Unofficial builds (No Release for 20 months for paying customers)

[juliusvonkohout]

The last build is from June 2017. I am currently building it myself, but i paid on Google play and also use fdroid.

I have built the dev and scalable-ad-blocking branch on 2018-04-22
I have tested the scalable-ad-blocking builds with API level 28/9.0/pie 27/8.1/oreo 25/7.1.1/nougat

Nevertheless the dev branch should also work on those API levels. Since .apk is not allowed i zipped both builds and uploaded them here.

app-lightningPlus-release-unsigned-api28.zip

[Younes-L]

#724

[Avrution]

Are there any public builds that include the latest commits?

[Avrution]

Thanks - will try it on my phone.

Trying to compile a version for 7.0, but always getting the error:

Failed to transform file 'butterknife-compiler-9.0.0-rc1.jar' to match attributes {artifactType=processed-jar} using transform JetifyTransform

[juliusvonkohout]

Thanks - will try it on my phone.

Trying to compile a version for 7.0, but always getting the error:

Failed to transform file 'butterknife-compiler-9.0.0-rc1.jar' to match attributes {artifactType=processed-jar} using transform JetifyTransform

i have built the latest branches for you and they work on all current API levels including 7.1.1. Please see the first post.

[Avrution]

Thank you very much for that

[n1l-404]

A new lightning browser with the new logo is now on Google Play Store, but the app author/publisher seems to be different, though.

[puppykickr]

@n1l-404
I can't seem to find it.
Only the standard Google version shows up in the PlayStore.

Previously, there were two copycat apps, Stealth Browser and LiteSpeed Browser, but both seem to have been pulled.

Stealth is still available online, but I cannot locate LiteSpeed.

Both had trackers, and a horrible Auto-Fill 'feature'- which is ironic considering that they were supposed to be concerned with privacy.

[xRadio-us]

I downloaded the unofficial (April 28) ZIP file above. I had to uninstall my paid Lightning version from the Google Play store before it would fully install the APK on my Android TV box. It seems to work fine but so far I have not noticed any obvious changes (except ad-block checkbox and new app icon) or any obvious improvements. Maybe they are there, just "under-the-hood".

UPDATE: since basic browsing with this unofficial 20190428 build tested out well, I installed it as my default browser on my Android phones and made a backup zip-download-link (at bottom).

[xRadio-us]

HTML5 AUDIO support - POOR

On my Android TV box, Lightning proved to be poor at HTML 5 audio streaming, similar to the Android 6.0 default browser. Most of the streaming radio stations at the link below experienced long loading delays or failed to play in Lightning unlike other Android browsers like Chrome, Brave, Bromite, Firefox, Opera, etc.

https://xradio.us/mini-college.php

Further testing using an old media files link ...
https://stream2wifi.com/homenet/demo/index.php?/Test%20Files

... showed that most Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Brave, Bromite, Opera) could directly play lots of audio and video formats. Firefox would play fewer - but not FLAC, M4B, M4V, MKV or MOV.

Lightning and the old Android 6.0 default browser were "old school", not playing any of these media files directly but instead invoked a popup external player selection menu.

[juliusvonkohout]

HTML5 AUDIO support - POOR

On my Android TV box, Lightning proved to be poor at HTML 5 audio streaming, similar to the Android 6.0 default browser. Most of the streaming radio stations at the link below failed to play in Lightning unlike other Android browsers like Chrome, Brave, Bromite, Firefox, Opera, etc.

https://xradio.us/mini-college.php

Further testing using an old media files link ...
https://stream2wifi.com/homenet/demo/index.php?/Test%20Files

... showed that most Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Brave, Bromite, Opera) could directly play lots of audio and video formats. Firefox would play fewer - but not FLAC, M4B, M4V, MKV or MOV.

Lightning and the old Android 6.0 default browser were "old school", not playing any of these media files directly but instead invoked a popup external player selection menu.

i am using foss browser and or lineageos browser now.

[xRadio-us]

Re: HTML5 Audio - it seems that all WebView-based browsers (including FOSS) share the same problems with HTML5 audio - slow-to-connect or bad streaming audio, This seems to be most apparent on Android TV boxes with less powerful CPUs than found on most modern smartphones.

Despite the audio shortcoming of WebView based browsers and the incomplete rendering on certain web sites like Meetup.com, I will keep this unofficial Lightning+ browser as my default on my Android TV box. It has many good features that are missing on other browsers, The good far outweighs the few shortcomings.

Unlike Chromium-based browsers, Lightning+ includes mouse-drag web page navigation that is much faster and more precise for Android TV web browsing. Lightning+ can redirect YouTube links to the YouTube app which handles video much better than any Android browser. The READER MODE with option for enlarged white text and dark gray background is useful for news sites including NPR and IFLSCIENCE.

I also find Lightning's mouse-drag-to-open left side panel, ready to open or close tabs, easier than performing the same actions in other browsers.

[M7amma]

The dev of IDM+ app has done an excellent job on developing a fork of this chromium based browser. I wonder if someone can implement these good options and features?

Sent from my Galaxy Note3 using FastHub-Libre

[chk1]

app-lightningPlus-release-unsigned-api28.zip

Thank you for providing this build, it works really well.

One thing to be aware of when upgrading, the bookmark export/import is a little broken (not sure which and why). I exported my bookmarks from the recent Google Play version and imported into the custom version provided. Name and URLs of bookmarks were switched, I exported and imported again from the custom version to switch name and URL again.