Vivaldi 7.9 for Mobile feels like the release where the “power user” pitch finally lands properly on phones. It’s not just another round of bug fixes and minor polish — this update brings one of Vivaldi’s most beloved desktop-style tricks to iOS, tightens the Android “desktop mode” story, and adds just enough visual delight to make opening a new tab feel a little less like admin and a little more like ritual.

On iOS, the headline upgrade is Two-Level Tab Stacks — essentially Vivaldi’s answer to tab chaos, now finally on iPhone and iPad after years of being Android-only. Instead of shoving everything into a single, endlessly scrollable row, you get a top row for stacks and a second row that only appears when you dive into a stack, showing the tabs inside that group. In practice, it means you can keep a “Work” stack, a “Shopping” stack, a “Trip planning” stack, and whatever rabbit hole you’re in right now, all visible and organized without feeling like your browser is punishing you for being curious. You long-press the New Tab button, choose “New Tab Stack,” then pick your preferred stacking style — Two-Level or Accordion — under Settings → Tabs → Tab Stacking Style, and from there it behaves less like a typical mobile browser and more like a compact desktop setup in your pocket.

The interesting bit is that Vivaldi is pretty blunt about something most browser makers quietly avoid saying out loud: no other mobile browser offers this kind of two-row, stack-aware tab bar. On iOS, especially, where most browsers inherit the same WebKit engine and tend to chase the same minimal UI patterns, Two-Level Tab Stacks are a very deliberate swing in the opposite direction. It’s almost a philosophical statement — instead of treating lots of tabs as a user failure, Vivaldi leans into the idea that you’re going to open everything, keep it open, and still want to find it again instantly. If you’re the kind of person who keeps “just in case” tabs alive for weeks, this is the update that stops that habit from turning into a mess.

Vivaldi also uses 7.9 to lean into something softer: mood. The Daily Image feature, which has been one of those quiet “nice touches” on Vivaldi’s Start Page, now has a bigger role on iOS. You still get a new curated photo on your Start Page every day — something scenic, unexpected, or just pleasantly random — but you can now turn that same image into your device wallpaper, keeping your Start Page and home screen in sync with zero effort. Flip a couple of switches (Start Page → three-dot menu/Customize → Use Daily Image, or Settings → Start Page → Wallpaper → Use Daily Image) and your browser turns into a subtle daily theme engine. It’s not a “must-have” feature in a checkbox sense, but it adds personality in a way most mobile browsers don’t bother with.

The more pragmatic, “okay, but will I actually switch?” question is addressed with Safari import on iOS. Instead of asking you to rebuild your browsing life from scratch, Vivaldi 7.9 lets you pull in bookmarks, passwords, browsing history, and even stored credit card information directly from Safari. You head into Settings, tap “Safari import,” and in a few moments, the browser you’ve been using for years is effectively reborn inside Vivaldi. This matters because the biggest friction in switching browsers isn’t downloading the app; it’s the anxiety that you’ll lose your saved logins, your muscle-memory bookmarks, your autofill data. By making the move almost instant, Vivaldi removes the usual “I’ll try this later” excuse and turns 7.9 into an actually viable jumping-on point for iPhone users who’ve been curious but hesitant.

On Android, the story is a little different but ties into the same theme of “make your browser feel like yours and pull more weight.” Daily Image is now available on Vivaldi for Android as well, so the Start Page gets the same rotating, curated photo treatment as iOS. Instead of a sterile new-tab page, you’re greeted by something that feels intentional, a backdrop that changes over time and makes the browser feel less like a tool and more like part of your daily environment. It’s a small shift, but on phones that we unlock hundreds of times a day, those small visual beats add up.

Where Android really stretches its legs, though, is in Desktop Mode and DeX. Vivaldi has been steadily positioning itself as the browser for people who actually want to use their phones like tiny PCs, and 7.9 continues that push. On Samsung devices, DeX already turns your phone into a desktop when you plug into a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and Vivaldi is clearly trying to be the browser that makes that setup feel genuinely viable. For the broader Android world, Desktop Mode is still in beta, but the direction is clear: use your phone as the brain of a full desktop experience, with a browser that doesn’t feel watered down just because it started on mobile hardware.

In that environment, Vivaldi’s usual bag of tricks becomes even more important. You get real tabs, not just oversized mobile thumbnails; powerful tab management with Tab Stacks and Two-Level Tab Stacks; and side panels for Bookmarks, History, Notes, Translate, and Downloads, all within reach like a desktop browser. With the 7.9 release, Vivaldi says it has improved how the browser behaves in these DeX and Desktop Mode setups, tightening the experience as it moves toward something that feels genuinely “complete” rather than experimental. The team hints that more is coming, but even now the idea is clear: if you’re going to plug your phone into a display and get work done, Vivaldi wants to be the browser where you don’t feel like you’re compromising.

Underneath all of this, there’s a consistent throughline: Vivaldi is not trying to be the invisible browser. This release doubles down on features that are very obviously there — stacked tabs in two levels, daily images on your Start Page and even on your home screen, import tools that pull your Safari life across in one go, desktop-style panels and modes on Android. In an era where a lot of browsers try to disappear into the OS and look identical to each other, Vivaldi 7.9 for Mobile is unapologetically opinionated: it assumes you care about control, about organization, and about how your browser looks and behaves day to day.

If you’re on Android or iOS, the update is already live — you just grab it from the Play Store or App Store and you’re off. For existing users, 7.9 feels like a natural evolution: your tab stacks get smarter, your Start Page gets prettier, your phone edges a little closer to being a true desktop replacement. For new users, especially on iOS, this is the first version where trying Vivaldi doesn’t mean giving up your Safari comfort zone, and where the browser’s identity really comes through on a small screen.