Nirvana
01
Clay
The Maker
Warm and hands-on. Our default, for people who build things and fix them.
Our story
Independent voices
The web is where people learn, work and speak up. It stays open when no single company decides how it works. This is the story of Nirvana’s small, independent part in that, and of the colours you can give this site.
3major browser engines are still in active development
1of them, Gecko, runs inside Nirvana
4people build Nirvana, in India
7colours you can give this website
Why it matters
One more browser that isn’t Chromium.
Most popular Android browsers, including Chrome, Samsung Internet, Edge, Opera, Brave and Vivaldi, are built on Blink, the engine of Google’s Chromium project. Firefox and browsers built from its code, Nirvana among them, use Mozilla’s Gecko engine instead.
When nearly everyone uses one engine, that engine’s choices quietly become the web’s rules: what gets supported, what gets blocked, and what extensions are allowed to do. Each browser on a different engine gives websites one more reason to follow open standards instead of one product’s behaviour.
The honest part
Nirvana doesn’t make its own engine. Gecko is built by Mozilla, and Nirvana depends on Mozilla’s updates for engine and security fixes.
BlinkChromium project, led by Google
ChromeSamsung InternetMicrosoft EdgeOperaBraveVivaldi
GeckoMozilla
FirefoxTor Browser
Nirvana
NirvanaWebKitApple
SafariMost iPhone browsers
A web shaped by many browsers is harder for any one company to bend.
Make it yours
Seven colours, seven voices.
In 2022, Firefox released colourways named after personalities: the Activist, the Dreamer, the Visionary and more. We borrowed the idea for this website. Pick the voice that sounds like you, and every page changes with it.
02
Ocean
The Explorer
Calm and curious. For long reads, deep research and one link too many.
03
Forest
The Guardian
Steady and protective. For people who check what a site can access before tapping Allow.
04
Plum
The Dreamer
Bold and imaginative. For sketching ideas before they are ready.
05
Rose
The Activist
Loud in the right places. For people who speak up and share what they learn.
06
Amber
The Storyteller
Bright like late afternoon. For writers, readers and anyone with a notebook open.
07
Graphite
The Minimalist
Quiet and focused. For people who want the page and nothing else.
08
Your mix
Your own voice
Pair any colour with light or dark, a warm or neutral background, and full or reduced motion.
These colours change this website only and are saved in this browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. Inside the Nirvana app, theme options are in Settings → Customize, and the exact choices depend on your build.
No sugar-coating
What “independent” means here, and what it doesn’t.
It means
- Made by a team of four in India, not by a large company.
- Not owned, run or endorsed by Mozilla.
- uBlock Origin comes pre-installed and turned on.
- Optional telemetry is off by default in the reviewed source.
- The team decides what goes into each Nirvana release.
It doesn’t mean
- Built from scratch. Nirvana is based on Firefox for Android code and Mozilla’s GeckoView.
- Free of outside services. Sync uses a Mozilla account, and searches go to the provider you choose.
- Fully open yet. Nirvana’s own Android source is not public yet; MPL-covered source can be requested by email.
- Invisible online. Websites, your network and accounts you sign into can still see what you do.
The people
The voices behind Nirvana.
The project is led by Abhiraj Aryan, with Rahul Kumar Pal, Priyanshu Singh and Shivam Giri.
AA
Abhiraj AryanProject leadRP
Rahul Kumar PalCore teamPS
Priyanshu SinghCore teamSG
Shivam GiriCore teamGet involved
Add your voice.
Independent software gets better when the people using it speak up.
Report a problem
Tell us what broke, with your app version and Android version.
Contact supportSuggest an idea
A setting you miss, or a page on this site that could be clearer.
Email the teamImprove the Hindi
The Hindi version of this site is new. If a sentence reads oddly, send us a better one.
Send a fixFollow the project
Updates from the team on Instagram.
@viro.coder.aryanWhere this page comes from
This page was inspired by “Independent voices”, a 2022 Mozilla Blog post about the colourways in Firefox 106, made with designer Keely Lascio. Those colourways were a Firefox feature and are not part of Nirvana. Nirvana is not affiliated with Mozilla.
Ready when you are
Try Nirvana on Android.
Free on Google Play. Google Play shows whether it works on your phone.
