Umbra — a privacy-first browser
Your browser.
Your data.
Your machine.
Umbra is a desktop browser that stays out of your way and out of your data. Everything it knows about you lives on your machine: no account, no telemetry, no ads. Made by one developer, for people who read the fine print.
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What it is
A browser you own, not one you rent.
Umbra is a desktop browser for Linux and Windows, built on Chromium. It treats your machine as the only server that matters: bookmarks, history, downloads, and settings are plain files in your config directory. Read them, back them up, move them, delete them. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
It blocks trackers and ads at the network layer, forces HTTPS where it can, and refuses third-party cookies by default. Popups, redirect chains, and cookie-notice banners are handled before you ever see them.
And it stays out of the way while doing it: a lean core, a lightweight start page, and no background jobs, updaters, or data-mining helpers parked in your tray.
Privacy
The control panel, not privacy theater.
Every protection below is a real switch in the settings, listed here exactly as shipped. Everything defaults to the strictest sane option.
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Tracker blockingStops trackers and analytics at the network layer.ON
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Ad blockingFilters ads before they reach the page.ON
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Force HTTPSUpgrades plain HTTP connections where possible.ON
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Third-party cookie blockingSites can't read each other's cookies.ON
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Do Not TrackSends the DNT header on every request.ON
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Popup blockingWindows that didn't ask first don't open.ON
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Redirect warningsChain redirects stop and ask before continuing.ON
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Cookie-notice blockingConsent banners are dismissed for you.ON
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IP hiding via proxyHTTP or SOCKS5 proxy support, system-wide per session.ON
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Wiper modeWipes everything on exit. Closes and leaves nothing.ON
Features
Built for people who live in the browser.
Two lanes in one window
Shade tabs
Press Ctrl+Shift+N and a shaded tab opens in a second, private lane of the same window. It is marked, it keeps no history, and your regular tabs stay untouched in their lane. The lanes never mix.
Dark, Light, AMOLED
Themes and wallpapers
Three themes, an accent color of your choosing, and a wallpaper for the start page. Tabs can live on any edge of the window — top, bottom, left, or right — and density goes from roomy to compact.
The first thing you see
A start page that is yours
A live clock, your shortcuts (the defaults are removable), your wallpaper, and your engine from seven choices — DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, Startpage, Mojeek, Google, Ecosia, or Lite DuckDuckGo. Everything local, nothing tracked.
Keep everything
Downloads and bookmarks
Downloads run in parallel with per-file control and resume support. Bookmarks live in a plain HTML file you can export, import, or hand-edit, and the bar shows icons or text — your call.
The details
Small things, done properly.
- Find in pageF3 or Ctrl+F, with match highlighting.
- Session restoreTabs come back exactly where they were.
- Per-site zoomEach site remembers its own zoom level.
- Pinned tabsCompact, persistent, reopen with the session.
- Download managerParallel transfers with pause and resume.
- Import from ChromeBookmarks come along in one click.
- Reduced motionAnimations off, when you want them off.
- Hardware accelerationA switch, because some GPUs misbehave.
Keybinds
Fifty shortcuts. All yours.
Everything you reach for often is one key away. A sample:
All 50 are remappable in Settings → Keyboard. Sticky ones get stuck nowhere.
About
One developer. One browser.
Umbra is made by Teddz — a web developer who wanted a browser that asks for nothing. One person, one codebase, one job: keep the web usable without selling your attention.
i Pre-release: Umbra v1.0.5 is not released yet. What you see here is the shape of what is coming — expect changes before it ships. When it does, it will be one installer, no account.