Opera for Android 50 Brings Improved Ad Blocker, Fast Scroller, Picture-in-Picture, and More

Opera has rolled out a new update for its browser on Android, which brings the version to 50 and with it, we also get a host of new features. Some of the new additions include a new picture-in-picture (PiP) mode, improvements to its in-built ad-blocker, enhancements to the fast scroll feature and more. The Opera for Android 50 update is available on the Google Play store, so if you have an Android smartphone, you can head over and grab the update.

The first big update to Opera for Android 50 is the ability to disable the ad-blocker for individual websites, which Opera says, can be done with two taps. You can tap the green lock symbol located on the left of the website address bar, which will then show you options to exclude the that website from ad blocking.

“We want website publishers to be able to ask users to turn off their ad blocker for their websites,” said Peter Wallman, SVP browsers at Opera. “This enhancement to our ad blocker will allow users to benefit from having an ad blocker always on while disabling it on specific websites.”

The next big addition to Opera for Android 50 is the new PiP mode, which lets you watch a video from a website while using other apps. It's enabled by default in the new version of the browser and works when you hit the home button on your Android phone, while watching a video in fullscreen mode. This minimises the browser but keeps the video playing as a pop-up window, over other apps. This is said to work on all websites that support PIP videos.

The new version has also added a fast scroll handle, which lets you scroll down or up to a long webpage even faster. According to the changelog for Opera for Android 50 on the Play Store, other changes include a more accessible site storage and cookie settings, “Open” option added for PDF or Doc files in the download dialog box, Dark CSS theme support, added three new language translations and now uses the Chromium 71 rendering engine.

Recently, Opera added a free, unlimited VPN service in its beta version of the browser on Android and late last year, added a cryptocurrency wallet, dubbed the Crypto Wallet for the Android version.