Alt-browser Flow breezes through web tests, but still far from a daily driver

Alternative browser Flow now passes 90 percent of web-platform-tests.

The browser currently runs on the Raspberry Pi - we ran a preview of version 7.0.1 on a Pi 500 - but developer Piers Wombwell told El Reg that plans are afoot to dust off the iOS port: "I've been entirely focused on 90 percent, and it doesn't build anymore."

It's a significant milestone for the browser, and ticks off one of the requirements for Apple to allow the rendering engine on its devices in the European Union. Under pressure from Europe, the iPhone designer was forced to allow third-party browser engines in iOS, albeit with some requirements, one of which Flow has now met.

When we last looked at Flow, it was still in its early days, although the performance and lack of data slurpage were appealing. In the more than four years since, the browser has made steady progress; we downloaded version 7.0.1 on a Pi 500 to see how the project was going.

First, version 7.0.1 has a user interface around the rendered page, meaning entering a URL and navigating through pages doesn't require remembering keyboard shortcuts or typing the URL in manually via the command line.

Compared to more popular browsers, which will do their best to work out what a user meant to type for the URL and, if all else fails, drop them into a search engine, Flow is rather basic. If you get the URL wrong, you're more likely than not to be shown an error page. This is also the wrong place to be if you want fripperies like Favorites, or pages of settings and customizations.

However, it is the place for speedy rendering and browsing that won't constantly phone home.

We checked some of the sites that had problems last time. Google Docs now seemed mostly fine, although it complained about the browser (the User Agent identifies the browser as Flow, which will probably send many sites scurrying for the hills). YouTube also performed well on version 7.0.1 running on a Raspberry Pi 500 with a freshly updated version of the Raspberry Pi operating system.

"Mostly fine" means we can't recommend Flow as a replacement for a daily driver right now. Wombwell told us the team had been focused on Apple's 90 percent target for web-platform-tests rather than specific websites.

"I don't think we meet people's expectations for a desktop browser yet," he admitted. "Expectations for mobile browsers are different, so are probably easier to meet initially."

As such, the primary challenge is fulfilling all of Apple's EU criteria. "Which means we need to maintain (and improve on) our 90 percent pass rate," said Wombwell. "We've met the hardest of all their requirements, but need to go through the rest, and give it a UI!"

Subjectively, the browser is undeniably speedy compared to alternatives and snappier than Chromium on the Pi 400 and Pi 500. There is also the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes from knowing your data is not being hoovered up by one of the tech giants.

However, work still needs to be done, even considering the 90 percent score on web-platform-tests. The lack of favorites and other user account synchronization functionality isn't necessarily a bad thing, although discovering that a must-have site breaks the preview browser is likely to turn off casual users.

Is Flow an alternative to the big browser engines? After a few years away, the answer remains "not quite." At least not in terms of a general-purpose web browser.

However, progress has been made, as shown by the high score on web-platform-tests. If you have a Pi to hand, we'd recommend checking it out and giving the Ekioh team some feedback on what works and what doesn't. ®