Helium on Omarchy

Helium on Omarchy

Helium is a privacy-focused Chromium-based browser for Omarchy — built on the real Chromium codebase, stripped of Google services, with ad/trackers/cookie-banner blocking built in.

TL;DR

omarchy pkg add helium-browser-bin

It takes ~2 minutes (v0.7.4-1, ~160 MB). Launch with helium-browser or from the app launcher.

Free forever (MIT-licensed Chromium fork). Because it's Chromium under the hood, every site and extension that works in Chrome works in Helium — minus the Google account integration and the tracking.

Getting started (5 minutes)

1. Install and launch.

omarchy pkg add helium-browser-bin, then launch "Helium" from the app launcher (Super + Space) or run helium-browser. First launch skips the usual Chromium welcome tour — it comes pre-stripped. (Confirm the exact first-launch UI on-machine — this is from the project docs, not a live test.)

2. Pick your default search engine.

Helium presents a default-search picker in its settings rather than shipping one hard-coded — this is the honest version of the story; issue #1428 documents the earlier confusion when the picker/settings were hard to find. Don't assume DuckDuckGo is pre-selected: check the picker on-machine and update this step.

3. The three things everyone needs to know:

• It's Chromium, not a fork of Chrome. Helium builds on the Chromium codebase (v0.7.4-1 tracks a recent Chromium), so the rendering engine is the same one powering Chrome and Edge — site compatibility is a non-issue. What's stripped: Google services integration, and the trackers/ads/cookie banners it blocks by default (per helium.com's stated privacy posture — re-verify exact claims before publishing).
• Extensions work. Chrome Web Store extensions install the normal way — this is the standard advantage of any Chromium fork, and it's the main reason to pick Helium over a Firefox-based privacy browser if your workflow depends on specific extensions.
• Dark mode is a flag away. helium://flags#enable-force-dark forces dark rendering on sites that don't offer it — the classic Chromium trick, available here too. Confirm the flag exists on-machine at publish time.

4. Omarchy-specific note.

Helium runs as a native Wayland client in its Chromium build (check on-machine whether it picks up Wayland automatically under Omarchy/Hyprland or needs the ozone flags). The -bin package ships a prebuilt binary — updates come through the app store's package sync (last upstream release Oct 10, 2026), not through in-browser self-update; confirm the package can't self-update the Chrome way.

Common issues & fixes

Sourced from the real GitHub issues on the Helium browser repo — check the fix status of each at publish time, since this is a fast-moving young project.

"Where are the search settings?" — default search engine confusion

Issue #1428: users couldn't find where to change the default search engine. The picker exists in settings but was hard to discover in early builds.

Fix: Check whether #1428's fix has landed in the packaged version; if the picker is now discoverable, this section becomes a one-line pointer. Confirm on-machine.

Missing features vs. Chrome (sync, import)

Stripped-down means stripped-down: Google account sync isn't there, and the import path for bookmarks/passwords from other browsers may be limited in 0.7.4.

Fix: Confirm on-machine what import exists; if it's missing, the honest advice is exporting/importing via HTML bookmark files and a password manager CSV — standard Chromium manual migration.

The browser can't self-update like Chrome

Expected: the -bin app-store package is a system package. Updates arrive via omarchy pkg syncs, not the browser.

Fix: Keep the package updated through the normal Omarchy package flow; the project's release cadence (latest Oct 10, 2026) is the pace to expect.

Pairs well with / If you hate this, try

Pairs well with

• Any password manager with a Chromium extension — the extension support is the point. uBlock Origin is redundant (blocking is built in), but keep it if you want its element picker.

If you hate this, try

• Brave if you want the same Chromium-with-blocking idea plus a company and a rewards ecosystem behind it. Zen Browser or Firefox if you'd rather leave Chromium's engine entirely and want a different UI philosophy.

Comparison: Helium vs similar browsers

Verdict: Use Helium if you want Chrome's compatibility with the Google parts removed and no account anywhere; use Brave if you want the same idea with a bigger team behind it; use Firefox if you want off the Chromium engine entirely.