Samsung Internet Extensions

What are Samsung Internet Extensions?

Samsung Internet for Android provides a way to customize the browsing experience by installing additional software packages named extensions. They expand the functionality of Samsung Internet for Android and help developers to provide tailored services to users on mobile devices.

Most major desktop browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari provide their own extensions which are contextual and powerful with various functionalities and services in a wide variety of fields. Millions of users are using extensions in desktop browsers and many billion-dollar businesses have come up from this opportunity.

Together with extension developers, Samsung Internet for Android will extend such opportunity to the mobile browser and will create a world of mobile extensions which are highly optimized for the mobile browser and devices.

What are mobile extensions?

We’re preparing a world of mobile extensions which work perfectly on mobile devices with Samsung Internet for Android. Mobile devices have many differences from desktop or laptop computers such as much smaller screens, different UX system (dedicated for Android in case of Samsung Internet for Android), limited hardware resources and very different security policies. Hence, the functionalities of mobile extensions should be different from those in desktop browsers. Supporting desktop extensions in Samsung Internet for Android is possible but some of them might not work correctly. Not only porting ordinary desktop extensions to Samsung Internet for Android but also different approaches to develop true mobile extensions will be needed.

For this, APIs from Chrome extensions and WebExtensions will be carefully selected to fit the mobile environment and more mobile dedicated APIs will be provided to help extension developers in creating perfect mobile extensions. Simple but useful guidelines and easy to use tools will also be provided, helping mobile extension development.

You can find more details about implementing mobile extensions as well as porting legacy desktop extensions to mobile by joining our project.

How do Samsung Internet Extensions work?

Go to Add-ons

The extensions for Samsung Internet for Android will be distributed through the Galaxy Store which is one of the popular mobile application stores and highly optimized for the mobile environment. They will be installed just like normal Android applications and will be used just like legacy Samsung Internet features so that the users who are not familiar with desktop extensions can use them easily.

Starting from v11.0 and Android M OS (API level 2x), Samsung Internet for Android reveals the ‘Get more Add-ons’ menu in ‘Add-ons’ menu page to let the users launch the Galaxy Store and browse the list of extensions for Samsung Internet for Android.

Add-ons Get More Add-on

Discover & Install

The extensions for Samsung Internet for Android will be listed in the ‘Samsung Internet Extensions’ category in the Galaxy Store. The details of each extension can be read and any of them can be installed in the same manner as normal Android applications.

When coming back to the ‘Add-ons’ menu page of Samsung Internet for Android from the Galaxy Store after installing one or more extensions, the installed extensions will appear as list items.

Samsung Internet Extension Category Extension on Add-ons

Invoke via action menu or context menu

The actions defined by each installed extension can be executed through either of the following ways in Samsung Internet for Android.

Action icon in Tools menu

Once installed and enabled, the extension icon will appear in the ‘Tools’ menu if any actions were defined to be executed by tapping it. This will help users to use extensions just like other legacy features of Samsung Internet for Android.

It’s also possible to move the icon to bottom toolbar so that users can frequently use it.

Action menus in Context menu

The actions which are defined to be executed from the context menus on either selected objects or a blank area of a web page can be provided in the same manner in Samsung Internet for Android. As the context menu on a blank area is not supported in mobile browsers, however, those actions will be listed together with other actions provided from the extension icon.

Extension on More Extension on Contextmenu

Join the Samsung Internet Extensions development program

The Samsung Internet Extensions project is in a closed beta phase. Only permitted developers can develop extensions for Samsung Internet for Android.

If you’re interested in development of mobile extensions for Samsung Internet for Android or you want to port your legacy desktop extensions to Samsung Internet for Android, please join us by submitting the request form in the below link.

On joining, additional manual pages and access to our tools will be provided to help your development.

Hundreds of millions of users of Samsung Internet for Android are waiting for you. We hope for you to join us and find another opportunity in the mobile world together.

Join us

Please contact us anytime if you have problems or comments. Your comments will help us to make the extensions for Samsung Internet world richer.