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Orion Browser
utility
•7/22/2026

Orion Browser

byKagi Inc.
App Store
8.4
The Verdict
"Orion is the most interesting iOS browser in years, and it isn't close. Kagi took Apple's WebKit mandate — the constraint that made every third-party iOS browser pointless — and built something with an actual reason to exist. The extension support alone justifies the install for anyone who has ever muttered "I wish I had that on my phone." The zero-telemetry architecture, backed by a business model that makes surveillance economically pointless, gives the privacy pitch teeth that Chrome's and Edge's marketing departments can't match." "It is not finished software in the way Safari is finished. It crashes more than it should. Its feature wishlist is long and its team is small. Mainstream users who just want to tap and scroll should stay with Apple's default and lose nothing. But for the audience Orion is actually built for — people who live in their browser and resent being the product — it's not just the best alternative on iOS. It's the only one making a real argument."

Key Features

Real extension support on iOS: Install many Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons extensions natively on iPhone and iPad — a capability effectively unique in mobile browsing. Compatibility isn't universal, but when it works, it's transformative.
Zero telemetry, by design: Orion collects no user data. Period. Combined with aggressive built-in ad and tracker blocking, pages load faster and cleaner without installing a single thing.
Native WebKit foundation: Orion behaves like a supercharged Safari — same rendering engine, same battery characteristics, same scroll physics — layered with global page zoom, focus mode, flexible search engine choices, and deep customization Safari refuses to offer.
User-funded, ad-free business model: Free to use, sustained by tip-jar purchases and the Orion+ tier. No advertiser sits between you and the product roadmap.

The Good

Real Chrome/Firefox extension support on iOS — genuinely unique
True zero-telemetry with excellent built-in ad/tracker blocking
Native WebKit feel with power features Safari lacks
Free, user-funded, no advertising incentives

The Bad

Occasional crashes and stability issues
Extension compatibility is hit-or-miss, not guaranteed
Missing profiles, tab groups, and toolbar customization
Small-team pace; no Android version now or planned

In-Depth Review

Bottom Line: Orion delivers the single most requested feature in mobile browsing history — real extensions on iOS — wrapped in a zero-telemetry package that actually respects you. It's occasionally rough around the edges, but for power users, there's nothing else like it on the iPhone.

The Extension Gambit

Let's be clear about why extensions matter here. On desktop, extensions are table stakes. On iOS, they've been a fantasy for fifteen years. Apple's Safari extension ecosystem is thin and gated behind Mac-centric developer tooling; every other browser gets nothing at all. Orion's engineers built a WebExtensions compatibility layer on top of WebKit, which means a meaningful slice of the Chrome and Firefox catalogs — password tools, page manipulators, userscript managers, niche utilities — can run on your phone.

The honest caveat: "many" is not "all." Extensions written against desktop assumptions — persistent background pages, specific Chromium APIs, UI that expects a mouse — can break, misrender, or drain battery. Orion doesn't hide this, and the community has effectively crowdsourced a compatibility map. Treat it as a superpower with a success rate, not a guarantee. Even at a 60% hit rate, it's 60% more than any competitor offers.

Privacy as Architecture, Not Marketing

Every browser claims to care about privacy now; it's the industry's most devalued word. Orion's claim is structurally different because of who's making it. Kagi's entire business is users paying directly for tools, which means there is no advertising revenue to protect and therefore no incentive to collect anything. The zero-telemetry stance isn't a settings toggle — it's the absence of the plumbing entirely. The built-in blocking is aggressive enough that most users will never install an ad blocker, which conveniently sidesteps the extension-compatibility question for the most common use case.

The Power-User Problem

Here's where the critical eye earns its keep. Orion is unapologetically a power-user browser, and it shows in both good and bad ways. Global page zoom is the kind of accessibility-adjacent feature Apple should have shipped years ago. Focus mode and per-site controls reward people who tune their tools. But that same ambition strains a small team: user reviews (the app sits around 4.1 stars across roughly 1,100 ratings) consistently flag occasional crashes and stability wobbles, and the wishlist is long — isolated profiles with separate cookies and history, tab groups, customizable toolbars. None of these are dealbreakers, but they're the tax you pay for choosing a browser built by a company a fraction of Google's size. If you want frictionless and boring, Safari is right there. Orion asks for a little patience in exchange for a lot of capability.

The Sustainability Question

The tip-jar model is admirable and fragile in equal measure. Kagi has a paying search subscriber base subsidizing the vision, which makes Orion more durable than the average indie browser. But users should understand what they're buying into: a roadmap paced by a small team's bandwidth, not a FAANG-scale release train. The upside is that the roadmap answers to users. When your funding comes from the people using the product, "engagement metrics" stop being a design input. That's rarer than it should be.

Editorial Disclaimer

The reviews and scores on this site are based on our editorial team's independent analysis and personal opinions. While we strive for objectivity, gaming experiences can be subjective. We are not compensated by developers for these scores.