Apple has been on its privacy train for years now. "We believe privacy is a fundamental human right" has made its way out of Tim Cook and Craig Federighi's mouths so many times that it is baked into my brain. I did not have to look that phrase up to remember it exactly.

Of course, on the other side of the coin is Google, which learns basically everything about you when you use the company's search engine. That's definitely what Apple wants you to think with its new privacy ad called "Flock."

The new ad tells you that "your browsing is being watched" and depicts that with flying cameras following people around everyone. Whether you're taking a walk on the beach, fishing in the middle of the ocean, or hanging out on your couch — you're not alone when you're browsing on your phone...unless you use Safari on an iPhone.

You can check out the new ad below:

Don't forget to change your search engine, too

While Apple didn't mention any other browser by name in the ad, it's clear the company is taking a shot at Google's Chrome app. Of course, there are other privacy-focused browsers available for the iPhone like DuckDuckGo. It's also good to note that, even if you choose Safari, Google is still the default search engine on iPhone, so you might want to change that to more privacy-focused search engine options like DuckDuckGo and Ecosia.

What does Google think about the ad? Well, Tom's Guide asked. According to the outlet, a Google spokesperson provided a statement that said "Chrome is built with the goal of keeping your data safe by default and ensuring users can control when and how their data is used in Chrome to personalize their web browsing experience. We believe users should always be in control, which is why we've built easy to use privacy and security settings directly into Chrome."

That sounds less like "we don't collect your data" and more like "you're in control of all of that data we collect about you" to me. I've personally used the Safari app and DuckDuckGo as my search engine for years, so I'm way ahead of you, Apple.

Just days after reports suggested Google's emissions goals look unlikely due to its push into AI content and search results, it appears the company is looking to increase its search revenue by nudging users away from using Safari.

Apple's agreement to position Google as the default search engine on Safari on iPhone is reportedly worth billions per year, but Google seemingly isn't happy with the reliance on Apple's device.

The Information reports that the US Justice Department's lawsuit against Google for a monopoly on search and advertising has accelerated plans to nudge users to conduct searches through its own apps should the ruling put an end to its arrangement with Apple.

The report suggests progress stalled last year, with Google aiming to reach 50% of searches being conducted through its apps by 2030 - and currently sitting on around 30% (up from 25% five years ago).

Google looks to break iPhone searches away from Safari

The Information's report suggests that a decline in Safari-based Google searches would mean the payments the company makes to Apple could drop from the $20 billion paid last year.

Google has run plenty of ad campaigns to extol the virtues of its apps for search, but The Information says these did little to attract customers to download Chrome on Apple devices. New hire Robby Stein (formerly of Instagram and Yahoo) is tasked with moving iPhone customers to Google apps.

More from iMore

• Forget iOS 18, Apple is already hard at work on iOS 19, watchOS 12 & more
• iOS 18 will add support for new languages to key iPhone software features including the keyboard and search
• Twilio confirms hackers obtained cell phone numbers of Authy users - so you might want to switch to Apple's iOS 18 Passwords app

When Apple announced profile support was coming to Safari on iPhone and iPad as part of the iOS 17 update last year it was immediately well-received. The feature allows people to create a profile under which they can do specific types of browsing, like for work for example, and now it seems a similar feature is coming to Google's Chrome as well.

While Google is yet to confirm the feature it's reported that a basic profile-switching mechanism is currently being tested in Chrome for iPhone and iPad. It's notable that the same feature is not yet available on Android, suggesting that it could either debut on Apple's platforms first or a wider launch across all mobile platforms is in the cards.

It's still unclear what timescale Google is working to, and it's possible the plans could be nixed before launch. But fans of profiles in their web browser could be about to get a whole new option.

Keeping a low profile

As mentioned, Google has so far kept its multi-profile plans to itself but a MacObserver report suggests that those plans are very real.

"Google is currently working on a basic profile-switching mechanism for Chrome on iOS," MacObserver explains. "Once implemented, they will top it up with more advanced features. Thus, the item is aptly titled 'Implement rudimentary profile switching.' The report goes on to say that "Google is testing the UI, and it is currently behind an experimental flag. Even the name or title of the feature has yet to be decided."

That would suggest that any launch is unlikely to take place any time soon, so we wouldn't start holding your breath just yet. In the interim, Apple's Safari might be worth checking out. Maybe you've heard of it?

More from iMore

• How to set up Safari Profiles on iOS 17
• New Safari test build finally adds Profiles to Apple's web browser
• Every website can now be an app thanks to Safari — it's macOS Sonoma's secret weapon

If you use Chrome on your iPhone or Mac, Google has some good news for you on how you can search for topics and how you download files.

A new update will bring site-specific search suggestions as you browse. Providing that the site has been made to work with the upcoming Chrome update, you can now see search suggestions that are related to the site in question — so if you have iMore in the address bar, you may be greeted with a ‘How to use Safari in iOS 17’ as a suggestion.

Alongside being able to view trending searches here, downloading files is finally getting a redesign on the macOS version of Chrome. They’re being moved to a drop-down menu, while currently, they appear as a bar at the bottom of your Chrome tab, wasting valuable space.

iOS 17 is supercharging Safari with profiles, alongside allowing Siri to read out a web page to you. So when you compare the improvements to what Google’s doing with Chrome already, you may be spoilt for choice when picking a web browser later this year.

But two aspects of Chrome on Apple’s devices still need work - from both companies.

Feeling lucky for your battery?

Due to Apple’s App Store rules, all web browsers can only run from its own WebKit engine, which powers Safari. While Chrome also runs on this engine, it means Chrome for Apple devices is a different fork of the browser than what’s used on Android, Mac, Linux, and Windows devices. This can mean new and different features are accessible to non-Apple users, while Chrome on iOS needs to wait for these features to be ported to its own engine.

This is the same for Firefox and Opera on iPhone, and it’s time for Apple to reconsider this in order to give users a better experience, especially if you use another web browser full-time on your Mac. Apple believes that privacy and security are incredibly important in browsing the web, and rightly so. But in order to do this, it restricts other web browsers from using different engines. This made sense years ago, but users want better a choice on their iPhones now.

But on the other hand, Chrome has been a consistent battery hog on Mac for years. It’s high time that Google takes a closer look at this and sees how it can take advantage of macOS and whether there’s a long-standing bug that’s simply been missed.

A redesigned downloads view is a big feature that many have been hoping to see and could convince users to switch from Safari to Chrome on macOS. But on the other hand, it’s also restricted on iOS due to Apple’s guidelines for web browsers. So until Apple changes its rules on only using one web engine, you may be best off using Chrome on macOS and iOS regardless to take advantage of all of these new features.

Apple's Safari web browser is now the second most popular app of its kind on desktops, according to a new report.

Safari took the second spot from Microsoft's Edge browser, although only by the smallest of margins. The gap between Safari and the top of the chart where Google's Chrome sits pretty is much, much bigger, however.

With Safari making up 11.87% of the desktop web browsing market Chrome decimates the competition with a whopping 66.13% of the market.

A long way to second place

The huge difference between Chrome in top spot and Safari in second shouldn't be all that surprising considering the fact that Chrome is available on Windows and macOS, whereas Safari is obviously only available on Apple's devices. The fact that Safari has taken second place from Edge — according to numbers shared by Statcounter — is much more interesting.

It's likely that Safari's surge comes on the back of strong 2022 Mac sales, putting Safari at the fingertips of more people. As for why Apple sold so many computers, that's likely down to 2022 still benefiting from the tail end of the COVID-19 work-from-home sales boom not to mention the fact that Apple is now making some of the best Macs it's ever produced — the MacBook Air and latest 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros for example, while the 15-inch MacBook Air rumors suggest Apple isn't done yet.

As for the rest of the web browsers available on desktop machines, it's worth noting that Safari only beat Edge out by the finest of margins. Safari's 11.87% was enough to just edge out Microsoft's browser and its 11% share, while Firefox accounts for 5.65% of desktop web browser share. Opera makes up 3.09% while Internet Explorer still holds on to 0.55%. We have to imagine that's businesses running older versions of Windows and refusing to upgrade.

Google Chrome has reached a "new performance milestone" on Apple's speedometer browser benchmark, the company has revealed.

Chrome is the biggest browser on earth, with over 3.3 billion users, and the latest updates have made the web browser 10% faster in the Speedometer 2.1 browser benchmark over the course of three months.

In a statement released on Thursday, Google said, "From the beginning of Chrome, one of our 4 founding principles has been speed, and it remains a core principle that guides our work. Today’s The Fast and the Curious post shares how recent technical improvements to Chrome have helped us reach a new performance milestone on the Speedometer browser benchmark across all platforms."

"Speed is a critical factor in determining your experience while browsing the Web. The faster the browser, the more enjoyable your browsing experience will be. With the latest release of Chrome, we went deep under the hood of Chrome’s engine to look for every opportunity to increase the speed and efficiency, from improved caching to better memory management."

The improvements are thanks to the discovery of opportunities to optimize specific features like the highly used JS `Object.prototype.toString` and `Array.prototype.join`functions.

No luck for iPhone users

The improved Google Chrome speeds on Mac and Android don't seem to have made their way to iPhone - yet.

With reports that Apple could remove the requirement for third-party web browsers to use WebKit, the browser engine that powers Safari. This could mean using Google Chrome on iOS 17 would be similar to its desktop counterpart rather than living in the shadows of mobile Safari. 

Last month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said, "Currently, third-party web browsers, including ones like Chrome from Alphabet Inc.'s Google, are required to use WebKit, Apple's Safari browsing engine. Under the plan to meet the new law, Apple is considering removing that mandate."

With WWDC right around the corner, we don't have much longer to wait to see if Google Chrome on iPhone gets the same speed boost as its bigger brother on Mac.

It looks like Apple is messing around with bringing Apple Pay...to Chrome?

Stopped by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser, the fourth developer beta of iOS 16 has added support for Apple Pay to browsers outside of Safari. According to his research, Moser said that the "Continue with Apple Pay" button started to show up for compatible websites on the Chrome, Edge, and Firefox apps on the iPhone.

Moser went on to say that he believes the feature could technically be available to any third-party browser on the iPhone.

Why won't it work on the Mac?

It appears that the feature, if it does roll out to all users, will be limited to third-party browsers on the iPhone and iPad and not come to third-party browsers on the Mac. As Moser points out, this is because third-party browser apps on the iPhone and iPad are forced to use Safari's rendering engine.

On the Mac, however, all of those browsers are able to use their own rendering engine. It's unclear if those will also be able to be updated so that Apple Pay could come to third-party browsers on macOS.

This is the first time that we've seen Apple Pay potentially come to browsers outside of Safari. Sometimes, potential features will pop up in one developer beta and then disappear in another so we'll need to see if the feature sticks around when Apple releases the next beta of iOS 16.

Because of this, it's currently hard to say if such a feature will actually show up for everyone when Apple rolls out iOS 16 to all users in the fall.

iOS 16 is expected to roll out to all users in September. It is customarily released a few days before the new iPhone goes on sale. Apple is anticipated to hold an event in September where it will announce the iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8, and AirPods Pro 2.

What you need to know

• Google Drive finally allows people to use keyboard shortcuts to use the clipboard.
• The new keyboard shortcuts are only available to people using Google Chrome.

Amazingly, Google Drive didn't allow people to use keyboard shortcuts to cut, copy, and paste files until yesterday — and even now, they can only do it if they're using Google's Chrome browser at the time.

The new addition was announced via a blog post and will come as a surprise to many who assumed it was already possible. Well, now it is — but not if you're using Safari or any other browser. It's Google Chome for you, or you'll be right-clicking just like before.

Google Drive will also support the creation of shortcuts rather than duplicating files by adding CTRL to the keyboard shortcut for pasting, and the new shortcuts will work equally fine across both Mac and PC. The copy action will also copy a file's path, ready to be pasted into a document for easy retrieval later.

If you aren't seeing this change on your own Google account right now, hang fire. It should kick in over the next couple of days for anyone who is using a personal Google account in Chrome. It might not be the best Mac web browser for most things, but Chrome just became the best one for moving files in Google Drive!

What you need to know

• Google has released four new YouTube ads showing iPhone users they should switch to Chrome.
• The new YouTube ads highlight features that Chrome offers including password saving and autofill.
• Safari also does the things Chrome is advertising here.

Google has launched a handful of new YouTube ads that are targeted squarely at iPhone users. The tagline reads "there's no place like Chrome," with Google keen to capture people who already use the browser on their desktop machines.

All of the ads have the same theme — someone is doing something on their iPhone, presumably using Safari, and is having problems. One is having to enter credit card details manually and another is trying to remember a password. The ads show that Chrome users can take advantage of autofill and saved passwords as a way to fix both issues — ignoring the fact Safari can also do both things, of course.

That being said, the ads are still cool, even if they aren't telling the whole story.

All four ads were posted to the official Google YouTube channel and each contains an ad that links out to Google's "Get Chrome on your iPhone" page that includes information on how to switch the default browser away from Safari as 9to5Google notes.

How helpful!

Safari is still the best iPhone web browser for the majority of people, but those who use Chrome on the desktop could definitely benefit from some of the bookmark and history syncing features that aren't available to them via Safari

What you need to know

• Google Chrome accounts for more than 65% of the global desktop web browser market.
• Safari sits in second spot with 9.84% of the desktop market.
• Edge and Firefox are vying for Safari's second place.

Apple's Safari is the second most popular desktop web browser behind the dominant Google Chrome — but it is highly unlikely that it will stay that way for long.

While numbers shared by StatCounter currently list Safari as having 9.84% of the market behind Chrome's massive 65.38% majority, it's the browsers in third and fourth spot that are worth taking note of — Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox, respectively. Both have seen increases in the number of users over the last year and it seems like only a matter of time before Safari finds itself sitting in third place at best and fourth at worst.

Chrome sits clear at the top of the pile with more than 65% of global usage.

It is of course fairly easy to understand why some browsers might have larger user numbers than Safari. Apple's browser is only available on macOS which severely limits its appeal. By contrast, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox are all multi-platform browsers and a presence on the Windows side of things immediately opens the door to a huge number of potential users. However, it seems clear that plenty of macOS users are also browsing using Chrome rather than Safari — the default web browser that comes installed one every Mac that Apple sells. While many would say that Safari is the best Mac web browser it's clear not everyone would agree.

Apple did offer a build of Safari for Windows users many years ago but in a world where Chrome dominates and Internet Explorer/Edge come pre-installed on Windows, the number of people installing Safari was always small.

What you need to know

• Shazam is now available as a Chrome extension.
• The extension can listen to a song and then identify it.
• Apple Music subscribers will be shown lyrics, music videos, and even be able to listen to the whole song.

Apple-owned music recognition outfit Shazam has launched a new Google Chrome extension that will allow people to identify songs and listen via Apple Music. The extension will allow people to identify songs that are playing including those that are part of movies and TV shows that people might be watching.

With the extension installed users will be able to click a button to initiate Shazam and have it begin listening. Once a song has been identified the extension will show lyrics and more while allowing Apple Music subscribers to then play the full song back for another listen.

The extension is a free addition to Chrome and can be found in the web store right now. While nobody is going to be using this to identify a song the next time they're in a bar, it could be a great way to figure out that song in the latest episode of Stranger Things, for example.

Shazam is already available across Apple's devices while Siri can also be asked to identify a song when needed, too.

What you need to know

• Google Chrome now supports live captions on macOS.
• Users can enjoy live captions when watching videos and listening to audio.

Google Chrome has a new update out that will allow users to enjoy live captions when watching videos and listening to audio via the browser. You'll need Google Chrome 89 to enjoy the new feature.

First spied by XDA Developers, the feature was announced way back in 2019 and has since come to Pixel phones. But the important accessibility feature is now part of the Chome app's feature set, too.

Users can find the new options in Chrome's accessibility settings, with a toggle doing the heavy lifting. You can also then customize the size and style of the text that will be generated, too. You'll probably need a great monitor for your Mac if you want to make reading those captions as easy as possible, though.

Existing Chrome users will see the update available to them now while everyone else can head to the Google Chrome website to download. Make sure you have Chrome set as your default browser if you're going to take advantage of this new feature as well.

What you need to know

• Google released a new version of Chrome for macOS Big Sur yesterday, before pulling it.
• The update will land today, complete with a new icon.
• Google is already considering further icon changes and it wants your input.

Google briefly released and then pulled a new Chrome update yesterday, designed to work natively on M1-powred Macs. But alongside that we also saw a new icon, specifically designed to look right at home on macOS Big Sur. But it seems Google isn't set on that icon just yet – and your input is required.

Taking to Twitter yesterday, Google Chrome designer @elvin_not_11 shared three example icons that Google continues to work on, asking for user input at the same time.

So which is it? It would have to be "C" for me, but I honestly like them all. Judging by the responses it doesn't look like there's much love for the first option, likely thanks to its Very Flat Look.

Really, it's up for a matter of debate as to whether it really matters which icon Chrome uses. I'd be more interested in a Chrome that won't destroy my Mac's RAM and battery life, to be honest. But I'll take a macOS Big Sur icon, for now , I suppose.

Which icon is your favorite and why? Sound out in the comments, and don't forget to reply to that Twitter thread, too.

What you need to know

• It's taken a long time but you can replace Safari on your iPhone and iPad.
• Or, you will be able to once iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 ship.
• Chrome has been updated to allow it to be set as the default browser.

When Apple announced iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 one of the changes we were all so pleased to see was the ability to set new apps as email and browser defaults. No more tapping an email address or URL and having Mail or Safari kick in when you don't want them. Apps need to be updated to support the new feature and Chrome now has been. And life is good.

Anyone running the iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 beta can now take the updated Chrome for a spin and, yes, set it as their default browser. The release notes for the snappily-version-numbered 85.0.4183.109 don't mention the change yet – because they can't until iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 launch – but trust me, it's there. I've tested it and it's as good as we'd hoped!

Those running the betas can open the Settings app and then tap Chrome > Default Browser App to make their selection. Sure, it's a fairly small thing in the grand scheme of things but it makes the world of difference if you've been fighting with Safari.

Now we just need developers of the popular email apps to get their updates ready and we won't have anything left to complain about, will we?

Honest.

What you need to know

• Google Chrome has been updated to support iOS 13's Dark Mode.
• Chrome will now automatically switch modes based on the system setting.
• Google has also changed how bookmarks, recent tabs, and more are displayed .

Google has a reputation for being the last to take advantage of new iOS features, but in Chrome it's managed to at least get the update out relatively quickly. Google Chrome for iOS now supports Dark Mode!

Changing the system iOS 13 Dark Mode setting will also change how Chrome looks, giving you a light or dark appearance as and when required. But that's just the start of things. Chrome has some other interface changes to share.

What's New

Thanks for choosing Chrome! This version includes:

• The ability to switch Chrome to dark mode if your device has been upgraded to iOS 13.
• Bookmarks, History, Recent Tabs and Reading List are now presented as cards on iOS 13.
• The ability to add a new credit card directly in Chrome from the settings page.

Assuming they're using iOS 13 Chrome users will also notice that Bookmarks, History, Recent Tabs, and Reading List are all shown as cards within Chrome. That's a neat touch that will make the app look and feel like a more modern web browser than it otherwise would. And when you're competing with Safari you need every edge you can get.

The new Google Chrome update is available as a free download from the App Store now.

There are a lot of great things Google has brought to the table over the years, including Search, Maps, and the Google Pixel smartphone (its cameras, anyway). Unfortunately, it's also an apex predator often accused of mining and collecting personal data in questionable ways.

A case in point is the GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app file that gets installed on Macs in the presence of Google apps such as Chrome and Google Earth.

First discovered by Wired a decade ago, the pesky file runs in the background and supports software patching and updating. Unfortunately, it also grabs your computer's hardware information, usage frequency, the number of active profiles on your computer, and more.

Recently, it's been rearing its ugly head again with the update to macOS Catalina. With the new Catalina security settings in place, updaters you may not have even known were there are being spotlighted, asking if you're OK with what they're doing. The first time you open Chrome on your Mac, you may see a notification asking if you want to run GoogleSoftwareUpdater.app, noting that Google installed it at a previous time. If you click "OK," you're back to what you've always been doing. If you click "Cancel," you have a new set of annoyances to deal with.

The folks over at E-Thinkers say what Google claims the file does is "harmless." However, because of how it's been designed, it "behaves like a malware."

What will you think if I'm telling you that there is a piece of software that:

• it installs in your computer without explicit asking for your permission, nor giving the options to decline it;
• it frequently sending data back to Google without your knowledge;
• it can't be configured via a settings menu;
• there is no uninstallation tool for you;
• and it will re-install by itself if you delete it."

I would agree, which is why removing GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app permanently might be the best course of action for most Mac users. However, because the tool's main objective is to automatically update Google software in the background, a better solution might be to change how often Google can check for those updates.

Warning: This guide is for expert-level users. If you don't have a comfortable understanding of Terminal, low-level systems, and security, stay away. Otherwise, as a responsible adult: proceed at your own risk.

Confirming GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app

Before attempting to delete or adjust the Google file, you should confirm its existence on your computer. Hint: If you have a Google product installed, it's almost certainly there somewhere!

E-Tinkers first published each of the following steps in January 2018. Apparent changes made by Google required an update released in July 2019.

To confirm GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app is installed, you'll need to bring up Terminal.

1. Selection Go on the Mac toolbar.
2. Choose Utilities.
3. Click Terminal.

4. Type of the following command syntax: defaults read com.google.Keystone.Agent.plist .
5. Hit Return. You should see a screen like the following; if you don't, the file isn't installed:

Adjusting how often GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app runs

In the screenshot above, note the checkInternal setting. This shows how often Google checks your computer for software updates in seconds. In the example above, Google checks every five hours (3,600 x 5 = 18,000 seconds) by default. You can adjust this time by changing it using Terminal. By changing how often the updater check for software updates, you can continue to use your Google apps, but only run it once in a while.

1. Selection Go on the Mac toolbar.
2. Choose Utilities.
3. Click Terminal.

4. Type of the following command syntax:defaults write com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 604800 where the check now happens every 24 hours.

If you change the checkInternal to 0, Google's no longer sending data, which E-Tinkers rightly notes is sufficient for most users.

For those who don't like how Google uses the GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app on Mac, uninstalling might be the best option.

You can disable GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app by using the command syntax: sudo rm -R ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/. Unfortunately, with this solution, it will quickly return if you once again run a Google app on your Mac.

Because of this, you need to take different steps to uninstall the app. These steps will prevent Google apps from reinstalling the update again by creating a dummy file with the same name:

1. Selection Go on the Mac toolbar.
2. Choose Utilities.
3. Click Terminal.

4. Type of the following command syntax:sudo touch ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdatesudo chmod 444 ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate

In July, E-Tinkers determined Google had changed a setting so GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app would install on the global level on a Mac if a user deleted it at the user level. Therefore, you should also run this command in Terminal:

sudo touch /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate

sudo chmod 444 /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate

To confirm the Google app is now removed from your computer:

1. Launch Google Chome.
2. Type chrome://help in the URL. You should see the following:

It's light's out for GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app on your computer!

What about updates?

If you want to update a Google app on your Mac after following the steps above, you'll need to delete it, then install it again from the Google website. You'll once again need to delete GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app after doing so, however.

Any questions?

Let us know if you have any questions about the steps offered in this post below.

May 17, 2018: Google is changing how Chrome indicates site encryption

Google Chrome will soon change the way it notifies users of site encryption. Currently, sites that use HTTPS (an encrypted communication protocol) are marked "secure" in the Chrome browser. Google says users should expect all sites to be secure, so it plans to make HTTPS the default, only indicating when a site uses unencrypted HTTP to serve up content.

In essence, instead of pointing out secure sites with a visual indicator, insecure sites will get all the attention. When you connect to a site using HTTP, Chrome will display the words "not secure" in the search bar.

Google says it wanted to make the change sooner but HTTPS use was too low. Fortunately, that has changed:

You can learn more about HTTPS in Google's Web Fundamentals documentation.

Google Chrome is a web browser like Safari, but it's built by Google instead of Apple. It's the de facto Android browser and lets you do pretty much everything you can do with Safari, but it's wrapped up in a different package with a few other neat features.

It also happens to be the most-used browser in the world, so if you're thinking of switching, you're not alone!

How is Chrome different from Safari?

At it's core, Chrome is still just a web browser like Safari, but it's tied to Google's ecosystem and your Google account. Chrome can do everything Safari can — save bookmarks, share links, creating reading lists — but it's presented a bit differently. Some (I) would argue that Chrome's a little more intuitive — even on iOS.

The other major difference is that Chrome was assembled from code libraries from Google as well as third parties, whereas Safari was created by Apple. Chrome is also a relatively new browser, having only been released in 2008, predated by Safari, Internet Explorer, and Firefox.

Why would I choose Chrome over Safari?

If you have Android devices or have a lot of your files, pictures, and more tied up in the Google suite of apps, then you'll want to use Chrome. You can sign into Google Chrome with your Google Account and your bookmarks, reading lists, autofill preferences, and more will sync across all of your devices.

You might just like it better, too. Since it is a third-party app, none of its settings are in the Settings app; they're all right there for you to control without having to leave Chrome. I understand that Safari's settings are where they are because it's a native iOS app, but you may like the convenience of having everything in one spot.

9 times out of 10, Chrome is faster than Safari. This does come at a small price, however, in that it's a heavier user of your iPhone or iPad's CPU, which means having many apps open while Chrome is running may slow your device down a bit. It'll also probably eat up your battery a bit more than Safari would.

Are there any costs involved?

Just your soul.

Kidding, Google Chrome is completely free.

What are the downsides to using Chrome?

As mentioned, Chrome is kind of a resource hog. Its speed and excellent performance are thanks to just how much of your CPU it uses while it runs. This can take up valuable processing power and can definitely eat into your battery. If you're not using it constantly, then you might not notice, but if you leave Chrome running with many tabs open, you might notice a bit of a slowdown.

You can't make Chrome your default browser on iPhone, which really is a pain in the ass, but Apple wants you to use its browser. So if you open a link from an email or app, it'll automatically open in Safari.

Will I miss out on any Apple features?

Yes and no. Handoff works just fine — if you're switching to Mac, you can just click the little Chrome button that appears next to your Dock and away you go.

Apple Pay, however, is limited to Safari, so you'd have to switch if you want to make an Apple Pay web purchase on your iPhone or iPad. Other than that, you're really not missing out.

Questions?

Have any more questions about Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad? Sound off in the comments below.

As I'm sure all of you already know, tomorrow is Apple's highly anticipated education event, and many are expecting a new, more affordable iPad. However, it seems Google is attempting to beat Apple to the punch. This morning, the company announced its very first Chrome OS tablet, complete with educational focus.

Called the Acer Chromebook Tab 10, the tablet features the same operating system as its already-established line of Chrome OS laptops, desktops, convertibles, and all-in-ones and is aesthetically similar to existing Android tablets on the market. Like with other Chromebooks, users of the Tab 10 will have access to a wide variety of native and Android apps, including those for note-taking, browsing, illustrating and creating, reading, learning, and more.

Specs-wise, the Tab 10 has a 9.7-inch, 2048 x 1536 display, just like the iPad's. It also boasts a pretty impressive battery life — around nine hours — just like other Chromebooks, and features a fairly powerful OP1 processor. In addition, users will get 32GB of native storage, 4GB of RAM, Bluetooth 4.1, and 2×2 MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

Externally, the Tab 10 has a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, a USB-C port, a microSD card slot for storage expansion, and a headphone jack. Perhaps coolest of all, it comes with a Wacom EMR stylus that you can stow right in the body of the tablet, and unlike the Apple Pencil (which costs an additional $99 on top of the cost of the iPad), it doesn't need charging, so you can whip it out and use it whenever.

Though Google's new tablet will cost the same as an introductory-level iPad at $329, it may have a leg up on Apple education-wise. Chrome OS devices are already pretty widely used in schools due to their affordability, ease of use, and powerful cloud management capabilities. Plus, having stylus support with a stylus that's built right in is a pretty attractive prospect no matter what you're using the device for, and would cut costs even more in situations where a writing or drawing utensil is necessary.

The Acer Chromebook Tab 10 is expected to officially launch in North America in April, and will be expanding to the rest of the world in May.

Thoughts?

Do you feel that the new Chrome OS tablet has what it takes to combat with Apple? Debate freely in the comments!

Google has pushed an update to its Chrome browser for iPhone and iPad, making it nearly 70 percent more stable as well as much faster. The browser now uses Apple's latest rendering engine, WKWebView, which provides an overall better experience on the iPad and iPhone. In addition, you'll notice Spotlight integration and redesigned icons on the New Tab page. From Google's post:

You can grab the latest, and most stable Chrome for iPhone from the App Store now.

• Free - Download now

Source: Google

There have been numerous reports, including our own anecdotal ones, about how much better Safari is than Chrome when it comes to battery life on MacBooks. Here's another on, this time from Battery Box:

Not innovating anymore, WebKit's ass.

Via: The Loop

If Chrome is your browser of choice, it can be convenient. If you tried Chrome but switched back to Safari, like I recently did, it can be annoying. I still want to be able to use Chrome from time to time, but I don't want it opening on login or launching on startup. Luckily, there's a super simple way to get Chrome to stop launching automatically, and it only takes a few clicks!

How to stop Chrome from automatically opening at login

1. Launch Chrome if it isn't running already, or hasn't been set to stay on your Dock.
2. Right click on the Chrome icon on your Dock.
3. Hover over the Options menu in the popup.
4. Uncheck the option to Open at Login.

Note: These same steps will also work for any other app you want to prevent opening at login.

Chrome for iPhone and iPad has added a widget to the Notification Center that gets you started browsing faster. The New Tab and Voice Search buttons in the widget will automatically launch those actions in Chrome when pressed.

The browser has also added support for action extensions in iOS 8 from apps like 1Password. You can find the rest of the changes in the list below:

• Start searching and browsing faster: quick access to Voice Search and open new tabs from the Today View
• Ergonomically-designed: Pull to reload and open/close tabs
• Support for iOS App Extensions, such as 1Password and LastPass
• Easily open links copied from other apps

You can download the latest version of Chrome for iPhone and iPad right now from the App Store.

• Free - Download Now

Google has released an update for its Chrome app for iPhone and iPad. The popular web browser now supports third party app extensions to post and share content with other installed apps. The team behind the browser has also implemented iOS 8 support, perfect for those who are upgrading to the latest software release.

Said data can be shared among a variety of services, including native apps, Twitter and Facebook. As well as the support for third party app extensions and iOS 8 compatibility, consumers will also be able to enjoy a more stable and bug-free experience.

• Download Chrome for iOS

Via: Engadget

Chrome for iPhone and iPad is getting a small update today that allows supporting mobile sites to beam the site to the big screen over Chromecast. This may be redundant if you've got an Apple TV and AirPlay mirroring on the go, but options are always nice.

Finding Chromecast-enabled sites are pretty tricky, but Chrome is a solid browser, and if you're not using it already on your iPhone or iPad, you should really consider giving it a go. Chromecast is also particularly awesome, and if you've got a spare HDMI port on the back of your TV, it's worth picking up at that price.

• Free - Download Chrome now
• $35 - Buy Chromecast now

Source: Google

Every day dozens and dozens of new and updated apps and games hit the iOS and Mac App Stores. It's impossible to keep up with them all, but it's not impossible to pick out the very best. Here they are! Today we've got messaging apps, a web browser, Netflix and more!

New and updated iOS apps

• LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Universe In Peril: An original story crossing the entire Marvel universe! Control Iron Man, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Wolverine and others as you try to stop Loki and other Marvel villains from assembling a superweapon. $4.99 - Download now
• Hatch 1.4: Hatch is a modern re-invention of the Tamagachi-style digital pets of yore. You hatch an egg, you care for your creature, and with the latest update, you can get enchanted toys, new decorations, and more! $0.99 - Download now
• Skype 5.1: The popular voice, video and text chat app gets the ability to remove conversations from recent, edit messages lets you add favorites from the favorites hub screen, and sports VoiceOver improvements for visually impaired users as well. Other general improvements too. Free - Download now
• BBM 2.2.1.24: Bug fixes and performance improvements to the BlackBerry Messenger software. Free - Download now
• Facebook Messenger 6.1: Facebook's instant messaging app. Calls are now more reliable, active people show up faster. Free - Download now
• Chrome 35.0.1916.41: Google's web browser, made for mobile. Compatibility with new iOS versions and stability fixes. Free - Download now
• Netflix 6.0: The popular streaming video service gets faster startup for video playback, UI refresh and bug fixes (along with a new icon). Free - Download now
• TextExpander 2.6: The touch version of the popular text shortcut app. Adds support for Fleksy, the alternate keyboard app. $4.99 - Download now
• Unread 1.3.1: RSS newsreader for iOS. Fixes several bugs, including one that caused shake-to-clear items to bream after viewing a web site. $4.99 - Download now

New and updated Mac apps

• Adobe Lightroom 5.5: Digital photo cataloging and editing software aimed at pro and prosumer photographers. Part of Adobe Creative Cloud. Support for syncing star ratings and custom sort order to Lightroom mobile, fixes for bugs and additional camera support. From $9.99 a month - Download now

More apps and updates?

If you try any of the apps or updates, let me know how they work for you. If you got any new or updated apps today that you loved, but don't see here, let us know about them!

Google has today made some big changes to its Chrome browser for Mac with support for desktop apps and the addition of the Chrome App Launcher. Now, when you install a new Chrome app, the Chrome App Launcher will automatically add itself to your OS X dock so you don't need to open the browser window to get at your web apps. Desktop apps for Chrome work like, well, regular desktop apps and they also function while offline.

The Chrome Web Store now shows a new app category titled "For Your Desktop" and highlights those which will function outside of the main Chrome browser window. Launching one of these apps opens up an individual window, and everything functions just as a native Mac application would.

For those of us that spend all our web time in Chrome, these are a couple of extremely helpful additions. Are you one of them? What do you think to the features?

Source: Google

Google has today pushed out a small but useful update to the Chrome browser for iPhone and iPad. On the cards are improvements to Autofill and image search. The full changelog:

• Fast form completion with Autofill. Tired of filling out web forms with the same information time and time again? The Autofill feature lets you complete forms with just a few clicks. Sign in to sync this data from your computer to your iPhone or iPad and save even more typing.
• Long press on an image to search for related images
• Stability / security improvements and bug fixes

While Chrome may still be more limited on iOS than on Android or indeed the desktop, it's still great to see Google bringing as much across from the other platforms as it can. Grab the latest version from the App Store at the link below.

• Free - Download Now

Alongside the release of iOS 7, Apple has also pushed out an update to its iCloud for Windows control panel. The bump to version 3.0 brings the standard mail, contacts and calendars syncing still, but now adds bookmark sync support for Google Chrome and Firefox browsers.

With the new browser support, Windows users can add bookmarks now on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and have them automatically synchronized to Chrome or Firefox back on their desktop. Support was previously only for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, so fans of either alternative browser will be pleased by this update.

To make use of the feature in either browser, you'll need to download an extension for each of them. All the download links you'll need are below. Tell me; does this improve your iCloud experience on your Windows PC now?

• iCloud bookmarks extension for Chrome - Download Now
• iCloud bookmarks extension for Firefox - Download Now
• iCloud for Windows Version 3.0 - Download Now

via AppleInsider

Google's suite of apps for iOS already look pretty swell in iOS 7, but that hasn't stopped Mountain View today pushing out an update to the Chrome Browser. Beyond a slightly tweaked look and feel for iOS 7, the headline news here is better integration with Google's other apps for iOS.

Single sign-in is something that has been creeping out through Google's apps in recent weeks, and if you're heavily invested in them, it's a tool of ultimate convenience. Additionally, links within Chrome can now directly open in the respective YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ apps on your device. This is entirely optional, too, and all can be enabled or disabled at the tap of a button.

Voice Search also gets some new goodies, with the ability to now string together more than one voice search at one time:

Try it out by asking:

• “Who is the prime minister of Canada?” and then, “How old is he?”
• “How many people live in Pennsylvania?” and then, “When did it become a state?”
• “Who directed Star Trek Into Darkness?” and then, “Who is his wife?”

Love them or hate them, Google's apps are among the finest examples iOS has to offer. Grab the latest version of Chrome from the App Store at the download link below. Are you using Chrome, or since you can't set it as default browser are you still drawn back to Safari?

• Free - Download Now

Source: Google

If you don't particularly care for the native Safari app when it comes to web browsing on your iPhone or iPad, you may want to give Chrome a try. if you use Chrome on your desktop, you can even sign into your Google account in order to sync your bookmarks and other browsing data between devices.

Here's how to sign in:

1. Launch the Chrome app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap on the menu icon in the top navigation. It is located directly to the right of the address bar.
3. Scroll down to the bottom and tap on Settings.
4. The very first option you see is Sign in to Chrome. Tap on it.
5. If you've ever had your account linked to Chrome for iOS on that device before, you should see it and be able to tap on it. If not, tap on Add account.
6. Now just enter your Google account credentials and sign in.

That's all there is to it. Any instance of Chrome you have running on any iOS device and any computer you're signed into should stay in sync including bookmarks and tabs.

If you've got both the YouTube and Chrome for iOS apps installed, they can work nicely together and allow you to open the links you tap on in the YouTube app in the Chrome app instead of Safari.

If you prefer Chrome over Safari, this setting is one you'll definitely want to use. Here's how to set it up:

1. Launch the YouTube app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap on the menu icon in the upper left hand corner.
3. Now tap on Settings in the navigation menu.
4. In the setting menu, tap on Open Links With Chrome.
5. Now tap on Yes and then Done.

That's all there is to it. Links you tap on within the YouTube for iOS app will now launch in the Chrome app instead of Safari. Note that you must have Chrome installed. If you try to enable this feature without having Chrome already installed on your iPhone or iPad, you will be routed to the App Store to download it instead.

The iPhone offers one of the best mobile browsing experiences on any smartphone platform. The built in Safari browser is great, and will only get better with iOS 6 features like iCloud tabs, image uploads, and smart banners. Still, it isn't, won't, and will never be for everyone. That why alternatives like Chrome, Atomic, and Mercury are so popular. But which one is the best? And which one is the best for you?

That's what we're here to find out!

Note 1: App Store browsers can't use their own HTML or JavaScript rendering engines. For security and control reasons, all App Store apps have to use Apple's UIWebView to render pages, and they don't have access to the faster, yet less secure, Nitro JavaScript engine Safari uses. This means App Store web browsers will all display websites pretty much the same, and none of them will load JavaScript pages faster than Safari. However, the interfaces and features they offer can make them compelling anyway.

Note 2: We're only looking at full, native alternate browsers in this shootout. Proxy browsers like Skyfire and Opera render content on their own servers and then send that content to your iPhone. There are pros and cons to both approaches, but they're different enough that we'll look at them separately, in their own shootout.

Chrome vs. Atomic vs. Mercury: Interface and usability

Google's Chrome for iPhone is just like its Mac and Windows counterpart when it comes to look and feel. There's nothing complicated to confuse you, and everything you need to move around and navigate is right there. Just start typing an address in the search bar or type in a search term to search Google and your on your way. Unfortunately, If you want to access a JavaScript bookmarklet (like Instapaper) you'll have to start typing it in the omnibar as well.

Along the top you'll find a back button, address bar, options button, and tabs button. Tap the option button to add a bookmark, refresh the page, access existing bookmarks, open a new tab, view opened pages on other synced devices, and more.

Tap the tabs button next to the option button to view all currently open tabs or add a new one by tapping the new tab option in the upper left. Tabs will show up in a clean list view. Scroll through all open tabs and just tap on the one you'd like to re-open. You can click the little "x" in the corner of a tab to completely close it out.

Chrome for iPhone doesn't have any overwhelming menus to fiddle around with. The options most users need regularly are easy to find.

Atomic browser for iPhone isn't as simple as Chrome but it does manage to pack quite a punch. Upon launching the app you'll notice you have a lot more buttons and options to work with.

While more buttons in some apps means confusion, this isn't the case with Atomic. All options are well labeled and explained so even beginner users will know what they're looking at. Unlike Chrome which has no buttons along the bottom, this is where you'll find most of your options in Atomic.

By default you'll see a button for tabs, add/share/print, downloads, settings/advanced features, and toggle fullscreen. You can edit these buttons within settings and choose what buttons you'd like to appear along the bottom. If you never use the downloads section, just remove it within settings and replace it with an option you find more useful.

The nice thing about Atomic is that it offers the features that advanced users will want but does it in a way that isn't confusing to mainstream users. Everything is accessible enough that anyone that manages to stumble across a setting will know what it does, but if you don't choose to use advanced settings, they stay out of your way.

Mercury browser for iPhone is strikingly similar to Atomic browser and that isn't a bad thing. Just like Atomic, you'll find most of your toggles and settings along the bottom of the screen. The top of the screen will show your address and search bar as well as your tabs. From the top you can do things like add a bookmark to favorites by tapping the star icon, refresh the page, or open existing bookmarks.

Anything else you need to do can be done via the bottom bar. You've got your standard share/browser options button, a settings button, a fullscreen toggle button, and a button that gives you an almost fullscreen browser which replaces the button bar with a subtler set of controls and only shows tabs along the top instead of a full address bar.

Overall, Mercury does a very nice job of laying out toggles and settings. The ability to toggle between a couple different view modes is a nice option for when you're frequently changing web pages and want some options present but still want to enjoy browsing with as much screen real estate as possible.

If you've become accustomed to the sleek design and interface you get with the desktop version of Chrome you'll love the iPhone version. While Mercury and Atomic both provide great interfaces, Chrome is still a step ahead.

Chrome vs. Atomic vs. Mercury: Tabbed browsing

Chrome, Mercury, and Atomic all allow you to enjoy a tabbed browsing experience on your iPhone. The challenge with tabs is to make them accessible without wasting any of the precious, tiny screen real estate.

While Atomic and Mercury approach tabs the same way the classic desktop app approaches them, Chrome does things differently and makes a completely separate section for tabs. Instead of having to scroll horizontally through tabs or use what little screen space there is to work with, Google has managed to not only make great use of space a fun, interactive, eye-pleasing experience for using tabs.

Once you tap into the tab section in Chrome you'll see a card-style layout that presents a preview of the web page and the title. You can flip between tabs, scroll through them horizontally, and close them out quickly and fluidly. Being able to see a preview of a page is awesome for times when you've got multiple pages open on the same website. A cramped tab view doesn't allow you to see enough of the title to know which one is which but the way Chrome handles tabs solves that problem via the preview feature.

When it comes to tabbed browsing on the iPhone, Chrome does it the best.

Chrome vs. Atomic vs. Mercury: Bookmark syncing

Most users will probably have quite a few bookmarks saved within their desktop browsers. While Safari offers native sync for bookmarks through iCloud, it doesn't really help you much if you use other browsers on your desktop such as Chrome or Firefox (unless you use a 3rd party service such as Xmarks to fill in the gap). This is where some of our alternate browsers can better fit your workflow.

Chrome allows you to sync up with your Google account to bring bookmarks down from your desktop Mac or Windows PC fairly easily. Under sync, simply sign into your Google account and all your bookmarks will be zapped down to your iPhone pretty much instantly. If you use Chrome as your main browser on your desktop computer, this process will be painless, quick, and super simple. If you don't, you can still use Xmarks or another type of service to bring them into Chrome.

Chrome for iPhone actually takes bookmark syncing one step further and adds page syncing as well. If you've got Chrome open on one of your computers you can actually sync those same tabs to your iPhone. If you want Chrome to open your desktop tabs from your computer on your iPhone automagically you can do this by enabling the Chrome to Mobile option within sync settings. I've used this feature numerous times if I had a bunch of tabs open on my computer at home or in the office and needed to head out. I can quickly pick back up what I was doing on the go effortlessly. It's a great feature and something that a lot of multitaskers will really enjoy.

(Safari will be getting this feature with iOS 6.)

Atomic also will allow you to sync bookmarks through their own process, but it's not nearly as clean and easy as what Chrome offers. You'll need to create a password and navigate to an Atomic-specific website on your computer and upload your bookmarks for syncing.

Mercury offers better support when it comes to bookmarks syncing than Atomic, but it's still not as painless as Chrome. Through settings in Mercury, you can choose to import bookmarks manually or you can use Firefox Sync in order to bring down your Firefox bookmarks. You'll still need to access them on your computer and enable Firefox Sync in order to add your device but after that it's pretty painless.

Chrome has a much better syncing solution when it comes to bookmarks than both Atomic and Mercury.

Chrome vs. Atomic vs. Mercury: Gesture support

When it comes to gesture support both Atomic and Mercury give you tons of options for setting gestures based controls. Chrome doesn't offer any at all.

You can access gesture options in the settings panel of both Mercury and Atomic. You can choose between two-finger gestures, shake gestures, and more. With the iPhone's limited screen real estate I don't really see gestures being a huge advantage -- or deal-breaker -- for most.

However, both Atomic and Mercury are universal apps that also run on the iPad, and that's where the multitasking gestures really make navigating the web much easier. If you plan on using either of these browsers on your iPad as well, you should weigh in gesture support and the fact that Chrome doesn't have any.

Tie between Mercury and Atomic as they both offer great gesture support.

Chrome vs. Atomic vs. Mercury: Additional features

The ability to sync and view open tabs in Chrome, and access them between desktop and iPhone, is a great feature. Another great feature of Chrome is the voice search. Just tap the microphone in the URL box to start dictating instead of typing. Voice search supports multiple languages so odds are whatever language you need will probably be there.

Chrome also offers an Incognito mode for browsing, which is basically a private browsing session. So if you need that feature, Chrome will have you covered. Chrome will also cover all the basics like searching a page, viewing the desktop version of a site, e-mailing and sharing a page.

Atomic and Mercury both offer a ton of extra features for advanced users such as ad blocking, browser identification, download abilities, and more. If you're looking for something that will give you tons of options and you don't mind giving up a bit of ease of use, Atomic or Mercury will be a better choice.

Atomic also offers Dropbox integration so if you're looking for something with that feature, Atomic is currently the only alternative browser out of the three that will offer it.

When it comes to additional features, Atomic and Mercury both offer roughly the same feature set, but Atomic offers more in terms of advanced settings.

Chrome vs. Atomic vs. Mercury: Cost

A higher price tag doesn't always mean a better app or experience, and cheap or free are sometimes worth even less than you pay for them. When it comes to alternative browsers, however, it's hard to compete with free-as-in-Google.

Chrome is a great app and it's available for free in the App Store. Atomic and Mercury will both cost you $0.99 for the Pro versions. All three apps offer iPad support without an additional purchase as well. If you aren't sure which one is right for you yet, Atomic and Mercury also offer free lite versions so you can grab those and take them for a test drive before deciding.

Given the fact that the full version of Chrome is free and universally compatible with iPhone and iPad, Chrome will be the best option for users who want the cheapest solution.

Chrome vs. Atomic vs. Mercury: Conclusion

Chrome, Atomic, and Mercury are all great alternative solutions to Safari, but they're aimed at completely different users.

If you want complete control over your browser like you do on a desktop computer, you'll want to check out either Atomic or Mercury. Both offer tons of options and allow you to customize your browsing experience exactly the way you'd like. For Dropbox users, however, Atomic's Dropbox integration puts it ahead.

If you want a browser that has a better layout than Safari and allows you easy access to bookmarks and other open tabs across all your desktop computers, Chrome is it. There may not be gesture support or a ton of customization options, but it works flawlessly and has a beautiful interface.

That, and the free price tag, make Google Chrome our favorite alternate browser for iPhone.

Chrome - Free - Download Now

Atomic - $0.99 - Download Now

Mercury - $0.99 - Download Now

Earlier today, Google announced and then rapidly released Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad, leaving many of us screaming "finally!" Google Chrome is a very popular -- the most popular, according to Google -- web browser for Mac and PC. It lets you keep bookmarks, tabs, logins and more synced between computers. With Google Chrome for iOS, you can now bring that same personalized experience to your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Chrome is possibly the best Google app for iOS released to date. Where Google often creates less than stellar user experiences by badly wrapping an iOS interface around a web app, Chrome shows a lot of care and consideration. Ironically, Chrome is also the one app that really needs to be an interfaced wrapped around the web.

Right from the beginning, Chrome offers you interface hints and an optional slideshow tutorial to get you started. Right up front, that nicely handles any worries that their more complex interface would be less accessible.

I really like the look of Google Chrome on the iPhone and iPad. It's very clean and well designed. You are allowed an infinite number of tabs that you can easily scroll 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. 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.

To get rid of a tab from the stack, you can also just tap, hold, and through it away. While viewing a webpage, you can also switch between tabs by swiping left or right to the next/previous one. Nice touches, both.

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.

If you select a tab that has grown "stale", it will first be displayed in black and white before quickly being refreshed by Google Chrome. In general, the animations are cute if not yet perfectly smooth.

Just like with Google Chrome for desktop, the search and web address field are the same. 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. Google Chrome is smart enough (usually) to figure out when you want to go to specific website or perform a search.

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.

Overall, I'm very impressed with Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad. It's fast, pretty, and functional. My only complaint is that with data heavy websites, scrolling isn't buttery smooth like with Safari.

Which brings us to the limitations imposed on Chrome (and all App Store browsers) by iOS.

First, iOS doesn't currently allow you to change the default browser like you can on a desktop OS like OS X or Windows. 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.

Second, iOS doesn't currently allow 3rd party HTML or JavaScript rendering engines. Chrome has to use the built-in WebKit engine (provided by UIWebView in this case) to display web pages, so they look like Safari or any other embedded web viewer on iOS. Worse, for security reasons, UIWebView isn't allowed to use Apple's faster, just-in-time Nitro JavaScript engine. That means any JavaScript heavy website will always render slower in Chrome (or in any app) than it will in Safari.

Again, none of these issues are Chrome's fault, but is still something to consider when deciding if you're going to switch to using Chrome. That includes not only passwords and bookmarks, but even tabs. If you open movie times on your desktop, then leave the house and forget them, you can access that exact same page right from the options menu in Chrome.

Yes, that means you should probably be careful which tabs you open while out and about if you don't want them to be seen by someone at home, or which tabs you open at home if you don't want them to be seen by people at work. Or, you can just open up an Incognito tab and keep your private browsing private.

(Safari in iOS 6 will be providing iCloud tab syncing as well, so this is all part of our connected future.)

The good

• Nice design
• Fast
• Syncs with Google Chrome for desktop
• Infinite number of tabs allowed
• Scroll though tabs
• Incognito mode

The bad

• Scrolling isn't buttery smooth

The bottom line

If you use Google Chrome on your Mac or PC, you definitely want to start using Google Chrome on your iPad and iPhone. It's an awesome browser and the synced personalizations is priceless. If you don't use Google Chrome, you may want to start.

Free - Download Now

At Google I/O 2012 today, Google announced they'll be bringing their Chrome web browser to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Today. Now in fact.

Free - Download now

Before anyone gets too excited, however, it's important to remember that alternate local web browsers on iOS all have to use UIWebView to render HTML content, and don't get access to Nitro Apple's less secure, but faster just-in-time JavaScript engine. That means Google Chrome on iOS will be slower for JavaScript intensive sites than Safari.

So no Chrome-specific WebKit implementation. No V8 JavaScript engine. No ability to open pages in Chrome instead of Safari. Nothing beyond what any other browser in the App Store gets.

But this isn't a rendering play by Google -- this is an interface and services play.

Google Chrome on iOS will bring with it the Chrome aesthetic, and more importantly, all the sync features Chrome desktop and Chrome for Android users enjoy. If you have a PC, an Android phone, and an iPad, you now have a seamless, synced experience between all your device. For Chrome lovers, that's huge.

Speaking of which, Google also used I/O 2012 to announce Chrome as the world's most popular browser.

We'll be back later with a full review -- including a look at how Chrome on iPhone and iPad stacks up to Safari and Chrome for Android. So stay tuned. And for more from Google I/O 2012, keep it locked to our Mobile Nations sibling site, Android Central.

Google has just released the too-long-in-coming Chrome for Android browser, and Phil from Android Central wasted no time loading it up on his Galaxy Nexus, and putting it up against an iPhone 4S running Safari, for a classic head-to-head, phono-e-phono, Mobile Nations browser showdown video.

Both browsers are based on WebKit, the project Apple adapted from the old Linus KHTML Konquerer browser and has been sharing back with the open source community ever since. So it's no surprise both score 100/100 on the Acid3 rendering test. Safari makes use of Apple's Nitro JavaScript engine, however, while Chrome has Google's V8 under the hood. That let Chrome edge out Safari in the SunSpider JavaScript benchmarks.

Safari and iOS in general still offer smoother, more closely-tracked multitouch scrolling, panning, and zooming. (No doubt due to iOS placing priority on interface rendering tasks, while they're left to fight as equals on Android.)

Interestingly, Chrome, like Safari, offers no support for Adobe's Flash player, or any other internet plugin.

Chrome is still in beta and only available for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich right now. No doubt the release version will be even better still.

Likewise, Apple isn't slowing down. With iOS 5.1 on the horizon, Safari will improve as well.

Heck, now that BlackBerry has their new WebKit-based Torch browser, and Microsoft has embraced modern Internet Explorer builds on Windows Phone, it's getting harder to find a bad browser out there.

Check out the video below for full out web rendering showdown.

Source: Android Central

Use Google's Chrome browser on your Mac or Windows PC and wish you could easily transfer data on to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad? Well thanks to a Chrome Extension you can and we'll show you how after the break!

Chrome to iPhone is a little extension that sits in the upper right hand corner, and sends the page you are currently looking at to your iPhone.

• Download the Chrome Extension, Chrome to iPhone
• Install the plugin onto Chrome.
• The options page should automatically open (if not right click the "iPhone" next to your address bar and select options)

• Copy the link onto your iPhone (this is the one bit of manual typing you'll have to do)
• Follow the instructions on your iPhone to add the extension to your iPhone home screen.
• Once you've done this you are ready to start using "Chrome for iPhone"

When you are viewing an ordinary website, press the extension on your Chrome browser and open the home screen icon on your iOS device, it will redirect you to the same website you were looking at on your browser.

If you are viewing a YouTube video, when you press the extension, it will open the YouTube application and play the same video you were watching.

Unfortunately due to Google's Maps restriction, there is an extra step to get this working with Google Maps, however it still works great if you need "directions" on your phone.

After setting your route, be sure to click "Link" located on the right hand side of the map, and copy that back into your address bar before pressing the extension.

Finally if you highlight any piece of text, you can right click and copy the text straight to your iPhone. This will open a "clipboard" with the text there ready to be used.

A great thing about this extension is that it works over 3G so your iPhone doesn't even have to be connected to the same Wifi as the Mac/PC.

If you give it a try let us know how it works for you and if you have any questions, fire away in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

Should you go around with a naked iPhone or do you need a case? If you do need a case, what kind should you get? That's a question we get asked all the time and it's the topic for the third episode of our new, conversational video podcast, TiPb TV.

Rene and I discuss the pros and cons of bare, barely there, and full on armor for iPhone 4. We also show off several of our favorite cases including the Case Mate Chrome and Ivy, the Incipio Ultra Light, the Golla Bag, the Otterbox Defender, and more.

We take on the argument of case vs. case vs. naked, the cost and benefits of protecting against the bumps and scratches of avoiding bulk. So if you've been trying to decide which type of case is best for you, or if you're daring to go bare with no case on at all, we'll help you make the best choice possible.

Watch along and then leave us a comment and tell us -- which case, if any, do you use?