
Google Chrome now works on iOS - jpadilla_
http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/28/google-chrome-ihone-ipad/
======
nextstep
But, Chrome on iOS will still be a "second class citizen" the way Opera mini
and the other browsers on the AppStore. If you want to open a link in Chrome,
you will need to copy/paste the URL, no "Open in Chrome" functionality like
Safari has. For better or for worse, Apple has not opened up system-wide
integration of third party apps, and I don't seem them allowing you to change
your default browser anytime soon.

~~~
mistercow
What's pretty nauseating about it is that it's exactly the kind of anti-
competitive crap that Microsoft pulled in the first browser war, only more so.

~~~
brian_cloutier
Why do people keep bringing this up? The situations are completely different.

Microsoft bundled IE with Windows at a time where the internet was still
painfully slow and it was difficult to download a different browser. They also
allegedly put IE-specific APIs into Windows, giving it an unfair advantage.

However, neither of these would have been enough to convict, if Microsoft
hadn't also had a monopoly over the PC. Back in those days, Windows was _the_
operating system. Linux was still new and unknown, and Macintosh wasn't a
threat by any means. Bill Gates was sometimes compared to the president in
terms of power and influence.

Bundling Windows and IE was an abuse of Microsoft's monopoly in the OS market,
in a successful attempt to take over the browser market.

Apple has no such monopoly. Like many others have said here before, if you
don't like what they do with their platform you can choose not to buy apple
products. When you say they're being anti-competitive, you're implying that
iOS and OSX are massive ecosystems which include meaningful competition in
sub-markets that Apple is giving itself an unfair advantage in. No such sub-
market exists.

~~~
chc
> _Like many others have said here before, if you don't like what they do with
> their platform you can choose not to buy apple products._

And also like many others have said before, that's not a difference. You could
choose not to buy Microsoft products in the '90s. I did it. The place I worked
did it. Most people and places simply _didn't_ make that choice because
Microsoft seemed like a safer purchase.

Also, Apple has pretty much the same position in the tablet market that
Microsoft did in the PC market. I can't remember the last time I saw someone
holding a non-Apple tablet who wasn't trying to sell me one.

~~~
doctoboggan
>Also, Apple has pretty much the same position in the tablet market that
Microsoft did in the PC market. I can't remember the last time I saw someone
holding a non-Apple tablet who wasn't trying to sell me one.

Rather than blindly speculating, we can look at actual facts.

Today Microsoft has 93% of the desktop OS market.[1] Considering the recent
rise in popularity of both OS X and Linux I would guess that was higher in the
90s, but I have not done enough research to be sure

Apple's iOS today has 63% of the mobile market.[2] While that is still the
majority it is not close to Microsoft's desktop dominance even today.

So maybe you only socialize with Apple fans but your circle does not represent
the market as a whole.

[1] [http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-
shar...](http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-
share.aspx?qprid=8&qpcustomd=0)

[2] [http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-
shar...](http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-
share.aspx?qprid=8&qpcustomd=1)

~~~
laacz
You're saying that if (when) Microsoft will fall to some percentage (63%, for
example) in desktop market, they can appeal anti-monopoly regulations and
force IE within Windows again?

------
georgemcbay
This is a poor decision on Google's part. The end result is it tarnishes the
Chrome brand.

Chrome's features like private browsing and tab/bookmark syncing are nice, but
the defining feature of the brand IMO is that it is a very fast web browser.
By linking the name to an app that will always be inherently slower than
Safari on iOS, the brand is lessened with no significant upside.

I understand their desire to allow Chrome desktop users to have some
meaningful interop between their desktop and mobile browsers, but I think they
would have been much better served by not pretending this is an actual Chrome
experience (much in the way Firefox allows some interop but keeps the
distinction clear).

~~~
raldi
Download it and try it out -- to me, iOS Chrome seems much _faster_ than
Safari:
[http://itunes.apple.com/en/app/chrome/id535886823?l=nl&m...](http://itunes.apple.com/en/app/chrome/id535886823?l=nl&mt=8)

~~~
adamjernst
Apple will never allow a JIT Javascript engine on any app except their own,
for security reasons.

(App Store apps can't allocate pages with the executable bit set, which is a
good idea really.)

~~~
dljsjr
While that does, technically, "matter", it doesn't _really_ matter to users.
I've been using it for a few minutes and I too can confirm that it feels very,
very fast. Which is all that matters. In fact, a few years ago, Mozilla
confirmed that seeming faster is much nicer than actually being faster:

[http://www.johnwaynehill.com/blog/2010/06/16/perceived-
speed...](http://www.johnwaynehill.com/blog/2010/06/16/perceived-speed-
performace/)

The point is, the Chrome guys executed well enough on their iOS app that the
inherent performance issues really don't seem to be a problem (though I've
only been using the app for about 5 minutes so my opinion is limited). And
it's quite a pretty app. It brings just enough of the Holographic UI to look
nice without looking alien on iOS. They did well.

------
ajross
Can someone clarify? I thought replacing the browser (actually even stronger:
rendering web content using anything but the browser) was one of the items
forbidden by the app store guidelines?

~~~
speg
_While Chrome for iOS will include a number of key features, including
incognito mode and tab syncing across devices, the browser will still use
Apple's WebKit-based engine required by the App Store developer guidelines. It
also will lack the Nitro JavaScript engine that Apple uses to speed Safari's
performance._

~~~
ricefield
So, no V8 or Nitro, but Chrome/Chromium uses Webkit, so renders should be the
same (just slower) right?

~~~
estel
Well, Mobile Safari's webkit version will usually be somewhat behind the
latest six-weekly Chrome release cycle.

------
raldi
The "Request Desktop Site" button is the killer feature for power users.

~~~
skeletonjelly
I like how it doesn't just refresh the page, but the original you requested.
So if you get redirected to a mobile subdomain and check "request desktop
site" you'll get the original domain. Killer!

------
wlesieutre
It doesn't seem to let you set custom search engines, which is a bit
disappointing. More options than Google, Yahoo, and Bing was one of the
reasons I'd been hoping for this.

Even without that, the easily accessible incognito mode (Safari's is through
the system wide Settings app), request desktop site, and bookmark sync is
still worth more to me than Nitro/V8.

On the jailbreak side, Browser Changer doesn't support Chrome yet. Hopefully
that will come soon.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
I'd imagine custom search engines etc. will come soon. They just want to get
it out there for now.

------
Albuca
iOS Chrome requires iOS 4.3, while Android Chrome requires Android 4.0.

Ironically that means that 99% of the iOS users can use Chrome, while only 10%
of the Android users can.

------
JBiserkov
The icon is similar to Gmail on iOS - "wide" black margins. Any idea why?

Everything else seems to be working just fine, not slow or anything. The
omnibox is really nice.

~~~
Jyaif
Your icons _must_ be (rounded) squares. You can't use transparency.

~~~
JBiserkov

      (rounded) square side = 114px = 2*57
      tau=2pi
      area:= tau*r*r/2
      Chrome:    margin: 16px; radius: 41px = 57-16; area:=  840.5*tau
      Wordpress: margin: 12px; radius: 45px = 57-12; area:= 1012.5*tau
      Clock:     margin:  9px; radius: 48px = 57- 9; area:= 1152.0*tau
      Circle:    margin:  0px; radius: 57px = 57- 0; area:= 1624.5*tau
      

(Measurments taken from a screenshot on iPod touch "retina" resolution.)

So Chrome's circle area is 73% of Clock's and only 52% of the theoretical
limit.

While I was playing with this I got inspired by Google+ for iOS and Metro and
asked "What if it doesn't fit, but insead fills the (rounded) square?"

See for yourself. <http://biserkov.com/pics/Chrome-on-iOS-icon-ideas.png>

Blue circle radius: 21px; White circle radius: 25px

Disclaimer: I used the svg Chrome logo from Wikipedia. I'm no designer.

------
nthitz
Does it use it's own rendering engine or is it just interface on top of a
UIWebView?

~~~
Synaesthesia
Apps on the store have to use UIWebView, which of course doesn't get the Nitro
JavaScript engine.

~~~
tubbo
They "have to"? I was under the impression that you had a choice of UIWebView
and your own custom implementation. Are they really going to block sales of an
app if it has an alternative JS engine?

~~~
Synaesthesia
You might be able to do your own JavaScript implementation, not sure, but I
think actually not. (I stand corrected on this). But V8 definitely won't be
permitted under the current laws, as it uses executable blocks of code in
memory, which are not permitted, for security reasons under iOS.

Don't see that rule changing. Let's hope Apple let other browsers be the
default though.

~~~
patrickaljord
Isn't UIWebView a component written by Apple? Why not include Nitro in it? Why
would it be a security issue on Chrome but not on Safari? Do people have
access to the UIWebView source code? If not, this "security" reason is BS.

~~~
mbrubeck
Third-party processes on iOS cannot mark data pages as executable, which is a
great security feature but it prevents JIT compilers or any other technology
that dynamically generates machine code. Apple's built-in apps have an
exception to this security mechanism, presumably because Apple is more
confident in their own security auditing of those apps. Perhaps with some
sandboxing mechanism and/or code auditing process they could allow some third-
party apps similar access in the future, but it's not clear whether they feel
a need to.

~~~
patrickaljord
> Third-party processes on iOS cannot mark data pages as executable

Doesn't the UIWebView do that for you? And isn't it written by Apple? Why
couldn't Apple make it use Nitro? Not sure where the security risk would be.

~~~
mbrubeck
The restriction on executable pages is enforced by the kernel at the process
level. This particular mechanism won't allow for enforcing diffeerent
policiees for UIWebView code running in the same process as app code. If
UIWebView could run JavaScript code in a separate process like Chrome then it
might be possible.

~~~
patrickaljord
I thought Safari implemented multi-process a long time ago, not on mobile?

------
emehrkay
So does this browser not automatically block third party cookies like the
default Safari does?

------
tree_of_item
If it's just a WebView with JavaScriptCore, what's the point? Is tab syncing
the only benefit?

~~~
kylebrown
Its not JavaScriptCore, its webkit (UIWebView which is non-Nitro).

Tab syncing is one heck of a benefit, I can't wait to switch. Now I'm
definitely going to stick with Chrome on my desktop, even though I'd been
considering going back to Firefox. Quite disappointing on Apple's part that
its only in iOS 6 that Notes and Calendar will be synced with OS X, still not
Safari tabs.

~~~
mbrubeck
Doesn't Safari on iOS 6 include tab sync?
[http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/11/safari-on-ios-6-to-
feature-...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/11/safari-on-ios-6-to-feature-
offline-reading-lists-smart-app-banners-photo-uploads-icloud-tab-syncing/)

~~~
kylebrown
Thanks, I must've missed that in the wwdc keynote. I feel better now.

------
Xyzodiac
Seriously though, I can't get Chrome on my Android phone because it's stuck on
Gingerbread but I can if I buy an iPhone. That makes loads of sense Google.

------
dedene
It's available now:
[http://itunes.apple.com/be/app/chrome/id535886823?l=nl&m...](http://itunes.apple.com/be/app/chrome/id535886823?l=nl&mt=8)

------
dannygarcia
It's ridiculous that there are no debugging / console tools included. It's
difficult for me to take this browser seriously as a web developer –
especially when compared to Mobile Safari in iOS6.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Give them time, I'm sure they'll add that soon.

Although having to use UIWebView might constrain them.

------
mwyvern
I am disappointed that extensions are not supported.

------
redrory
I've fiddled around with it for 10-15 minutes and I love it. It feels much
more responsive. Switching and creating tabs are much faster.

I'm on a 3GS

------
SlimHop
Does Chrome on iOS support WebGL?

~~~
pcwalton
Don't see how it can, as it's just a UIWebView.

~~~
ComputerGuru
UIWebViews can be configured to run WebGL, though this is not officially
supported/sanctioned by Apple.

~~~
United857
This requires calling a private API which means any app doing that will be
rejected by the App Store.

------
cooldeal
The headline should read Google Chrome _Skin_ now works on iOS. For all
intents and purposes, the heart of the browser, i.e the rendering and
scripting engines are not running on the iPad or iPhone.

Would it be accurate to state that IE now works on the iPad if Microsoft
ported the IE browser chrome(UI) to the iPad?

~~~
mdwelsh
Note that Chrome on iOS _does_ use the Chrome networking stack, which has a
lot of enhancements - including SPDY.

~~~
chimmy
But it still feels slower than Safari too me.

