Comparison

Maxthon Browser vs Whale

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Maxthon Browser

A mobile web browser designed for a streamlined and personalized experience. It offers a fresh interface, enhanced features like customizable favorites, and tools for privacy and eye comfort.

Highlights
  • New UI design
  • Re-planned homepage layout
  • Optimized feature layout
  • Enhanced favorites with text and images
  • Personalized data treasure chest
  • Incognito mode
  • Night mode
Read full description

The world changes every day but our beliefs remain the same. We firmly believe that good interaction is less while good product is neither more nor less, and good experience always comes from the heart. A fresh new Maxthon Browser for iPhone will become the treasure chest for you on mobile Internet. We made great efforts in this revision in a visual sense to get rid of complicated design. According to a large amount of users' feedback, we perfectly combined design and practical features to build a browser that suits you like no one does. Named “The Best Browser” by famous North American and European agencies many times : Download82 2017 Software 5-Star Award DEAL crunch 2017 Editor’s Choice About.com Most Popular Browser Award Share Networks Full-Stars Recommendation Award ...... All Awards can be checked here: http://www.maxthon.com/awards New Features: 【Video Enhancement】Support video speed adjustment, floating pop-up video and background video playback for a better viewing experience. 【Userscript Support】Tampermonkey userscript engine available to customize web pages and unlock more possibilities. 【Webpage Read Aloud】Text-to-speech for web content, free your eyes and listen to articles on the go. 【New design】Global UI interaction、fresh new design style; 【New Homepage】Re-planned page layout from traditional two-stage to three-stage, easily to view. 【New Layout】Optimized on overall features level, which highlighted the often used main features according to users feedback, greatly improved the convenience of operations. 【New Favorites】Breaking the traditional Favorites structure that can only save URL, re-identifying the favorites feature that can conclude pictures and text content. 【Personal Customized】 The new Maxthon Browser will not only be your information access platform, but rather your personal customized treasure chest for data that comes with a powerful edition of notes, password management, and numerous extensions. Others feature: 【Incognito mode】Browsing on the incognito mode will never record your cache, Cookie, history, and download record. 【Night mode】Make adjustments to brightness to reduce the damage to the eyes when browsing at night. More Info: Report Bug: http://www.maxthon.com/mx/bug/post/ Help Center: http://www.maxthon.com/mx5/help/question/ Contact us:contact@maxthon.com Website: http://www.maxthon.com/ Maxthon Community: http://www.maxthon.com/ Facebook:www.facebook.com/maxthon Twitter:www.twitter.com/Maxthon YouTube:www.youtube.com/MaxthonCloudBrowser LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/company/maxthon-international-limited

About

Whale

This browser offers a fast and intuitive web browsing experience with cross-device synchronization. It features a unique quick search function and a convenient scrapbook for saving content, all while blocking intrusive ads. Enjoy a personalized and efficient way to access web content.

Highlights
  • Fast and intuitive design
  • Cross-device data synchronization
  • Quick search on screen
  • Convenient scrapbook
  • Ad blocking
Features
Read full description

Here is Naver Whale browser! Searching in easy and fast, Syncing to every devices, Blocking abusive ads. Enjoy web content with Whale! - The more you use it, the more beautiful and intuitive design - Synchronize your data as is on any PC / mobile device - Quick and easy search on the screen you saw, Quick Search - Your own Scrapbook, more convenient than bookmarks Learn more about Naver Whale - Contact us through whaleteam@naver.com - Please visit us : https://whale.naver.com - This is the from for whale, let us know your opinion : https://forum.whale.naver.com/forum/25/ Required Permission Info - Location : To provide location information on websites - Photos : To download images from website or upload the photos stored on device to website - Microphone : To use your voice and access Whale ON video meeting - Camera : To upload images and access Whale ON video meeting Privacy Policy You can read privacy policy of Whale browser : https://policy.naver.com/policy-mobile/privacy.html

Screenshots

Maxthon Browser4 screens
Whale4 screens

Verdict

The call

Maxthon Browser and Whale are too close to call on the numbers: across 10 compared parameters — price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Maxthon Browser against 4.5 for Whale. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 701 and 311 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of Maxthon Browser's written reviews are positive against 65% of Whale's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Maxthon Browser ships an update every 2 weeks, Whale fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Maxthon Browser versus Whale: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMaxthon BrowserWhale
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (701 ratings)4.5 (311 ratings)
Positive reviews70.5% of reviews — better65.2% of reviews
Number of ratings701 — better311
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB355 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperMaxthon Technology LimitedNAVER Corp.

Customer experience

Maxthon Browser

All ratings701 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral3.4%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews217 reviews
Positive70.5%
Neutral5.1%
Negative24.4%

Whale

All ratings311 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral4.2%
Negative8.4%
Written reviews132 reviews
Positive65.2%
Neutral12.9%
Negative22.0%

User reviews

Maxthon Browser

From 701 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and efficient browsing
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🔒 Secure and private browsing
  • 💡 Useful features like cloud sync and note-taking

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 👎 Cluttered and confusing UI after updates
  • 🚫 Forced login/account creation

Whale

From 311 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • ✨ Clean and beautiful design
  • 🚀 Fast and reliable performance
  • 🔗 Seamless PC and mobile integration
  • 💡 Useful built-in features (Papago, calculator, memo)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
  • ⚠️ Ad blocker not working effectively
  • 🐌 Slow loading times on some devices/websites
  • 🚫 Certain features not working as expected (PiP, screen time, translation)
  • 📱 Mobile version less optimized than desktop

Bugs and requests

Maxthon Browser

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Freezing and unresponsiveness
  • Bookmark and history sync issues
  • Incompatibility with older devices
  • Problems with file downloads and attachments

Requested features

4 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Improved tab management
  • Ability to customize homepage and bookmarks
  • Better video/audio playback support

Whale

Reported bugs

54 issues
  • Picture in Picture (PiP) not working
  • Playback slider not working
  • Hacker using the interface (potential security issue)
  • Screen time not working
  • UI issues with YouTube and Naver on iPad
Show 49 more
  • Background wallpaper changing automatically
  • Text size adjustment difficult
  • YouTube full screen not working on iPad
  • Papago feature not working on certain websites
  • Login errors (non-existent account, wrong password)
  • YouTube small window mode issues
  • Screen not transitioning to full screen
  • Tab window bug when opening new tabs
  • PDF viewing issues (lagging, crashing)
  • App crashing after update
  • WebRTC open by default on PC/Mac
  • Whaleon error preventing meeting participation
  • File names with Korean characters becoming unreadable after download on iOS 15
  • Back button behavior (going to top of page)
  • Bomtoon account login authorization error
  • App force closes when entering a class meeting link
  • Bug where previously opened pages open in a new tab
  • Naver dark mode not working
  • Page loading issues
  • Login issues with incorrect password or initialization failure
  • Login not working on iPad
  • Dedicated meeting room hostless start error
  • App freezing and becoming unresponsive
  • Dark mode issues (not applying, white screen on some sites)
  • YouTube translation issues causing content mix-up
  • MacBook (M1) battery consumption
  • Freezing issues on mobile
  • Text selection issues (options window not appearing)
  • App crashing on login
  • Crash when editing menu
  • Translation not working (German to English)
  • App crashing when opening new tabs
  • App restarting when minimized
  • App crashing on login attempt
  • Infinite crashing
  • App closes after a few seconds
  • PDF documents in links cause freezing
  • Link to PDF documents causes freezing
  • Automatic refresh when switching apps
  • App restarts when minimized
  • Dark mode not available on iOS
  • Infinite crashing on iOS
  • App crashes after login attempt
  • Syncing issues with desktop browser history
  • Text selection not working on iPad
  • Papago or Quick Search not appearing next to text selection
  • Background playback not working on mobile data
  • Translation function often unavailable
  • Search term saving cannot be turned off on mobile

Requested features

24 requests
  • Add simplified Chinese language support
  • Add Turkish language support
  • Add Japanese language support
  • Improve text selection and copy-paste functionality
  • Add a search feature for opened tabs
Show 19 more
  • Allow users to disable search term saving
  • Add a desktop mode persistent option
  • Improve PiP fast forward/backward slider
  • Add screen time tracking feature
  • Add option to disable 'frequently visited sites' on home screen
  • Allow users to set homepage to a new tab page
  • Add option to disable closing tab list when closing last tab
  • Improve background playback on mobile data
  • Add Chinese language version
  • Add Russian language support
  • Add a feature to move PC content to other devices
  • Fix issue with automatic change to new version of Naver launcher
  • Add ability to download to Files
  • Fix issue with PDF rendering on iPad
  • Add option to customize toolbar
  • Improve text size adjustment for better usability
  • Add a feature to view saved passwords on iPhone
  • Add a screen time mode to see time spent on each website
  • Add option to fix background wallpaper

In-app purchases

None

Maxthon Browser

No in-app purchases

None

Whale

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Maxthon Browser free?
Maxthon Browser is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Whale free?
Whale is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Maxthon Browser or Whale?
Maxthon Browser and Whale are both rated 4.5 out of 5 on the App Store, from 701 and 311 ratings respectively.
Do Maxthon Browser or Whale have ads?
Neither Maxthon Browser nor Whale shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Maxthon Browser or Whale?
Maxthon Browser ships an update every 2 weeks, and Whale fortnightly. Most recently, Maxthon Browser was updated on September 20, 2026 and Whale on September 25, 2026.

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