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All iPads Have you tried the new Beam Browser for iPadOS?

Apple_Robert

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
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In a van down by the river
From the developer website: “Beam is not a mobile browser stretched wider. And it is not a desktop browser awkwardly constrained. It is designed from the ground up for iPadOS.”

Beam | The browser iPad deserves

Beam is a desktop-class browser built for iPad with keyboard-first navigation, command bar workflows, and lightning-fast, distraction-free browsing.
www.beambrowser.app www.beambrowser.app

This looks very intriguing to me and thought I would give it a go just now.

Anyone else use this browser? If so, what are your thoughts?
 
It's inspired by the Arc Browser... which is my default browser on the Mac, was hoping The Browsing Company would have brought it to the iPad. But the iPad version is practically a blown up iPhone app and I tried Aura & Emerald, none of them resembled the experienced of the Arc Browser.

But this Beam app... is it! It's now my default browser... if you are into the Arc Browser (or maybe Dia), then give it a go!
 
Ludatyk said:
It's inspired by the Arc Browser... which is my default browser on the Mac, was hoping The Browsing Company would have brought it to the iPad. But the iPad version is practically a blown up iPhone app and I tried Aura & Emerald, none of them resembled the experienced of the Arc Browser.

But this Beam app... is it! It's now my default browser... if you are into the Arc Browser (or maybe Dia), then give it a go!
Click to expand...
I installed last night and have been learning my way around. I am really impressed with the app thus far and like what i see. I never tried Arc.

The developer is one smart kid (16). I have emailed him twice and he replied right away.
 
Apple_Robert said:
I installed last night and have been learning my way around. I am really impressed with the app thus far and like what i see. I never tried Arc.

The developer is one smart kid (16). I have emailed him twice and he replied right away.
Click to expand...
I read an article about him in Digitaltrends. Pretty impressive for 16. His website is very good too.

www.digitaltrends.com

I found an iPad browser that finally puts a desktop-like experience on Apple’s tablet

Beam adds plenty of desktop-grade browsing flair on the iPad, while throwing its own unique set of features into the mix. It's the most fulfilling browser experience I've ever had on Apple's tablet.
www.digitaltrends.com www.digitaltrends.com
 
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Apple_Robert said:
I installed last night and have been learning my way around. I am really impressed with the app thus far and like what i see. I never tried Arc.

The developer is one smart kid (16). I have emailed him twice and he replied right away.
Click to expand...
Well, he actually did a reddit post a couple months back discussing this Beam app... asked if there were folks interesting in doing beta testing for it.

Never got a chance to be invited to it... but I knew had to try it out once it was officially released.
 
Ludatyk said:
Well, he actually did a reddit post a couple months back discussing this Beam app... asked if there were folks interesting in doing beta testing for it.

Never got a chance to be invited to it... but I knew had to try it out once it was officially released.
Click to expand...
I really like the different Spaces set up. It makes it so much easier to keep different subjects separate while having multiple tabs open at once, not to mention the ability to control RAM usage for tab use.
 
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Alas, iPadOS 26 is the minimum.

I only have the mini 6 and 11” M1 iPP with me at the moment and I’m keeping those on 18 so I can’t try it yet.
 
I guess its still constrained to webkit though right, like all browsers on ios and iPad os.
 
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Can someone using Beam 1.1 load YouTube and let me know if videos will play for you? Anytime I try and play a video, the entire tab freezes. It looks like the adblocker tries to work and then gets stuck. I am trying to determine if the problem is with the new update or something on my end.
 
I used this for a few days. Too many bugs to replace my daily browser. The two main issues is that I can’t play full screen videos and open new tab in private browsing doesn’t work. I wish there was a dark mode too, since I can’t use Noir that I have on Safari.

I do like the integration of Apple Intelligence to summarize and chat with the page though.
 
Apple_Robert said:
Can someone using Beam 1.1 load YouTube and let me know if videos will play for you? Anytime I try and play a video, the entire tab freezes. It looks like the adblocker tries to work and then gets stuck. I am trying to determine if the problem is with the new update or something on my end.
Click to expand...
Just tried loading a YT vid on Beam... and you have to turn adblocker completely off in order to watch a vid. But I normally don't use YT via a browser... normally go through the app.
 
Apple_Robert said:
Can someone using Beam 1.1 load YouTube and let me know if videos will play for you? Anytime I try and play a video, the entire tab freezes. It looks like the adblocker tries to work and then gets stuck. I am trying to determine if the problem is with the new update or something on my end.
Click to expand...
Question: why are you watching YouTube in a browser instead of the app?
 
Paul1964 said:
Yes you'll get the usual YouTube apps. To not get ads you need YouTube Premium.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I been a YT Premium user ever since it was originally called YT Red… but they have a YT Ad-free standalone version (if users don’t care for YT Music included plan).
 
Bought Beam yesterday, it’s maybe one of the best iPad apps I’ve ever used. Maybe a bit unfair as it is a nearly 1-1 clone of Arc’s UI, so a lot of UX work was borrowed, but the implementation is excellent.

Maybe a placebo, but on my 16GB RAM iPad it seems to get way fewer page reloads than Safari, which seems to reload nearly every page even with light multitasking.
 
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jclardy said:
Maybe a placebo, but on my 16GB RAM iPad it seems to get way fewer page reloads than Safari, which seems to reload nearly every page even with light multitasking.
Click to expand...
That's great. It's a shame supports starts at 26, most of my iPads are on 18 or lower... And honestly I don't want to update to 26 for now other than my test iPad... Still I may try it...
 
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jclardy said:
Bought Beam yesterday, it’s maybe one of the best iPad apps I’ve ever used. Maybe a bit unfair as it is a nearly 1-1 clone of Arc’s UI, so a lot of UX work was borrowed, but the implementation is excellent.

Maybe a placebo, but on my 16GB RAM iPad it seems to get way fewer page reloads than Safari, which seems to reload nearly every page even with light multitasking.
Click to expand...
I haven’t experienced any reloads, yet. Outside of a few on and off glitches with the built in adblocker, Beam has been working very well for me. I am treating it as my primary right now.
 
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