Vivaldi 8.2 adds an address bar calculator and one-click web apps

A new Vivaldi update has begun rolling out today as version 8.2 for desktop users. You won’t spot any major UI changes with the release, but there are a few nifty new features.

For starters, if you’re someone who frequently needs to run calculations while browsing, Vivaldi makes this a lot easier with a new calculator function built into the address bar. Yes, you read that right. You can type in a sum or a fraction, and the browser will calculate it right there. There’s no need to open a separate calculator app.

We actually put the spotlight on this new feature when it first arrived with the 4133 Snapshot build a few weeks ago. Fast forward to today, anyone on the stable channel with the latest build can use it.

You just type something like 45/5 or 120*4 straight into the URL box, and the answer shows up right beneath it.

In case you want to copy the final number, you can just hit Enter, and it’ll automatically be copied to your clipboard. The calculations are processed locally on your machine.

Apart from that, Vivaldi 8.2 also makes installing Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) less annoying. Instead of digging through menus to see if a website supports it and then installing it, Vivaldi now shows a simple install button in the top-right corner of the screen whenever a website supports it. 

It’s a nice quality-of-life improvement. Though it isn’t as big of a deal as some other advancements Vivaldi has made recently, like bringing support for Chrome extensions to its Android app.

And speaking of big changes, Vivaldi also put the spotlight on its plans to release an enterprise version of the browser for people who want to use it in a corporate environment. According to CEO Jon von Tetzchner, the goal is to give organizations “a real alternative to Big Tech browsers” with dedicated policy controls.

But coming back to the 8.2 release, if the math suggestions get in your way, you can easily toggle off the feature in the address bar settings. The update is live for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

We stand out from the tech-media crowd because we break news stories; we mainly bring you stuff that you won’t find anywhere in the mainstream tech media. Our stories have been picked up by some of the world’s most popular websites and media outlets—more info is available here.