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NovaBrowser

The Ultimate iOS Browser - Blazing fast, privacy-first, with CyberKit-enhanced WebKit engine support for maximum compatibility across all iOS versions.

Downloads

Get the latest build from GitHub Releases or trigger a build from Actions.

File Description Install Method
NovaBrowser.ipa Standard unsigned IPA AltStore, Sideloadly, Scarlet, Feather
NovaBrowser.tipa TrollStore IPA TrollStore (permanent, no revokes)

Features

Core Browser

  • Blazing Fast Engine - Optimized WKWebView with performance tuning
  • CyberKit Enhanced - On jailbroken devices, benefits from CyberKit's backported modern WebKit engine bringing modern web standards to older iOS
  • Smart Address Bar - Combined URL/search bar with auto-suggestions from bookmarks, history, and search engines
  • Tab Management - Card-based tab switcher with screenshots, unlimited tabs, drag-to-reorder
  • Private Browsing - Isolated private browsing mode with separate process pool

Content

  • Built-in Ad Blocker - EasyList + EasyPrivacy + Peter Lowe's tracking list with 50+ ad network domains blocked, CSS element hiding, and MutationObserver for dynamic ads
  • Reader Mode - Clean article extraction with typography optimized for reading
  • Force Dark Mode - Applies dark theme to any website using CSS filter inversion
  • Find in Page - Native iOS 16+ find or JavaScript fallback for older versions
  • Desktop Site Request - Switch user agent to request desktop versions

Organization

  • Bookmarks - Full bookmark management with folders, favorites, and reading list
  • History - Sectioned browsing history (Today, Yesterday, This Week, etc.) with search
  • Download Manager - File downloads with pause/resume/retry, organized by status

Privacy & Security

  • HTTPS Upgrade - Automatically upgrades HTTP to HTTPS
  • Do Not Track - Sends DNT header
  • Third-Party Cookie Blocking - Optional blocking of cross-site cookies
  • Fraudulent Website Warning - Security warnings for known malicious sites
  • Content Blockers - WKContentRuleList-based blocking compiled from filter lists

Customization

  • 8 Search Engines - Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Yahoo, Startpage, Brave, Ecosia, Qwant
  • Theme System - Light/Dark/System with custom accent color picker
  • Font Size Control - Adjustable page font size (50%-200%)
  • Performance Tuning - Configurable cache size, prefetching, hardware acceleration

Technical

  • Context Menus - Long-press on links for Open in New Tab, Copy, Share, Download, Bookmark
  • JavaScript Dialogs - Full support for alert(), confirm(), prompt() with origin display
  • HTTP Authentication - Username/password dialogs for protected sites
  • Media Permissions - Camera/microphone permission requests per-site
  • URL Scheme Handling - Registers as HTTP/HTTPS handler, handles tel:/mailto:/sms:
  • State Persistence - Saves and restores tabs, bookmarks, history across app launches
  • Scroll-to-Hide - Toolbar auto-hides on scroll for more content area

Architecture

NovaBrowser/
├── Sources/
│   ├── App/
│   │   ├── NovaBrowserApp.swift      # App entry point, lifecycle
│   │   └── AppState.swift            # Central state management (tabs, navigation)
│   ├── Models/
│   │   ├── BrowserTab.swift          # Tab model with WKWebView lifecycle
│   │   ├── Bookmark.swift            # Bookmark & folder models
│   │   ├── HistoryItem.swift         # History entry model
│   │   ├── DownloadItem.swift        # Download tracking model
│   │   └── SearchEngine.swift        # 8 search engine configurations
│   ├── Views/
│   │   ├── Browser/
│   │   │   ├── MainBrowserView.swift     # Main browser chrome
│   │   │   ├── WebViewContainer.swift    # WKWebView wrapper + delegates
│   │   │   ├── AddressBar.swift          # Smart address bar + suggestions
│   │   │   ├── NewTabPageView.swift      # New tab page with favorites
│   │   │   └── FindInPageBar.swift       # Find in page + error overlay
│   │   ├── Tabs/
│   │   │   └── TabSwitcherView.swift     # Card-based tab grid
│   │   ├── Settings/
│   │   │   └── SettingsView.swift        # Full settings panel
│   │   ├── Bookmarks/
│   │   │   └── BookmarksView.swift       # Bookmark manager + editor
│   │   ├── History/
│   │   │   └── HistoryView.swift         # Sectioned history browser
│   │   └── Downloads/
│   │       └── DownloadsView.swift       # Download manager UI
│   ├── Managers/
│   │   ├── SettingsManager.swift     # UserDefaults-backed settings
│   │   ├── ThemeManager.swift        # Theme & appearance control
│   │   ├── BookmarkManager.swift     # Bookmark CRUD & persistence
│   │   ├── HistoryManager.swift      # History tracking & sections
│   │   └── DownloadManager.swift     # Download lifecycle management
│   ├── Services/
│   │   ├── AdBlocker/
│   │   │   └── AdBlockManager.swift  # Content blocking engine
│   │   ├── Storage/
│   │   │   └── StorageManager.swift  # File system & cache management
│   │   └── Networking/
│   │       └── SearchSuggestionsService.swift  # Search autocomplete
│   └── Extensions/
│       ├── URLHelper.swift           # URL parsing & resolution
│       ├── UserAgentManager.swift    # User agent strings
│       ├── ReaderModeScripts.swift   # Article extraction JS
│       └── DarkModeScripts.swift     # Dark mode CSS injection
├── Resources/
│   └── Assets.xcassets/              # App icons and assets
├── Info.plist                        # App configuration
└── NovaBrowser.entitlements          # App entitlements

Compatibility

iOS Version Support Level Notes
iOS 15.0+ Full All features available
iOS 14.0 Good Missing some iOS 15+ APIs, graceful fallback
iOS 12-13 Via CyberKit Requires jailbreak + CyberKit for modern web standards

CyberKit Integration

NovaBrowser is designed to work seamlessly with CyberKit, which is a backport of modern WebKit to older iOS versions:

  • On jailbroken devices with CyberKit installed, the system WebKit frameworks are replaced with newer versions, automatically improving NovaBrowser's rendering capabilities
  • On stock iOS 15+, NovaBrowser uses the native WebKit engine with all available optimizations
  • On iOS 17.4+ (EU), future versions will support BrowserEngineKit for true alternative engines

Building

GitHub Actions (Recommended)

  1. Fork this repository
  2. Go to Actions tab
  3. Run "Build NovaBrowser IPA & TIPA" workflow
  4. Download artifacts (IPA and TIPA)

Local Build

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/user/NovaBrowser.git
cd NovaBrowser

# Build for device (unsigned)
xcodebuild -project NovaBrowser.xcodeproj \
  -scheme NovaBrowser -configuration Release \
  -sdk iphoneos \
  CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="" CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED=NO \
  ONLY_ACTIVE_ARCH=NO build

# Create IPA
mkdir Payload
cp -r build/Build/Products/Release-iphoneos/NovaBrowser.app Payload/
zip -r NovaBrowser.ipa Payload/

Creating Tagged Release

git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0
# GitHub Actions will automatically create a release with IPA and TIPA

Installation

TrollStore (Permanent)

  1. Download NovaBrowser.tipa
  2. Open in TrollStore
  3. Tap Install - done! No revokes, permanent.

AltStore / Sideloadly

  1. Download NovaBrowser.ipa
  2. Open in AltStore or Sideloadly
  3. Sign and install
  4. Refresh every 7 days (AltStore auto-refreshes)

Technical Details

  • Language: Swift 5.9+
  • UI Framework: SwiftUI
  • Minimum Deployment: iOS 15.0
  • Engine: WKWebView (WebKit) with CyberKit enhancement support
  • Bundle ID: com.novabrowser.app
  • No dependencies: Zero third-party Swift packages - pure Apple frameworks only
  • Binary size: ~2MB (app binary only, no bloat)

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

About

The Ultimate iOS Browser - Blazing fast, privacy-first, with CyberKit-enhanced WebKit engine support. Built-in ad blocker, tabs, bookmarks, reader mode, dark mode, downloads, and more.

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