lukeaschenbrenner/TxtNet-Browser
An app that lets you browse the web over SMS observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
82/100
- Activity 76
- Release rhythm 78
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 8
- age_days: 1625
- days_rel: 148
- days_push: 147
- n_releases_24m: 6
Adoption not part of the score
1519 stars · 36 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded
TxtNet Browser is an Android app that lets users browse the web over SMS without any WiFi or mobile data connection. It sends HTTP GET requests via SMS to a server (public or self-hosted on another phone), which returns stripped-down, Brotli-compressed HTML encoded in a custom Base-114 format.
Use cases
- browse the web on a phone with no data plan
- access websites over SMS in areas without internet coverage
- self-host a gateway server on a second phone with internet
- read text-only versions of web pages on old Android devices
- communicate and fetch information during internet outages
When to choose
- you need web access on a device with only cellular SMS service
- you want to repurpose an old Android phone (4.4+) as a low-bandwidth browser
- you want to run your own SMS-to-web gateway without technical setup
When to avoid
- you need encrypted or private browsing - traffic is plaintext over SMS
- you need media, JavaScript-heavy sites, or fast interactive browsing
- you need anything beyond HTTP GET requests
- you need iOS or desktop support
Facets
application · maturity maintenance
http-client compression proxy web-scraping web-development networking privacy android-tools censorship-circumvention sms offline-web brotli base114-encoding self-hosted-server low-bandwidth android mobile
1 source
- readme: https://github.com/lukeaschenbrenner/TxtNet-Browser · fetched 2026-08-28 · bfb9b667efe2
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| lukeaschenbrenner/TxtNet-Browser | main | 82 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="lukeaschenbrenner/TxtNet-Browser")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem