Helium

GitHub license build release

A fully open-source experimental Chromium-based web browser for Android with extensions support, based on

Vanadium by GrapheneOS Helium by imput (future patches pending GPLv2 compatibility)

Installing Extensions Navigate to Chrome Web Store, enable Desktop site by selecting the menu button ⋮ in the top right corner and ensure the option is checked. Select Okay and proceed as normal if prompted with:

The Chrome Web Store is only available on desktop.

Manifest V2 (MV2) extensions are supported. You can install uBlock Origin from Chrome Web Store.

Once you select Add to Chrome, the extension will be installed in the background until the button changes to Remove from Chrome.

Using Extensions To use an extension's popup, open extensions menu, select the menu button ⋮ next to the extension, and choose Pin to toolbar from the list. You can then open the popup using the extension's dedicated toolbar icon.

To run an extension in Incognito (OTR) mode, go to Manage extensions, find the extension you want to use in Incognito mode, select Details, and turn on Allow in Incognito.

Debug URLs To view and access the debug URLs, use chrome://chrome-urls. For Experiments, use chrome://flags.

WebRTC IP Policy Consistent with both Helium and Vanadium, the option is available by selecting the menu button ⋮ in the top right corner, then Settings, Privacy and security, then under Privacy, WebRTC IP handling policy. If you experience issues with WebRTC due to the IPs being shielded by default (e.g. Discord Voice), you may try to change it to Default public interface only, or Default.

Implementation Warning

All builds are experimental, so unexpected issues may occur. Helium Browser for Android only attempts to improve security and privacy where possible. For better protection on Android, you should instead use GrapheneOS with Vanadium, which additionally integrates patches into Android System WebView and provides significant kernel and memory management hardening on the OS level.

All Vanadium patches are applied by default. While the full build aims to be consistent with Helium, downstream implementation of Helium patches is currently paused to ensure strict compliance with upstream licensing requirements. The diagram reflects the architecture of initial ported releases and serves as the target framework if resolution is achieved.

Building All releases are built using Actions. Current releases can also be attested using GitHub CLI.

gh attestation verify *.apk -R jqssun/android-helium-browser This repository provides the build script to compile on the latest Ubuntu, and may also work with other Linux distributions.

To build these releases yourself via CI (e.g. GitHub Actions), fork this repository. Supply your base64 encoded keystore.jks and local.properties (containing your keyAlias, keyPassword and storePassword) to Repository secrets under Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions. To generate a release, go to Actions, select Build, and select Run workflow. Under Runner, you can either use a GitHub-hosted runner by entering ubuntu-latest, or self-hosted for your own hardware.

Credits This project would not have been possible without the huge community contributions from Vanadium, Helium, as well as ungoogled-chromium and various other upstream projects. All credit goes to the original authors and contributors. This project started around the same time as Helium Browser for Linux but it is not officially affiliated with the upstream Helium project.