That means, if you tap on a link in Mail, Twitter, or anywhere else, your iPhone or iPad will automatically launch Safari even if you would rather use Chrome. Which brings us to the limitations imposed on Chrome (and all App Store browsers) by iOS.įirst, iOS doesn't currently allow you to change the default browser like you can on a desktop OS like OS X or Windows.
My only complaint is that with data heavy websites, scrolling isn't buttery smooth like with Safari.
Overall, I'm very impressed with Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad. Speaking of which, if you're logged in to both Chrome on the desktop and Chrome on iOS (or Android), everything is automagically synced between all your open browsers. Google Chrome is smart enough (usually) to figure out when you want to go to specific website or perform a search.
You can either type in a term that you want to search and watch suggestions appear as you type, or you can enter a full web address before hitting Go. Just like with Google Chrome for desktop, the search and web address field are the same.
There is a nod to Android design in Chrome, with the look of the menu/options button and the close buttons being on the right instead of the left the way Apple does them, but none of it is jarring or too out of place. While viewing a webpage, you can also switch between tabs by swiping left or right to the next/previous one. To get rid of a tab from the stack, you can also just tap, hold, and through it away. On the iPhone, You have to tap on the windows button which will show all your tabs like stacks of folders on top of each other that you can scroll up and down through. On the iPad, the tabs will just start piling up on one end of the tool bar and scrolling through the tab bar will reveal more tabs, moving the pile to the other end.
You are allowed an infinite number of tabs that you can easily scroll through. I really like the look of Google Chrome on the iPhone and iPad. Right up front, that nicely handles any worries that their more complex interface would be less accessible. Right from the beginning, Chrome offers you interface hints and an optional slideshow tutorial to get you started.