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Google Working on Browser for iOS That Would Break Apple's App Store Rules
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The answer (on iOS at least) is easy - because they don't have to.
Apple currently requires that every browser on iOS uses the same browser engine as Safari (WebKit). There is no competition because there is no way for the user to make a choice. Unless Safari/WebKit is *so bad* that people stop buying iPhones, there is no reason for Apple to put any more effort it making it a real challenger to Chrome/Edge/Firefox.
Google testing out the browser before major changes comes to iOS due to regulations.
Equal how? The WebKit project is very active, and Apple distributes a development copy of Safari called Safari Technology Preview that contains early support for emerging web technologies.
Safari is not outdated or non-standard simply because it doesn't contain every single feature that the Chromium team has chosen to implement early, often before they are stable.
Edge is based on Chromium, so it inherits said features, and are not the result of any effort by Microsoft engineers, so it gets no credit.
Why do you believe that WebKit is a hot mess? Emotional bias, or based on actual facts?
No. Chrome is "popular" because of Google's massive visibility in the market, not because it's the best. Don't mistake mass marketshare with quality.
The first 27 versions of Chrome were built on WebKit. If Chrome has always been superior, doesn't WebKit get credit for that in the beginning, too?
You're so far off with your evaluation of Safari, it's hard to read.
Seems Google is acting on a hunch yet we all know it’s not. You don’t put research and development time and money in “a hunch” so whom promised Google this would happen huh???
Hmmmm!
Now we're actually going to need as much RAM as they have to put into Android phones.
And by we I mean YOU because I am not downloading this crap ever and I'm a web developer.
And by we I mean YOU because I am not downloading this crap ever and I'm a web developer.
No, it's not. It basically takes Chromium, developed by Google, adds uBlock Origin plugin by default, adds some ******** crypto shitcoin, and then markets it as some privacy browser.
Only the gullible believe that crap.
What is wrong with your computer? Several of those numbers seem off.
Messages is currently using 0% on my system. I recently sent several messages including photos and videos to a friend and my uptime is nearly 11 days and I use my Mac about 10-12 hours per day using between 25-35 different apps during the week because I work from home and it's my personal device as well. I'm a web developer and use several browsers during the week and hands down without a doubt Chrome uses way more resources than Safari. I can have 10-15 windows open averaging 40-50 tabs per window in Safari and it still chugs along okay. Chrome starts to give me problems with a couple windows and 20-30 tabs and it eats battery when I'm using my MBP. I use Safari as my primary development browser and then when I'm doing final QA on a site I'll run it through Chrome and it's good 99% of the time because of the best practices we deploy.
Amen. Google is a great company when it comes to the web, but their desktop and mobile software is absolutely the worst, and hordes of fanboys chanting their praises doesn't change that one bit. In all these years, Google has never successfully cultivated a developer culture that produces decent desktop/mobile software. Just about everything they produce is a mess.
Good. Because Safari sucks. Even on Mac Safari sucks. There always some website which doesn’t work on Safari (also on Mac version) and then I need Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.
On Mac this is no issue because Google and Microsoft supply the real version. But on iOS, it’s just a reskinned Safari which has the exact same limitations.
On Mac this is no issue because Google and Microsoft supply the real version. But on iOS, it’s just a reskinned Safari which has the exact same limitations.
Chrome is still better than Safari as all websites work, unlike Safari (including Mac).
Safari is ****, it doesn’t work on everything. Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are better.
WebKit really sucks, as it is even worse than the desktop / MAC version of Safari.
On the iPad I even have more problems with websites not working than the desktop / Mac version.
Can’t wait to have a proper browser on my iPad. On MAC it is not an issue as I have Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome as a “backup browser”.
You forget one thing. Chromium/Blink is based on Webkit. Webkit changed the world, but Apple failed rolling Safari out to as many platforms as possible. Safari on Windows was a nightmare.
But look at other companies. Chromium and Edge (based on Chromium again) are available on Windows and Linux, as well. Apple didn‘t feel the need to compete, since there was no competition on iOS.
Hopefully things change and Apple starts to think different again. TC should leave to allow a new Apple.
Competition is often good for customers.
Here it has (at least) two limitations:
* Allowing Google system ( it is more than a browser) on iOS is allowing Google to target monopoly on connected devices
* Apple has monopoly on a limited ecosystem that has an alternative, and several customers choose Apple ecosystem because they perceive that Apple monopoly makes this system safer
Anyhow, I am fine with macOS and I will be fine with a less closed iOS, but it's not my priority.
Here it has (at least) two limitations:
* Allowing Google system ( it is more than a browser) on iOS is allowing Google to target monopoly on connected devices
* Apple has monopoly on a limited ecosystem that has an alternative, and several customers choose Apple ecosystem because they perceive that Apple monopoly makes this system safer
Anyhow, I am fine with macOS and I will be fine with a less closed iOS, but it's not my priority.
It would be interesting to see how many people use Chrome on the iOS.
If Safari still dominates on iOS, I doubt that many 'normal' people will be persuaded to move to Chrome because of it using the same web render and js engines as Chrome desktop.
As a few others have said, what it should mean is that Safari will need to be faster at implementing new standards - particularly with those that allow web apps to nearly reach parity with regular form and text based binary apps.
I know that anecdotally, many companies have given up making iOS and android versions of their apps - if it's just free information/marketing - due to the dev cost just not being worth it, not even as a web app in a binary app wrapper. Instead they just have responsive web sites which can become web apps.
So Apple might as well companies like that to produce good web apps that feel like equal citizens on iOS, in the first instance.
Sure, this will likely mean that more ecommerce starts to happen out of the App Store - but it'll be a situation just like the Mac and the current status quo on iOS, is just unsustainable and is getting to be quite frankly, an ugly look for Apple.
