The world’s fifth-most popular internet browser has received some welcome updates to its Android app.
As of November 6th, 2018, Opera for Android users will be able to block those annoying cookie dialog boxes informing users that websites use cookies to collect certain kinds of user data.
“At Opera, we have a long tradition of being the first ones to provide new tools that improve people’s web experience”, said Peter Wallman, senior vice president of browser engineering at Opera.
“We now invite people to try cookie dialog blocker and start to get rid off all those annoying dialogs.”
To activate the cookie dialog blocker, users simply need to navigate to ‘Settings’ within the Opera app and select ‘Ad blocking.’
Opera said its cookie dialog blocker was inspired by the recent introduction of the E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into force on May 25th, 2018.
The GDPR is a comprehensive set of 99 articles governing how websites and digital service providers can gather and curate private or personal user data.
One side effect of the GDPR was that websites began displaying multiple notifications informing users that a variety of data will be collected if users choose to continue browsing the website.
According to Opera, the Android browser’s cookie dialog blocker has been tested across 15,000 websites.
“Opera users can also help us prioritize which websites to fix first by reporting irritating cookie dialogs using the built-in tool in the beta version of the Opera browser,” reads an excerpt from a November 6th, 2018 media release.
In addition to blocking cookie dialog boxes, the latest version of Opera for Android also introduces a collection of home screen shortcuts that allow users to scan QR codes, open private tabs, open new tabs or search through the browser.
Opera for Android’s final new feature is a text size setting that lets users change font sizes across websites.
“When a website is not optimized for mobile browsing, Opera’s text size adjustment and text wrap features can improve the reading experience,” reads an excerpt from the same November 6th, 2018 media release.
Source: Opera
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