Google’s famous Chrome is a single web browser you can use for your laptop, phone, and tablet. As it works with both Android and iOS, it is your mobile browser also. The latest iOS features have brought a big competitor in the browser segment for iOS Safari. The latest features are of great interest to users, freelance designers, developers as well as testers.

Why Google Chrome?

It allows you to search and navigate from the same search box. The facility to choose from results and suggestions that appear as you type is a great feature. It includes your recent searches, visited websites and makes it easier for you to search. The Autofill facility lets you complete forms with one click and autosuggest saves you time when you are typing the URLS and search keywords.

There is an interesting facility to pick up where you left while changing the device. When you switch from laptop to smartphone, there’s no need to start all over again. With Chrome, you can immediately access all your tabs, bookmarks and recent searches from any digital device. You can access all your web activities on all devices making it very convenient.

You may be already using this feature, but if not, you can give it a try! The Google hands-free is talking to the browser. Ask questions and get your searches with the voice search capability. You can save on mobile data plans while using this browser. There are many reasons for using Chrome for iOS features. Google Chrome lets you open unlimited tabs on the iPad, compared to only nine on Safari.

Unlike Safari, Google Chrome understand that pain of switching browser tabs. Google Chrome allows users to swipe from the edge of iOS devices to switch tabs easily. It’s an intuitive experience. Google Chrome allows you to search and surf directly from the same search box. Here, search results and website URLs appear as you type the keywords.

Portability between different devices:

Google Chrome allows you to sign in and sync your address bar, bookmarks, passwords and view tabs they have open on computers and all mobile devices. As long as you sign in Google Chrome with the same ID, you bring all your personalised information with you anywhere you go.

If you liked browsing in private mode on the desktop, then that is now available in the mobile version as well. It allows you to browse on your Apple devices without leaving behind cookies, history or any other data while going incognito. It is a good feature for testing the websites also.

Google Chrome has an option to remember passwords for the sites you log in. If you activate Google Chrome “Save Passwords” feature, you’ll get a prompt every time you sign into a new website. Once Chrome saves your log-in details, it will automatically complete the log-in details when you again arrive at the website login page.

 Updates related to new iPhones and iPads:

The latest version is much faster and more stable, so you can pick up where you left off browsing (on any digital device) without worrying about Chrome crashing on misbehaving web pages.

Google has updated its Chrome browser for iPhone and iPad, adding 3D touch support and many quick actions on the new models of iPhone. The mobile users can use the voice search, open a new tab, or a new Incognito tab from the app icon.

Google has added support for more keyboard shortcuts. Now you can do more with your Bluetooth keyboard like the opening, closing and changing tabs or conducting a voice search. It has pushed an update to its Chrome browser for iPhone and iPad, making it nearly more stable as well as much faster.

The browser now uses Apple’s latest rendering engine, which provides an overall better experience on the iPad and iPhone. Also, you’ll notice Spotlight integration and redesigned icons on the New Tab page.

Open source iOS version of Chrome browser:

You can grab the latest, and most stable Chrome for iPhone from the App Store now. Google has announced that it has open-sourced the iOS version of its Chrome browser. It brings Chrome for iOS into the Chromium project and allows developers and freelance gigs to compile the code just as they would for Chromium for Windows, MacOS, Linux, and Android.

A lot more work has gone into the open source Chromium project for the iOS version of Chrome. For Chromium, this means supporting both WebKit as well as Blink, which is Chrome’s rendering engine for other platforms.

Latest updates in 2017:

Google very recently updated the iOS version of Google Chrome with new features for the iPhone and iPad web browsing. On iOS devices supporting 3D Touch, users can now 3D Touch on Chrome to bring up a quick-access menu that now includes ‘Scan QR Code.’ There is no need for a third-party app now.

Both the iPhone and iPad versions of Chrome have their style of swipe gestures. On the iPad, you can swipe from outside of the screen and drag while holding the switch tabs.

Google Chrome has a built-in voice search which is of great convenience to users with disabilities or for individuals who have their hands full. Have you already observed that the new tab is loading thumbnail versions of most visited websites? It is known as speed dial feature which allows you to jump to most visited websites. It is also known as the ‘most visited’ feature. It applies to recently closed pages also, which is handy if you accidentally close a page and can’t remember the web page address.

Now the iOS users and freelance web developers with the requirement of independent testing can also start a New Incognito Tab, open a regular New Tab, or open the most recent copied link. The latest update has also redesigned the tab switcher on the iPad version of Google Chrome, which makes ‘it easier to access your open sites’ within the app.

With so many new features and support for iOS, it will be interesting to see what new features Safari will add to its browser.

 

Kitty Gupta
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