for users (STFU) HTML 5 notifications Global font settings Default character encoding settings Moving tabs between windows
Beta 3	March 4, 2016	Bookmarks export Interface zoom Web-pages global/individual zoom Double-click for tab closing Colour tabs settings Tabs closing/opening management Sessions Tabs hibernation CSS debugger
1.0	April 6, 2016	Search suggestions Welcome page Minimise tab by click (click active tab to switch to previous tab)
1.1	April 26, 2016	Closing all other tabs by Alt+Click on close button Open links in current tab stack Keyboard shortcut that toggles all the others on or off Tab closing activation options Importing speed dial from Opera 12 Tab stack hibernation
1.2	June 2, 2016	Editable mouse gestures New tab start page specifying Closing multiple selected tabs Keyboard shortcuts for opening edited URL in address field
1.3	August 11, 2016	Customisable UI themes Colour picker for themes WebRTC IP handling settings
1.4	September 8, 2016	Individual width of web panels Themes scheduling Retrieve closed tab by middle-click on trash
1.5	November 22, 2016	Tabs drag-and-drop between windows Philips Hue lighting system support Automatic screenshots in Notes Reader mode available from address field Incremental updates Chromecast support Search with context menu option for selected text
1.6	December 15, 2016	Tab notifications Tab stack renaming Tabs selection by domain
1.7	February 8, 2017	Built-in screenshots Mute/unmute multiple tabs Configurable top-level domain expansion Extensions visibility toggle Extra warnings for HTTP websites that request passwords
1.8	March 29, 2017	History redefined: Structured and Visual Create notes by drag-and-drop Auto-update control (Microsoft Windows version only) Image search from the contextual menu
1.9	April 27, 2017	Removed web-panel restoring Ecosia green search integration Extensions buttons rearranging Area capturing button Notes sorting
1.10	June 15, 2017	Custom speed-dial thumbnails Docked developer tools Extension-controlled new tabs Sorting of downloads Desktop wallpaper as speed-dial background (Windows 8+ only)
1.11	August 10, 2017	Reader mode configuration Configurable gesture sensitivity Disable GIF animations by setting Optional speed-dial buttons Updated Vivaldi application icon and Windows installer backgrounds
1.12	September 20, 2017	Image properties display File download properties display Control Website accent-colour saturation
1.13	November 22, 2017	Protect against accidentally canceling downloads Resume downloads from previous session Show download speeds in entries Add window panel (phase 1)
1.14	January 31, 2018	Vertical reader mode for CJK users Markdown editor for notes Web-panel order now can be changed Change order of search engines
1.15	April 25, 2018	Possibility of having an image as window background "Bookmarks" item in the main menu Access individual panels and toolbars in full-screen mode via keyboard shortcuts or quick commands
2.0	September 26, 2018	Implement syncing of bookmarks, settings, etc. Add options to support floating/overlay panels Make tiled tabs resizable List layout for visual tab cycler VB-19167 Add predefined shortcuts for moving tabs left and right: Windows/Linux = Ctrl+Shift+PgUp/PgDn; macOS = Command+Shift+↑/↓ Tile new tabs in a tab stack Holding command/control opens a new tab on history buttons Web-panel suggestions with favicons More speed-dial suggestions, using favicons New welcome page Updated predefined themes: added "Vivaldi" as the new default theme, replaced "Redmond" with "Beach" Set minimum active-tab width
2.1	October 25, 2018	Create notes from quick commands Notes search from quick commands UI zoom, and support for command-line parameters in quick commands Open items in a new tab via modifier keys from quick commands AV1 support
2.2	December 13, 2018	Save selected tabs as a session Numbered accelerators to elements in main Window menu Closed tabs access from quick commands and with keyboard shortcut Configurable address toolbar Configurable status toolbar Mute all other tabs via the tab context menu Search box on speed dial Option to show a webpage access-key shortcuts Pop-out video (picture-in-picture) Middle-clicking in back/forward history drop-down opens the page in new background tab Automatically fetch Widevine (EME), to enable Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc. (Linux only)
2.3	February 6, 2019	Option to automatically create a tab stack Option to show frequently visited pages in the URL drop-down Custom screen-shot file name Save webpage as MHTML
2.4	March 27, 2019	Buttons moving between panels Context menu inside folders on the bookmarks bar Bookmarking selected tabs User profiles Built-in calculator
2.5	May 8, 2019	Razer Chroma support New select/unselect tab options Resizable SD thumbnails Contextual menu inside folders on bookmarks bar (macOS only)
2.6	June 20, 2019	Built-In Abusive Ads Blocker Unread tab counter in Window Panel Filtering saved passwords Display search engine icon in Search Field Razer Chroma headset support
2.7	August 21, 2019	Allow to mute website that is currently silent Global setting for Flash player Add info to the status bar when a page is loading Desktop shortcut for user profile
2.8	September 19, 2019	Keyboard navigation at the bookmark menu bar Resizable columns in the Bookmarks and History managers Support for hovering across horizontal menu or the bookmarks bar Toggle images via keyboard
2.9	October 31, 2019	Page prevented from using cookies dialogue Web panels in the View menu Tab bar in the View menu Global site permissions in the Settings Columns reordering support in the Bookmarks manager
2.10	December 19, 2019	User Agent string without Vivaldi System themes scheduling support Keep text in input field if command not executed Support for focusing the bookmark bar Horizontal extension-popup instead of vertical extension-popup
2.11	February 12, 2020	Picture-in-picture button F6/Shift+F6 focus handling Follow OS Dark/Light mode by default Translated installer
3.0	April 22, 2020	Tracking protection powered by DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar Ad blocker Status bar clock Improved spatial navigation and picture-in-picture features
3.1	June 11, 2020	Notes manager Configurable menus Speed improvements
3.2	August 5, 2020	Mute Pop-Out videos button Option to change Close Tab button position Use different installation profiles and directories for snapshots and finals (macOS)
3.3	September 8, 2020	Pause/break mode Ability to drag entries into a folder Separate theme for private windows Base domain highlighting Clickable element of URL as links: holding Ctrl highlights the part that will remain on clicking Support for blocking whole pages: if blocking rule that has the ‘document’ option, it will block the whole page Proper surrogate support in DDG rules and support for uBlock redirect rules
3.4	October 15, 2020	Vivaldia game Add support for custom links via an “Open link” command Support for configurable context menus Option to directly attach a screenshot to a note Improved tiling commands: prioritises 1) current tab selection, 2) current tab stack, 3) active + last visible tab Drag one item onto another to create a folder with both on Speed Dial Periodic reloader with custom intervals Allow for using a local image as an avatar image
3.5	December 8, 2020	Option to open new tabs in the background by default New ability to clone a tab in the background Improved popup thumbnails for tab stacks Added Widevine certificate keys for improved media playback URL sharing through QR code Shortcuts assigned to a global command are displayed in the context menu Improved single key shortcuts Option to change preferred languages Option to disable Google Hangouts, Google Cast, and Google Cloud Print components Option to always display the close tab button
3.6	January 28, 2021	Two-level style stacks, which replace the previous compact tab stacks implementation as the default Configurable context menus for bookmarks, downloads panel, history, notes, and window panel list menus Add support for TouchID (macOS only)
3.7	March 17, 2021	Add support for Kabyle language Add support for configurable document menus Support Periodic Reload in web panels Search highlight priority options Universal Binaries for native support on Apple M1 machines Search engine icons in the context menu
3.8	April 29, 2021	Cookie warning blocker Removal of FLoC web tracking Redesigned built-in panels Redesigned bookmarks dialogue
4.0	June 9, 2021	Vivaldi Mail (Beta) Vivaldi Calendar (Beta) Vivaldi RSS Reader (Beta) Vivaldi Translator for webpages Features sets presets New dark/light background images
4.1	July 28, 2021	Accordion style tab stacks User definable command chains Enable silent updates for single user and standalone installs
4.2	September 15, 2021	Private translation feature powered by Lingvanex Added new privacy search option Neeva Display a QR code that allows you to quickly share the page to another device using quick commands The buttons for Vivaldi’s signature Web Panels are now scrollable
4.3	October 7, 2021	Improve UI for Capture UI improvements for download panel details Separate logins for Google accounts from browser Enable PWA support Block idle detection API by default Implement new Sync Settings UI
5.0	December 2, 2021	Theme sharing Translation panel Autotranslation of selected text Downloads button and dialog Handle page actions as commands Add parameter to search with selection command: to specify search engine Provide rpm packages for ARM and ARM64
5.1	February 9, 2022	Reading List Scrolling horizontal tabs Quick Settings Panel for Start Page
5.2	April 6, 2022	Reading List Panel Shows statistics on blocked trackers Ads being blocked from profiling you
5.3	June 1, 2022	Editable Toolbars Fix that should prevent users getting the wrong default search engine Built-in mail client Vivaldi Mail, Vivaldi Calendar, and Vivaldi Feed Reader
5.4	August 10, 2022	Web panel muting Allow rocker gestures to be customisable New ability to “copy link to highlight” Allow hiding search engine keywords in search Add always use secure connection setting Use “paste and go” from quick commands
5.5	October 5, 2022	Tasks panel MX record for detection of mail server hostname Improve CalDAV service discovery Snap layout menu on Windows Address bar performance improvements
5.6	December 7, 2022	Integration with Vivaldi Social, the company's own Mastodon instance Tab stack pinning Addition of You.com to built-in search engines More customisation options for panels
5.7	February 16, 2023	The window panel is now the windows panel Auto-mark emails as read More customisable keyboard shortcuts
6.0	April 18, 2023	Customisable button icons in themes Workspaces Drag and drop mails between folders

Features

File:Chromeless UI w przeglądarce Vivaldi w OS X.png

Vivaldi 1.0.228.3 displaying the Wikipedia homepage in its "Chromeless UI" mode

Vivaldi has a minimalistic user interface with basic icons and fonts, and, optionally, a colour scheme that changes based on the background and design of the web page being visited. The browser also allows users to customise the appearance of UI elements such as background colour, overall theme, address bar and tab positioning, and start pages. According to CEO Jon von Tetzchner, Vivaldi's unique customisability is how the browser caters to experienced users.

Vivaldi comes with built-in ad blocker, pop up blocker and tracker blocker. These features block intrusive ads, help web pages load faster, and protect against malicious ads and trackers. It comes with built-in e-mail client with IMAP and POP3 support. Some of the Mail features are saved searches and offline message search. The browser can be used as a feed reader to save RSS and Atom feeds. It also comes with built-in Vivaldi Calendar to manage events in the browser. Vivaldi Translate is powered by Lingvanex and can instantly translate websites, without the need for third-party extensions.

Vivaldi features the ability to "stack" and "tile" tabs, annotate web pages, and add notes to bookmarks. Furthermore, users can place digital bookmarks on a "speed dial" page for quick access and harness "quick commands" to search bookmarks, browsing history, open tabs, and settings. Vivaldi is built around and based on web technologies such as HTML5, Node.js, React.js, and numerous NPM modules. As of Technical Preview 4, Vivaldi also supports numerous mouse gestures for actions like tab switching and keyboard activation. Vivaldi can also be set to a "Chromeless UI", which gives users more screen real-estate and the ability to focus on a single page without distractions. To accommodate users who prefer to use a large number of tabs at the same time, Vivaldi supports hibernation for both individual tabs and for tab stacks, freeing resources while the user does not actively use those tabs.

Extensions

Vivaldi can use many browser extensions developed for Google Chrome and Firefox (they use common WebExtensions API), and users can install extensions directly from the Chrome Web Store. Most of these work properly in Vivaldi, with the exception of user interface customisations due to its visual changes to the Chromium source code.

Market share

Further information: Usage share of web browsers

Starting with version 2.10, Vivaldi changed its user agent string to mimic a generic build of Chromium, which results in it not being recorded as a unique browser and causing a decrease in its recorded market share.

Reception

Ars Technica reviewer Scott Gilbertson wrote about version 1.0 in April 2016. He praised its innovative features, such as its tab handling, while noting that it will most likely remain a niche browser and not see widespread uptake. In October 2018, Gilbertson gave version 2.0 a very positive review and stated that Vivaldi is now his usual browser and that he would be hard put to go back to a browser without its unique features.

Ghacks editor-in-chief Martin Brinkmann wrote about the privacy of Vivaldi in January 2018. He criticised the lack of an opt-out option for the unique user ID it generates to get general statistics about the browser's userbase, but commented that the unique ID "is easy enough to delete" and "it is different anyway if you use Vivaldi on multiple devices".