Flynx is a mobile web browser, but not one like the ones you’re probably used to.
When Facebook first released its standalone Messenger app a couple of years ago, I was excited to see the way other developers would use the experimental “Chathead” system that it created. It was provided a pretty interesting change-up to how notifications and multitasking felt across both Android and iOS. However, until Flynx, we haven’t really seen many apps other than Messenger use the system. The proposition of a mobile browser that used Chatheads was enough to get me interested.
In the same way that Facebook Messenger lets you easily have multiple conversations going on simultaneously regardless of what else you are doing on your device, Flynx bookmarks tabs for you. What’s the point of doing that you ask?
Well, for one it makes it really easy to open up a bunch of tabs when you browsing through Twitter that you can read later. Lynx collects them up at the top of your screen and lets you tap through them pretty quickly too. Closing a tab is as easy as swiping it to the bottom of the screen. The result is, without a doubt, the best way to have multiple browser tabs open at the same time—far better than the solutions Google or Apple have come up with in their respective web browsers.
To make Flynx work, it’s as easy going in to your settings and selecting it to be your default browser. From there on out, whenever you open a link—whether it’s from Facebook, an email, or from within another website—it’ll open up in a new chathead-like tab.
One of the big features of Flynx is that it will also reduce full web pages down to reader-friendly texts. Apps like Pocket, Flipboard, and Instapaper do a similar thing, but the way Flynx does it right there from a link is really convenient. Think about it this way: Flynx replaces those built-in browsers in Twitter or Facebook that were made just to avoid having to switch apps. The result is that using Flynx feels almost like an add-on to those apps and just might be one of the best social media companion apps out there.
Flynx also lets users quickly save articles to read later, which can then be opened up in the Flynx app and read offline. While it’s not multi-platform in the way Pocket is, Flynx is still a pretty impressive alternative for the times when you aren’t connected to WiFi and don’t want to use your data. It intelligently brings in photos from the body of the article and presents them in a nice, clean view that even includes a night mode.
The interesting thing is that although I switched to using Flynx as my default browser, it’s pretty much only used for opening links, so Chrome is still there for when I want to search for something or check a specific website. In that way, it doesn’t even feel like it was meant to replace Chrome, but instead just to be a second browser made specifically for opening links.
Flynx seems like a browser for a very specific kind of user. Fortunately, that kind of user is definitely me. If you use Twitter or Facebook to find articles to read and love filling your queue with lots of articles, Flynx really is the best solution out there. I never thought I’d need a second browser, but now I think it’d be hard to go back.
Flynx is an Android app that can be downloaded for free in the Google Play Store.