Opera Air has always been a minimalist browser focused on a distraction-free experience and mindfulness. There’s less clutter and a simple yet elegant UI design. The latest update takes this a step further.

An official blog post from Opera goes as far as calling it a “New Opera Air.” While I wouldn’t personally classify the changes as being this radical, it’s a good improvement over the 2025 version of the browser regardless.

Opera Air changelog.

As soon as I opened Opera Air, I was greeted with two back-to-back updates; basically, I had to update twice to reach the latest version for some reason. Either way, the latest version at the time of writing is v137.0.6036.71 (on macOS).

Latest version of Opera Air.

It also shows you a card-style summary of what has changed.

Features update summary card.

I have elaborated further in the points below.

  1. Higher emphasis on cleanliness: As soon as you open the browser, there are no preset shortcuts/ads. There’s zero clutter next to the address bar, and even the New Tab page is the cleanest one I’ve ever seen.
    Opera Air New Tab page.
  2. A new set of wallpapers that are “Quiet by design.” Just right-click on the New Tab page, and you’ll find the option to set the wallpaper.
    Opera new wallpapers.
  3. Opera Air does not send you any notifications by default to prevent interruptions.
  4. AI is completely disabled by default. None of the AI features are enabled on fresh installs.
  5. The “Boosts” feature, which plays music, has been renamed to “Soundscapes.” This music helps you relax or focus, and the quality of the music has allegedly improved. The available music options are separated into 4 different categories.
    New Music.
  6. The “Breaks” functionality has improved, with a better UI design and much better functionality overall. You can set custom timers now.
    Take a break.
    The breaks feature.

You can view the official blog post about these changes here.

In this update, I also noticed that the UI design issues have not been completely addressed. One major issue I observed: The highlighted tab (the tab that you’re currently on) is highlighted in a light color, and others are in a darker color, which can get really confusing while browsing.

Opera Air UI design issues.

All in all, this update brings some much-needed improvements to the minimalism-focused browser.

 
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PiunikaWeb’s Take

While the concept and idea behind a browser that’s supposed to reduce distractions, help you focus better, and have a minimal UI with all AI disabled by default that also uses Chromium as its base can sound really enticing, the browser’s major issues haven’t gone away yet.

It appears that Opera is largely selling the aesthetics of the browser, since the functionality isn’t quite there yet. It’s incredibly laggy in our testing, with simple tasks taking a long time, basic movements experiencing lag, and the overall browser being a memory hog. Pair that with the UI design inconsistencies, and it looks like the company should focus more on optimization. Calling a browser “Air” isn’t enough. It must actually be light on system resources too and run much faster than it is right now.

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Sudhanshu K
329 Posts

I have been a consumer technology enthusiast for over 5 years. Thanks to my experience in software beta testing and product reviews, I've understood and learnt a lot about what bugs and issues bother people, and I spend time trying to simplify their solutions. I cover smartphones, software, social media, apps, AI, and most consumer tech gadgets. Actively pursuing a Computer Science bachelor’s degree. I'm mostly active on Twitter/X (@TechWhirlUlt), drop a DM or tag me if you want to share info or connect!