CM Browser is discontinued. Google removed every Cheetah Mobile app from the Play Store in February 2020, India banned the browser the same year, and the Android app last saw an update in 2019. There is no safe official CM Browser download for PC or phone today. Here is what happened and what to use instead.
| App name | CM Browser |
| Developer | Cheetah Mobile |
| Category | Mobile browser |
| Status | Discontinued, removed from Google Play in February 2020 |
| Official PC version | None (a Windows build existed, last updated 2021, no longer distributed) |
| Last verified | July 2026 |
What happened to CM Browser
CM Browser was Cheetah Mobile’s lightweight Android browser, popular in the mid-2010s for its small size, ad blocking and download speed. It did not fade away quietly; it was removed.
In February 2020, Google pulled Cheetah Mobile’s apps from the Play Store during its crackdown on disruptive ad behavior. Around the same time, a security researcher found that CM Browser was sending users’ visited URLs to remote servers, a finding reported by Forbes. In June 2020, the Government of India banned CM Browser along with 58 other apps over data and privacy concerns. The Android app itself had already stopped receiving updates in June 2019. Put together: no store listing, no updates, no trust. The browser is dead in every way that matters.
What CM Browser offered, and what to look for in a replacement
It is easy to forget why the app was popular. CM Browser, sometimes searched as the Cheetah browser for Windows, was tiny by the standards of its day, blocked ads without extensions, warned about malicious pages, and had a fast built-in download manager. There was even a CM Browser build for Windows desktops distributed through Cheetah Mobile’s own site; that build received its last known update in 2021 and the download page no longer resolves, so the Windows version is as gone as the Android one.
Those four features are also your shopping list for a replacement: small footprint, built-in ad blocking, malicious-site protection, and a decent download manager. Every browser we recommend below checks all four boxes without needing a single extension.
Warning: the CM Browser on Google Play today is not the original
If you search Google Play for CM Browser in 2026, you will find a listing with that exact name. It is not Cheetah Mobile’s browser. The current listing is from an unrelated developer, has about a thousand installs, and simply reuses a recognizable name. This is a common pattern with discontinued apps: a well-known name gets recycled to catch leftover searches. Treat any modern CM Browser listing, APK or exe with suspicion, because the company that built the real one no longer distributes it.
Why we will not link a CM Browser APK or old version
Plenty of sites still offer a CM Browser free download, usually version 5.x APKs from 2019. We will not, for three reasons. First, a browser without security patches since 2019 is unsafe on the modern web, full stop. Second, the app’s documented history of shipping browsing data to remote servers is exactly the behavior you cannot audit in a random APK. Third, APK mirrors themselves add tampering risk. Old version hunting makes sense for some apps; for an abandoned browser it never does.
What to use instead on your PC
People installed CM Browser for three things: speed on modest hardware, built-in ad blocking, and a sense of security. Current browsers do all three better on Windows 10 and 11:
- Brave blocks ads and trackers by default and is fast on low-end laptops, the closest thing to what CM Browser promised.
- Microsoft Edge comes with Windows, gets monthly security patches, and its SmartScreen filter provides the malicious-site protection CM Browser advertised.
- Opera offers a built-in ad blocker plus a free VPN, no extensions needed.
If your interest is lightweight browsing on weak hardware specifically, Puffin’s cloud-rendering approach is a different but relevant option. And CM Browser is not alone in its fate: UC Browser Turbo followed a nearly identical arc of ban and abandonment. Our utility apps for PC hub sticks to tools that are still maintained.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still download CM Browser for PC?
Not from any official source. Cheetah Mobile no longer distributes CM Browser, the original Play listing is gone, and the old Windows build stopped being updated in 2021. Sites offering a CM Browser for PC free download are serving abandoned or repackaged files.
Is CM Browser safe to use?
No. It has had no security updates since 2019, and it was publicly reported to send users’ browsing URLs to remote servers. Both issues are disqualifying for a browser in 2026.
What about CM Browser 5.0 APK or an old version?
The 5.x APKs floating around are the final 2019 builds. Running one today means browsing the web with seven-year-old security. Use Brave, Edge or Opera instead; they are free and cover every feature CM Browser had.
What replaced CM Browser?
Nothing directly. Cheetah Mobile moved away from consumer utility apps after the 2020 removal. The practical replacements are the mainstream browsers with built-in ad blocking listed above.
Verdict
CM Browser had a real audience once, but its story ended in 2020 between Google’s removal, India’s ban and the privacy findings. Do not install leftover APKs and do not trust the name-alike apps now on Play. A free, patched, ad-blocking browser like Brave or Edge gives you everything CM Browser did, without the history.