What’s New in Vivaldi 7.8 — No AI Slop, Just Powerful Features
Chromium-based
Vivaldi 7.8 dropped on February 5, 2026 across all platforms. While every other browser is cramming AI into every corner, Vivaldi doubled down on what actually matters: powerful tab management, real privacy tools, and workflow features that respect your intelligence.
The “No AI” Statement
Here’s where Vivaldi gets interesting. While Chrome pushes Gemini, Edge integrates Copilot everywhere, and Opera ships “AI Feature Prompts,” Vivaldi has taken an explicit public stance against AI in the browser:
“When an artificial assistant sits between you and the web, it filters what you see and decides what you don’t see — it’s outsourcing your judgment.”
They frame it as “humans over hype” and refusing to “turn the joy of exploring into inactive spectatorship.” This isn’t just omission — it’s a deliberate philosophical position backed by their manifesto on keeping exploration human.
Whether you agree or not, it’s a rare and bold stance in an industry where every product team is racing to slap “AI-powered” on their feature list. For users who are tired of AI being force-fed into every tool, Vivaldi is putting its money where its mouth is.
Why It Matters
Vivaldi 7.8 is a power-user release through and through. The tab tiling overhaul transforms a clunky feature into something you’ll actually use daily. Domain-locked pinned tabs fix a long-standing annoyance. The Android Privacy Dashboard brings transparency that most mobile browsers don’t even attempt.
Who benefits most: researchers, developers, multi-tab workers, and privacy-conscious users who want visibility into what’s being blocked. If you manage complex browsing sessions with dozens of tabs across multiple projects, this release directly addresses your workflow.
What’s missing: there’s no mention of Manifest V3 extension migration progress, no sync improvements, and the iOS release is relatively light compared to Android and desktop. The daily image feature is nice but not exactly a productivity win.
Bottom Line
Should you update? Yes — if you’re already on Vivaldi, this is a meaningful quality-of-life upgrade. The tab tiling improvements alone make it worth it. If you’re on Android, pinned tabs and the Privacy Dashboard are overdue additions that bring mobile closer to the desktop experience.
Who is this for? Vivaldi has always been for the power user who wants maximum control and minimum tracking. Version 7.8 reinforces that identity. If you value productivity features over AI gimmicks, customization over simplification, and transparency over data harvesting — Vivaldi is making a stronger case than ever.
TL;DR
- Drag-to-tile tabs — create split-screen layouts by dragging tabs into the content area, no menus needed (desktop)
- Pinned tabs lock to their domain — a pinned Gmail tab stays Gmail, period (desktop)
- Privacy Dashboard on Android — see exactly which trackers Vivaldi blocked in real time (mobile)
- Pinned tabs come to Android — long-press to pin your essential tabs at the start of the Tab Bar (mobile)
- No AI features, by design — Vivaldi explicitly refuses to add AI, calling it “outsourcing your judgment” (desktop)
What’s New on Desktop
Drag to Tile — Tab Tiling Finally Feels Natural
The headline feature of Vivaldi 7.8 on desktop is a complete overhaul of Tab Tiling. You can now create split-screen layouts by simply dragging a tab from the Tab Bar into the content area. Hover over different zones to choose left, right, top, bottom, or grid placement. Drop it, and Vivaldi does the rest.
Once tiled, you can rearrange, resize, and add more tabs on the fly. Tiles behave like regular tabs, so you can combine tiling with features like periodic tab reloading to keep live dashboards updated while you work in another pane. It’s ideal for research, price comparison, or monitoring live content alongside your main task.
Open Link as Tiled Tab
A new context menu option — “Open as Tiled Tab” — lets you open any link directly into a tiled layout without disrupting your current view. You can also trigger this with a Mouse Gesture for zero-friction multitasking. Your main tab stays put, your context stays visible.
Pinned Tabs with Domain Restriction
Pinned tabs now lock to their domain. A pinned Gmail tab won’t navigate away to some random link — it stays Gmail. A pinned project management tool stays exactly where you expect. This is the behavior pinned tabs should have always had, and Vivaldi’s community requested it.
Mail Across All Windows and Workspaces
Vivaldi Mail — the built-in email client — now works across all browser windows and Workspaces. Previously, your mail was locked to a single window. Now you can pin your mail tab and it persists across every Workspace. Open a new window, switch contexts — your inbox follows you.
Daily Start Page Image
A new Daily Image option for the Start Page pulls high-quality photography from Unsplash each day. It’s optional, subtle, and a nice touch of variety for people who live in their browser.
Stability Improvements
The team invested heavily in crash fixes — their QA team reports “two full buckets of crash fixes” with all known crashes in Vivaldi’s own code now resolved. A new crash reporting opt-in system and improved caret browsing for keyboard-based navigation round out the polish.
What’s New on Mobile
Android: Pinned Tabs Arrive
Vivaldi 7.8 for Android brings pinned tabs to mobile. Long-press any tab, select “Pin Tab,” and it locks to the start of your Tab Bar. Essential for anyone who keeps a work dashboard, news site, or reference tab open all day.
Android: Privacy Dashboard
The Privacy Dashboard is now on Android, accessible from the shield icon in the Address Bar. It shows exactly which trackers and ads Vivaldi has blocked during your session — not just a count, but a breakdown of what’s trying to follow you. Vivaldi calls it “a reality check on the modern web.”
Android: Choose Your Password Manager
A new “Autofill services” setting lets you choose between Vivaldi’s built-in password manager or a third-party manager like Bitwarden or 1Password. Your passwords, your choice — no forced lock-in.
Android: Private Tab Search & Pull-to-Refresh Toggle
Two quality-of-life additions: search selected text directly in a private tab (highlight → search privately), and a setting to disable pull-to-refresh so you stop accidentally reloading pages mid-scroll.
iOS: Swipe-Based Navigation
Vivaldi on iOS adds three gesture-driven features: swipe up/down on the Address Bar to jump to the tab switcher, swipe to close tabs in the tab switcher (no more hunting for tiny X buttons), and the ability to add search engines from any website by long-pressing a search field.
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