Make Vivaldi the default browser on Android

To make Vivaldi your default browser on Android:

  1. Open the Vivaldi menu and select Set as default browser.
    If you have Settings open, scroll to Web Pages section and toggle on Set as default browser.
  2. In the view that opens, tap on Browser app to set a new default.
  3. Select Vivaldi Browser.

Alternatively, open Android Settings and go to Apps > Default Apps, to make Vivaldi the default browser app.

Make Vivaldi the default browser on iOS

To make Vivaldi your default browser on iOS:

  1. Go to  Vivaldi menu > Settings > Default browser.
  2. Tap on Open Vivaldi Settings.
  3. Tap on Default Browser App.
  4. Select Vivaldi.

Alternatively, you can get to Vivaldi’s settings in iOS, by opening your mobile device’s Settings and scrolling to find or searching for Vivaldi.

Mute and block accounts, boosts, and notifications on Vivaldi Social

Vivaldi Social, like any social media platform, is full of people posting on a multitude of topics at various intervals. If some accounts post too much or you don’t care for the content of their posts, you have the option to mute the account or block them outright.

Mute an account

To stop seeing posts from a user and posts that mention them:

  1. Click on ⋯ More below one of their posts or on︙Menu on their profile.
  2. Select Mute [@username].
  3. Choose for how long you want to mute them (from 5 minutes to 7 days or indefinitely) and whether you still want to receive notifications from them.
  4. Click Mute.

When you mute someone, you won’t see their content, but they’ll still be able to follow and interact with your account and posts. If you don’t want that, consider blocking the account.

Mute boosts

If you like seeing a user’s own posts, but don’t want to see the content they boost:

  1. Click on︙Menu on their profile.
  2. Select Hide boosts from [@username].

Mute notification

Did you make a post that’s gaining traction and now you’re flooded with notifications about comments and boosts? (Temporarily) muting notifications can let you browse in peace, while the discussion is still ongoing. To mute the notifications for the post:

  1. Click on ⋯ More below your post.
  2. Select Mute conversation.

For additional notification settings, go to the Notifications page and click on Show settings at the top of the page to adjust your preferences.

Block an account

To hide an account’s content and prevent it from following and interacting with you:

  1. Click on ⋯ More below one of their posts or on︙Menu on their profile.
  2. Select Block [@username].
  3. Click Block to confirm your decision.

Block an instance

If you’ve noticed that some Mastodon instance has a lot of users you’d like to block, you can block the whole instance instead of blocking accounts one by one. Blocking an instance will hide all content from all users on that domain and remove all followers you have from that instance. Use this option as a last resort, as you might miss posts from great users, who just happen to be on the same instance.

To block an instance:

  1. Click on︙Menu on one of the profiles.
  2. Select Block domain [domain name].

View muted and blocked accounts

To see who you’ve muted and blocked:

  1. Click on︙Menu on your own profile.
  2. Select Muted users, Blocked users, or Blocked domains.

History Panel

Accessing the History Panel

To open the History Panel:

Browsing the history

Your browsing history is grouped into folders by date. To open or close the date folder, click on arrow down button the arrow in front of the date. To open or close all folders:

  1. Right-click on the list of entries;
  2. Select either Expand All Folders or Collapse All Folders from the context menu.

To change the displayed history time range, click on the menu next to the search field (label shows the current view) and select between:

  • today,
  • yesterday,
  • last 7 days,
  • last 30 days,
  • self assigned date range,
  • all history.

Opening links from History

To open a link:

  • Double-click on the entry;
  • Right-click and select how to open the link;
  • Select the history entry and press Enter;
  • Perform the Mouse Gesture for opening links.

To open multiple history entries:

  1. Hold down the Shift key to select multiple links in a row or Ctrl/⌘ key to  select links that aren’t necessarily next to each other.
  2. Use one of the latter three options listed above for opening links.

You can also open all links from a specific day or days.

Searching through History

To search for a visited link, type either part of the web page title or URL in the search field in the top left corner of the History Panel. Results will be shown as you type.

Filter by domain

To show results only from a specific website:

  1. Right-click on one of the entries from that domain;
  2. Select Filter by “website.com”.

Sorting visited links

To sort the history, click on the menu between the search field and the list of history entries (label shows the current sorting option). You can sort history by:

  • date,
  • title,
  • address, and
  • number of page views.
History Panel with the sorting menu open

Click on the arrow on the right to switch between ascending and descending order.

Saving history entries as Bookmarks

You can save a visited link as a bookmark without having to open the link again. To do that:

  1. Right-click on the link;
  2. Select Save as bookmark from the context menu.

Use the Ctrl/⌘ or Shift key to select and save multiple links as bookmarks.

You can also save all links you’ve visited in a single day by right-clicking on the date and selecting Save as bookmarks from the context menu.

Deleting history

To delete a single entry:

  1. Right-click on the history entry you want to delete;
  2. Select Delete from the context menu or press Delete on your keyboard.

To delete multiple entries at once, select them by holding down the Ctrl/⌘ or Shift key.

To delete all history:

  1. Click on Clear Browsing Data in the top right corner of the panel.
  2. Select the time range you want to delete the data for and the data types you want to clear.
  3. Click Delete.

To change how long your browsing history is saved for, go to Settings > Privacy > Save Browsing History.

Two-Factor Authentication for Vivaldi accounts

What is Two-Factor Authentication?

Two-Factor Authentication, or 2FA for short, is an added layer of security when logging in to accounts. When enabled, in addition to your login password, you’ll be asked to verify your identity with an additional method. For your Vivaldi account, the second verification can be done either with app based authentication or with a security key.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

To enable Two-Factor Authentication for your Vivaldi account:

  1. Go to Vivaldi.net.
  2. Log in to your Vivaldi account.
  3. In quick links at the top of the homepage near your profile image, click on Account.
  4. On the account’s profile, click on Enable Two-Factor Authentication.
  5. Enter your account’s login password to continue.
  6. Select whether you want to set up Two-Factor Authentication with an authenticator app or security key and follow the instructions.

Set up app based authentication

With an authenticator app a new Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) is generated at set intervals. You need to enter the active code from the app during login to your Vivaldi account.

You can use apps like TOTP Authenticator, Aegis Authenticator [Android] or Raivo OTP [iPhone], or authenticator apps by Google/Microsoft, if you prefer.

To set up an authenticator app for your Vivaldi account:

  1. On Two-Factor Authentication management page, select Authenticator app.
  2. Open the authenticator app on your phone and start adding a new account.
  3. Scan the QR code with the app.
  4. In the app, finish adding the account.
  5. Enter the 6-digit code you see in the app for your Vivaldi account on the setup page.
  6. Click Enable Two-Factor Authentication.

If you’re unable to scan the QR code, you can enter a setup key manually. To see the key, click on “enter this setup key” in the text above the QR code image.

Set up a security key

An alternative to an authenticator app is a physical security key or device. You can add as many security keys to your account as you want. That way, if you don’t have one at hand, you can use a backup one.

To set up a security key:

  1. Connect the security key to your computer/mobile device.
  2. On Two-Factor Authentication management page, select Security key.
  3. Click Add a new key.
  4. Follow the instructions on the screen.
  5. Give the security key a name.
  6. Click Save.

Recovery codes

It’s strongly encouraged to set up at least two Two-Factor Authentication methods. That way, if you’re unable to use one verification method, you’ll still be able to access the account using a backup method. Whether you set up an app and a key, multiple keys, an app and recovery codes or any other configuration is up to you to decide.

To save recovery codes:

  1. Set up either an authenticator app or a security key.
  2. Once you return to the Two-Factor Authentication management page, click on Recovery Codes in Add another method.
  3. Click Generate.
  4. Save the three automatically generated codes in a safe location.

Each code can only be used one time, so whenever you use a code, go to your account’s profile on Vivaldi.net to review and, if needed, update your Two-Factor Authentication methods and to generate new recovery codes.

App passwords

When adding your Vivaldi account to a mail or calendar client when Two-Factor Authentication has been enabled, you have the option to log in with OAuth, which will ask for your account’s login password and second verification via a method you set up, or a generated app password. App passwords are simpler in a sense that you only have to log in once. With OAuth you may need to log in again every now and then.

To generate app passwords:

  1. Enable Two-Factor Authentication for your Vivaldi account.
  2. On Two-Factor Authentication management page, click on App passwords.
  3. Click on Generate a new password.
  4. Select whether you want to generate a password for a mail client, calendar client or both.
  5. Enter the name of the app for which you’ll be using the password for.
  6. Click on Generate a new password.
  7. The password will be shown to you only once, so use it immediately and/or store it in a safe location.
  8. When you’re done, close or click outside the pop up window.

Generate a separate password for every client you’ll be adding your Vivaldi account to.

In case you’ve lost the password and need to use it, delete the current entry and create a new one.

Log in with Two-Factor Authentication

Two-Factor Authentication is required during login to all Vivaldi services, except Sync, which will follow soon.

To log in when Two-Factor Authentication is enabled:

  1. Go to the login page.
  2. Enter the accounts username and login password.
  3. Depending on the method you’ve set up, enter the code generated by your authentication app or follow your security key’s instructions.

If you’ve set up both app based authentication and a security key, then verification with a security key will be set as the primary method. Cancel verification with a security key to be presented with the option to login with an app generated code.

If you’ve enabled Two-Factor Authentication for your account, but you’re unable to use any of the setup methods, you’ve unfortunately permanently lost the account, as the Vivaldi team is not able to help you recover access.

Manage Two-Factor Authentication

To review and update your Two-Factor Authentication methods:

  1. Go to Vivaldi.net.
  2. Log in to your Vivaldi account.
  3. In quick links at the top of the homepage near your profile image, click on Account.
  4. On the account’s profile, click on Manage in the Two-Factor Authentication section.
  5. Enter your account’s login password to continue.
  6. Review and change what’s needed.

Disable Two-Factor Authentication

Two-Factor Authentication gets disabled, when all authentication methods get removed from your account. To disable Two-Factor Authentication:

  1. On the account’s profile, click on Manage Two-Factor Authentication.
  2. Enter your account’s login password to continue.
  3. Disable the authenticator app and delete all security keys.

If you have questions or need help with using Two-Factor Authentication, send us a message using the contact form below.

Need help with your Vivaldi account?

Send us a message

Please note that replies to support messages will mostly be in English.

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How do we handle your data?

We use Jira Software hosted on our servers in Iceland to manage messages sent to us via this form. Once you submit your message, our support team will review it and get back to you as soon as possible (normally within 2 to 3 business days).

If you’d like to know more about our privacy policy and the 3rd party software we use, check our privacy resources page: vivaldi.com/privacy

Explore Workspaces and Custom Icons in the Vivaldi Browser

See how you can use Workspaces and Custom Icons in Vivaldi. We hope to inspire you to play with your browser, so you can get more done and have more fun doing it.

User Agent Brand Masking

Some websites make sure to check from which browser you’re viewing their pages from and based on the information may alter what you see. The websites may also block access to their content and features altogether. To check whether a website is displayed differently because you’re using Vivaldi, you can change the browser’s Sec-CH-UA identity and check the website again.

To change which browser brand is reported:

  1. Go to Settings > Network > User Agent Brand Masking.
  2. From the drop-down menu, select whether you want the browser to identify itself without a brand, as Vivaldi, Google Chrome, or Microsoft Edge.
    In addition, you can set up a custom brand by entering the browser’s brand and version number manually.
  3. Restart the browser for the change to take effect.

Tick the box for Append Vivaldi Brand to, in addition to the chosen brand, add Vivaldi’s brand information at the end of the reported identity.

Important! Please note that changing the reported browser brand can cause compatibility issues with sites.

Workspaces

Workspaces allow you to quickly group tabs for pages related to various topics, such as work, research, shopping, or school, in the same window. Once you have made a set of workspaces, moving between them is easy; using either the menu button or shortcuts.

Add a Workspace

To add a new workspace:

  1. Click the Workspaces button on the left side of the Tab Bar (top of the list on vertical Tab Bars).
  2. Click on New Workspace.
  3. Choose whether you want to create an empty workspace or move tabs that are open in the current window to a new workspace.
  4. Enter a name and select an icon for the new workspace.
  5. Click Create or press Enter.

The workspace is created and appears in the list. You can now start opening tabs for your travel research. To get back to your regular tabs, click the first item in the list, Start Page in this case.

Alternatively, you can create a workspace by either:

Create a new workspace from open tabs

When you want to move a set of tabs to a new workspace:

  1. Select the tabs you want to put in the workspace.
  2. Right-click on one of the selected tabs to open the context menu.
  3. Select Move # Tabs > Workspace > Create Workspace with Selected Tabs.
  4. Give the new workspace a name and select an icon for it.
  5. Click Create.

Switch Workspaces

There are a few ways you can switch to a different workspace. Choose the one you prefer.

  • Open the Workspaces menu and select the workspace you want to open.
  • Type the workspace’s name, “Next Workspace“, “Previous Workspace” or “This Window” in Quick Commands.
  • Use Keyboard Shortcuts. If you know the order of the workspaces, use Ctrl+Shift / ⌘ ⇧ and the number of the workspace, for example, Ctrl+Shift+3. You can also create shortcuts for Next Workspace and Previous Workspace.
  • Create Mouse Gestures for switching Workspaces.
  • In the Window Panel, (double)-click on a tab in the workspace you want to open.
  • In the main Vivaldi menu > Window > Other Workspaces and Tabs, select a tab in the workspace you want to open.

Workspaces and Windows

A workspace can be open in one browser window at a time. When switching to a workspace that is open in a different window, instead of opening the workspace in the current window, focus will be moved to the window where the chosen workspace is already open.

Edit a Workspace

To rename a workspace:

  1. Open the Workspaces menu.
  2. Right-click the one you want to edit.
  3. Select Rename Workspace.
  4. Give the workspace a new title.
  5. Press Enter.

Alternatively, rename the workspace in the Window Panel by either making two slow clicks on the workspace name or right-clicking on the workspace name and selecting Rename from the context menu.

To update the workspace’s icon:

  1. Open the Workspaces menu.
  2. Click on the icon.
  3. Select or enter a new one.

Reorder Workspaces

New Workspaces are added to the bottom of the list. If you want to move it, you can easily rearrange the list.

To reorder Workspaces:

  1. Open the Workspaces menu.
  2. Click on a workspace you want to move and hold down the mouse button.
  3. Drag the workspace to its new location on the list.
  4. Release the mouse button.

Manage Tabs in Workspaces

Inside a Workspace, you can open and close tabs just as you would in any normal window. This includes adding Tab Stacks, and even Tab Tiling.

Move tabs between Workspaces

Option 1 – Window Panel

  1. Open the Window Panel.
  2. Expand source and destination workspace folders.
  3. Drag tabs from one workspace to another. Select multiple tabs with Shift or Ctrl / ⌘ key to move many tabs at once.

Option 2 – Tab Bar context menu

  1. Right-click on the tab you want to move. Select multiple tabs with Shift or Ctrl / ⌘ key to move many tabs at once.
  2. In the context menu select Move Tab / Move # Tabs > Workspace > workspace name.
Tab's context menu open with path to moving the tab to a different workspace highlighted.

Workspaces Rules

Workspaces Rules automatically move tabs to the Workspace you want to see them in following the rules you’ve set up. For example, if you have a Workspace for news sites, you can set up rules to open all your favorite news links in the News Workspace. Then whenever you come across a news article in a different Workspace, upon opening it, the tab will be moved to the News Workspace automatically.

To set up Workspace Rules:

  1. Go to Settings > Tabs > Workspaces.
  2. Click on Add New Workspace Rule.
  3. Set up the rule criteria.
  4. Select to which Workspace the tab should be moved to.

Example: “If URL contains bbc.com open in News“.

Hibernate Workspaces

Dividing tabs into Workspaces can give an illusion that you don’t have that many tabs open, when you could easily cumulate tens if not hundreds of tabs. To reduce the browser’s memory usage with a large number of tabs, consider hibernating the ones you don’t use.

To hibernate a workspace:

  1. Open the Workspaces menu.
  2. Right-click on the workspace you want to hibernate.
  3. Select Hibernate Tabs.

Copy all links in a Workspace

To create a list of links of all web pages you have open in a Workspace:

  1. Open the Workspaces menu.
  2. Right-click on one of the workspaces.
  3. Select Copy All Links from the context menu.
  4. Paste the links where you want to store or share them.

In addition to Workspaces, you can copy all links of the tabs in a Tab Stack or the ones you’ve selected.

Delete a Workspace

To remove a workspace:

  1. Open the Workspaces menu.
  2. Right-click on the workspace you want to delete.
  3. Select Delete Workspace.

Deleting a workspace will also close all tabs inside the workspace. To keep your tabs, move them before deleting the workspace. If you need to retrieve tabs that were closed during the deletion of a workspace, you can find them in Closed Tabs.

Workspaces Options

Hide Workspace names

Setting a unique icon for each workspace makes it easy to differentiate between them, so workspace titles can be hidden to give more space to Tabs.

To hide Workspace names:

  1. Right-click on the Workspace menu button.
  2. Click Display Workspace Name to disable it.

Hide Workspaces menu

To hide the Workspaces menu from the Tab Bar, either:

  • Right-click on Workspaces on the Tab Bar and select Show Workspaces in Tab Bar.
  • Go to Settings > Tabs > Tab Display > Tab Bar and disable Display Workspaces in Tab Bar.

Move Workspaces menu

If you’d prefer to access and manage Workspaces from a different location in the browser, do the following:

  1. Hide Workspaces from the Tab Bar by following the instructions in the paragraph above.
  2. Open the Toolbar Editor from the main Vivaldi menu > View > Customize Toolbar.
  3. In the Navigation Toolbar section, locate Workspaces.
  4. Drag it to your preferred location on one of the toolbars.

Disable Workspaces

To disable or re-enable Workspaces:

  1. Go to Settings > Tabs > Tab Features.
  2. Untick the box for Enable Workspaces to disable the feature and tick it to enable the feature.

Getting started with Vivaldi Social

What is Mastodon?

Mastodon is a type of server software that provides access to a decentralized open-source social network (some people also informally use the word Mastodon to refer to the actual network itself). This network is made up of countless privately operating servers or “instances”. Some are public for everyone to join, others have restrictions on signing up.

Vivaldi Social is one such instance and everyone with a Vivaldi account can join. Vivaldi Social is run on Vivaldi’s servers in Iceland and is administered by the Vivaldi team. You can post short posts, images, links and more, to share your thoughts and ideas with the world. It works similarly to most other social networks, such as Twitter or Facebook.

Users on Mastodon instances can follow and interact with users on their instance, but they can also follow and interact with users on many other instances. You can think of Mastodon instances like email service providers. With any email account you can potentially message anyone, it does not matter who provides the underlying services or if you are on the same service as your friend. This is also true on Mastodon and the Fediverse.

What is the Fediverse?

In the same context as Mastodon, you will often also hear the term “The Fediverse”. Mastodon is currently the most popular Fediverse server software. The Fediverse, or sometimes just Fedi, stands for Federated Universe. It’s a collection of many different, independent social media servers (others include GoToSocial, Pleroma, Friendica, and PixelFed), which can interact with each other. The servers can do that thanks to a common technical standard called ActivityPub.

Joining Vivaldi Social

To join Vivaldi Social all you need to do is to go to https://social.vivaldi.net and log in with the account you use for other Vivaldi services, such as Sync. If you don’t have a Vivaldi account yet, there is an option to create one directly from the Vivaldi Social website.

You can also join Vivaldi Social from your favorite Mastodon desktop client or mobile app. When logging in, search for our instance social.vivaldi.net and follow the login instructions.

Account information and connecting with others

  • Your Vivaldi account’s short form username (used for login) will be of the format: JohnDoe.
  • Vivaldi Social’s instance name is social.vivaldi.net

To help friends to find you, give them your your username in long format @[email protected] (it looks like an email address with an extra @ at the beginning). Your friends can use this to look you up by searching for it in the search feature on their own instance. After locating you in this way, they will be able to follow or click on your name to see your profile.

Follow people and content on Vivaldi Social

Since there are no algorithms on Vivaldi Social and on Mastodon in general that show content based on your usage, you need to follow people and tags to build up a feed 100% curated by you. Thanks to the federated nature of Mastodon, you can follow accounts from any Mastodon instance with your account on Vivaldi Social.

Follow accounts

To follow accounts on Vivaldi Social:

Option 1

  1. Open the profile of the account you want to follow.
  2. Click on the Follow button on their profile, below the cover image on the right side.

Option 2

  1. Search for the username (@Username@InstanceName) of the account you want to follow.
  2. In search results, click on Follow next to the name.

Follow tags

In addition to user accounts you can also follow tags.

To follow a tag:

  1. Click on a tag (e.g. #Vivaldi, #Caturday, #PhotoMonday) in one of the posts that includes it or search for the tag.
  2. Browse recent posts that use the tag and see whether you want to see similar posts in your Home feed.
  3. Click on Follow in the top right corner of the page.

Follow Vivaldi Social content with Feeds

If you’re using Vivaldi Feeds or any other feed reader, you can get new posts delivered straight to your feeds client.

To subscribe to content with Vivaldi Feeds:

  1. Make sure that Mail, Calendar and Feeds have been enabled in Settings > General > Productivity Features.
  2. In Vivaldi Social, open the profile or tag page you want to follow.
  3. Add .rss to the end of the page URL.
    For example, https://social.vivaldi.net/@Vivaldi.rss or https://social.vivaldi.net/tags/Vivaldi.rss.
  4. Press Enter to open the link and see a preview of the feed.
  5. Click Subscribe below the page title.
  6. Review and, if needed, edit the feed’s title and update frequency.
  7. Click Add Feed.

If you use a different feed reader, copy the link with .rss at the end and add it to your feed reader using the client’s instructions.