Opera One Browser Launches on iOS With Aria AI Integration, Voice Input, Image Generation, and More

[MacRumors]

Opera has released its artificial intelligence-powered Opera One browser for iOS, following several weeks in beta testing.

The iPhone app mimics the minimalist aesthetic of the company's desktop browser, and "intelligently hides unnecessary elements" to make the browsing experience free from distractions. When scrolling on a page, for example, the browser hides the bottom and the top bar for a full-screen view.

The search bar sits at the bottom of the interface for easier access, provides quick search suggestions while typing, and includes Aria AI assistant integration. There's also a new swipe-to-search gesture that lets users activate the search bar with a simple swipe down, similar to when users search for apps from the iPhone's Home Screen via Spotlight. The placed search bar is the default option, but users can alternatively choose Standard Navigation or Fast Action Button style.

Aria can assist with a wide range of tasks, from web searches to generating text and images, according to Opera. With Voice Input, Aria allows users to speak queries instead of typing them, making it convenient when on the move or in need of hands-free operation. Aria can also create images using Google's Imagen2 model, enabling users to generate visuals simply by providing a prompt.

Additionally, there's a new start page carousel that is designed to keep users informed without cluttering up the interface, integrating news, live scores, and product tips into the wallpaper background. Opera also includes a built-in ad blocker, a free VPN service, and several theme customization options.

Opera One for iOS comes just over a year after its debut on desktop, and can be downloaded from the App Store for free [Direct Link].

Article Link: Opera One Browser Launches on iOS With Aria AI Integration, Voice Input, Image Generation, and More

 

[Account25476]

Opera has gained a lot of popularity, useful features, and capabilities over the past five years (though privacy remains a concern!).
But what about Safari? While it offers group tabs and the new "Distraction Control" feature, it still struggles to even load all the favicons in a bookmark folder. I mean...

 

[freezelighter]

Best browser after Safari.

 

[android-shill]

People DO understand that Opera is now a Chinese botnet, and the real Opera is now called Vivaldi, right?

 

[cicalinarrot]

Downloaded, hated the UI, uninstalled.
Just like I do with most browsers with new features: if it feels bad because they tried to reinvent the wheel with the interface, I'm out.
Maybe I'm getting old...

 

[Six0Four]

Was just about to download Arc for Mac since they now have an iPad app and thats what was holding me back in the past. Might check this one out.

 

[Kottu]

I was using Opera for a long tme. Once I found out that it is owned by a Chinese company, I have reduced my usage.

 

[scorpio vega]

I was using Opera for a long tme. Once I found out that it is owned by a Chinese company, I have reduced my usage.

People DO understand that Opera is now a Chinese botnet, and the real Opera is now called Vivaldi, right?

This Sinophobia you guys all have is quite interesting to me lol

It doesn’t bother me in the least. I also use SHEIN so the Chinese already know plenty about me.

 

[scorpio vega]

Opera as a brand confuses me so much. They have so many different browsers and I’m like are they all just the same browser but marketed differently or actually different products

 

[Kylo83]

The home bar is so distracting I wish we could hide it

 

[android-shill]

This Sinophobia you guys all have is quite interesting to me lol

I don't know what Sinophobia is but I know that "Opera" collects more data about me than Google Chrome. I'm happy for you if this doesn't bother you but others could take an issue with this, especially if they are with Apple because of privacy

 

[scorpio vega]

I don't know what Sinophobia is but I know that "Opera" collects more data about me than Google Chrome. I'm happy for you if this doesn't bother you but others could take an issue with this, especially if they are with Apple because of privacy

I don’t use opera products period but I hope y’all paranoid about Chinese watching you also don’t use google.

 

[DesignatedSurvivor]

People DO understand that Opera is now a Chinese botnet, and the real Opera is now called Vivaldi, right?

People know that Opera is a Norwegian company. Under Norwegian Law and GDPR. It's under the SAME PRIVACY LAW as Vivaldi, and the HQ is in the same city, Oslo (the Capital of Norway).

Opera is a publicly-traded subsidiary incorporated in Norway. It's parent company (the major shareholder) is indeed a Chinese company. But, since Opera is incorporated in Norway, it should be governed by Norwegian laws, not China's. You'll probably need to ask a lawyer that knows about Opera, its shareholders and international law to see if China even has any jurisdiction in this case. It's not.

Then, even if China doesn't have any legal jurisdiction, you'll have to consider the risk of the major shareholder illegally obtaining data somehow, if China ever decides to give a crap about Opera and compel the major shareholder to try and illegally obtain data. There's no evidence that anything like that is going on.

According to Opera's Privacy Policy, Opera does share some info about its users to its partners. Opera is funded by ads and partnerships after all. Most of it is anonymized and a few things are specific like IP ranges or location or IP address in some case. But, there's nothing funky going on like stealing your session cookies or your usernames and passwords or your save payment methods or your crypto wallets or anything crazy like that. Opera isn't logging your keystrokes and scraping your screen or anything insane like that. Just normal stats/metrics for advertising/partners.

Also keep in mind that in the U.S. for example, the government can compel U.S. company's to share some data when requested for legal reasons. So, it's not like any U.S. companies are completely safe from their own government.

 

[klasma]

But what about Safari? While it offers group tabs and the new "Distraction Control" feature, it still struggles to even load all the favicons in a bookmark folder. I mean...

Worse, it sometimes mixes up its favicon cache and shows the favicon of one website for a different website. Worse, it also reorders URLs, matching them up with page titles of different web pages in the browsing history, when jumping back and forth in the history.

Worse, it's unable to keep even just a handful of tabs in memory without reloading, even on the new M4 iPad Pro.

 

[DesignatedSurvivor]

I don't know what Sinophobia is but I know that "Opera" collects more data about me than Google Chrome. I'm happy for you if this doesn't bother you but others could take an issue with this, especially if they are with Apple because of privacy

Any proofs or just "trust me bro"? Opera has to use the strict EU privacy laws.

 

[DesignatedSurvivor]

I was using Opera for a long tme. Once I found out that it is owned by a Chinese company, I have reduced my usage.

It does not matter. Coz they have to comply to Norwegian Law (and GDPR).

 

[klasma]

Worse, it sometimes mixes up its favicon cache and shows the favicon of one website for a different website. Worse, it also reorders URLs, matching them up with page titles of different web pages in the browsing history, when jumping back and forth in the history.

Worse, it's unable to keep even just a handful of tabs in memory without reloading, even on the new M4 iPad Pro.

@bondr006 Not sure why you disagree, this is my daily experience with iOS Safari.

 

[nuff_said]

I don't know what Sinophobia is but I know that "Opera" collects more data about me than Google Chrome. I'm happy for you if this doesn't bother you but others could take an issue with this, especially if they are with Apple because of privacy

It means anti-Chinese sentiment.

 

[bondr006]

@bondr006 Not sure why you disagree, this is my daily experience with iOS Safari.

I disagree because it's not my experience at all. In all the years I've been using Safari, I have experienced none of those issues...even once. For me Safari has been the best and safest experience on Apple's mobile platform. I have almost 100 tabs open on my iPhone Safari....and it doesn't skip a beat.

 

[android-shill]

Any proofs or just "trust me bro"? Opera has to use the strict EU privacy laws.

Yes, it's called "Privacy Policy". You're welcome to read it.

 

[dumastudetto]

I don't know what Sinophobia is but I know that "Opera" collects more data about me than Google Chrome. I'm happy for you if this doesn't bother you but others could take an issue with this, especially if they are with Apple because of privacy

You are probably better off if your data is being siphoned off to China or Russia rather than being held in the United States. It's a lot more useful to the US government than countries who will likely resist data subject requests from 3 letter agencies in the US. Unless you're some high-level government official, military, or working for intelligence agencies, it's unlikely the Chinese or Russian government has much use or interest in having access to your online activities.

 

[coffeemilktea]

All these comments about Opera's privacy and whether or not the Chinese government is spying on you...

Meanwhile, my biggest gripe about Opera is that the desktop browser's UI is kinda ugly, and the mobile browser tacks on some really goofy features (seriously, why is there a crypto wallet in the browser...? 😬)

 

[Aka757]

Was just about to download Arc for Mac since they now have an iPad app and thats what was holding me back in the past. Might check this one out.

I tried using Arc for iOS and Mac. On iOS it’s super fast and snappy. It’s also fast on Mac but seems to use a lot more battery life than Safari, probably because it’s built off chrome / chromium. Also, Arc doesn’t have full sync / handoff support on iOS like safari does. They may add it in the future though. I really want to like Arc but these issues were disappointing.

 

[rman0726]

Was just about to download Arc for Mac since they now have an iPad app and thats what was holding me back in the past. Might check this one out.

I couldn’t with Arc. I tried it because of some glowing Verge article and deleted it about 2 minutes later.

 

[webkit]

Opera has gained a lot of popularity, useful features, and capabilities over the past five years (though privacy remains a concern!).
But what about Safari? While it offers group tabs and the new "Distraction Control" feature, it still struggles to even load all the favicons in a bookmark folder. I mean...

In what way has Opera "gained a lot of popularity" over the past five years? According to Statcounter, Opera's global usage share declined from 2.58% in July 2019 to 2.06% in July 2024. Meanwhile, Safari usage share increased from 15.05% in July 2019 to 18.39% in July 2024.