Mobile browsing is broken. Between the intrusive pop-ups, the cookie consent banners, and the limited screen real estate, trying to actually learn something on your phone feels like a battle against the interface. Perplexity thinks it has the fix.
The company has just launched the Android version of Comet, its new AI browser. This isn't just about shrinking a desktop experience down to a six-inch screen; it’s a total rethink of how we interact with the internet. Arriving late this November—with an iOS version following in a few weeks—Comet positions itself as a conversational partner rather than a dumb window. It mixes voice interaction with aggressive ad blocking to turn the mobile web into something you can actually use.
Talking to the Web
The biggest change here is Voice Mode. Unlike the old way of barking keywords into a search bar, Comet is context-aware. You can literally talk to the webpage.
Imagine you have a dense technical article or a long news report open. Instead of squinting at the text, you tap the button and ask Comet to break it down. It reads what you’re looking at and answers back, creating a two-way dialogue without you ever leaving the page.
It works across tabs, too. If you have five different sources open, you can tell Comet to "summarize searches." It pulls the threads together into one cohesive answer. It’s like having a smart intern sitting in your pocket, digging through the noise so you don't have to.
Killing the Clutter
All the AI in the world doesn't matter if you can't see the content. The mobile web has become hostile to readers, choked by banner ads and auto-playing videos. Comet ships with what Perplexity calls the "industry’s most advanced" native ad blocker.
This isn't just a convenience; it's a necessity for the workflow. By stripping away the junk natively, the browser keeps you in the flow of research. A cleaner interface also helps the AI—with less noise on the page, the assistant can parse the text much faster and more accurately.
An Agent, Not Just a Viewer
Comet is designed to take action. It acts as an agent that can handle boring tasks, like researching or even shopping on your behalf.
It also handles digital housekeeping. The "Comet Assistant" cleans up the mess we all leave behind, spotting tabs you haven't touched in days and closing them. It groups related pages into collections, bringing some order to the typical sprawl of browser windows. For video watchers, it grabs the key points so you don't have to sit through the whole clip—a huge time saver.
The Chrome Challenge
This launch puts Perplexity right in the ring with Chrome. But unlike Google, which is currently jamming Gemini into the existing Chrome interface, Perplexity built this browser around the AI from scratch. It also beats competitors like OpenAI’s prototypes to the mobile market.
The browser isn't perfect yet. The biggest omission is the lack of history and bookmark syncing with the desktop app. If you start reading on your laptop and want to finish on your phone, you're out of luck for now. Perplexity says the fix is coming in the next few weeks.
The roadmap also includes a fully functional password manager and a conversational agent capable of searching inside specific sites. Until those arrive, Comet might serve better as a specialized research tool than a complete default browser replacement for someone deep in the Google world.
Ultimately, Comet is a bold swing. By mixing a conversational AI with a ruthless ad blocker, it offers a cleaner, smarter way to use the web. The missing sync features are a hurdle, but the promise is clear: a browser that reads and synthesizes the web for you, saving your thumbs and your patience.