Web Browsers

Google updates Chrome for iOS with 70% fewer crashes, Spotlight integration and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 27, 2016

Google's mobile Chrome browser was updated this morning in the App Store and the new release promises a whopping 70 percent fewer crashes along with a few other goodies, such as Spotlight Search integration.

Google said that the dramatically reduced crash rate is due to Chrome's adoption of WKWebView, a rendering engine from Apple which was first introduced with the release of iOS 8 back in 2014.

In addition, this release of Chrome for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad should be faster overall, with JavaScript execution now “dramatically faster.”

This prank webpage will crash your iPhone, iPad and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

Jokers on Twitter are tweeting out links to a new prank webpage that, when clicked, will crash your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac, or cause the device to become unresponsive.

As Gizmodo explains, the aptly named website CrashSafari.com uses just four lines of code to crash Safari for iOS and OS X by running a script which adds thousands of characters per second into the address bar, causing Safari to overload its memory.

In the case of the Mac, you'll see the beach ball spinning and your computer will become unresponsive. On the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, Safari will hang and start heating up your phone until it reboots itself.

Safari for Mac not resolving Twitter’s shortened “t.co” links? Apple’s identified a fix.

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 23, 2016

If you prefer to browse your Twitter timeline in Safari for Mac, you must have noticed the irritating issue where the browser won't resolve shortened “t.co” links, resulting in an error message informing you that “Safari can't open the page because the server where this page is located is not responding”.

What's really surprising is that this persistent Safari bug, which basically renders most Twitter links unreadable, has been around since last November, as evidenced by the Apple Support Communities.

According to an Apple engineer, a fix has been identified but it's unclear when an OS X software update, or a Safari patch, that would squash the bug might be issued.

How to show Safari toolbar on iOS without having to scroll back up

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 16, 2018

Since the iPhone's inception, Apple's mobile Safari browser has had this neat little feature for quickly jumping to the very top of any webpage simply by tapping the status bar.

Following a major redesign of Apple's mobile operating system with the 2013's release of iOS 7, Safari's top and bottom toolbars now shrink and disappear as you scroll down. As a result, you must scroll back up a bit to access the URL field, bookmarks and other features in the toolbars.

In this tutorial, you're going to learn about a cool new shortcut that you can use to quickly reveal Safari's toolbars without scrolling back up.

How to erase your Safari browsing history and data

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 17, 2024

In this tutorial, we will show you how to erase Safari browsing history and accumulated data for a particular profile or the entire browser on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

How to subscribe to websites with Safari’s Shared Links

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 26, 2019

Apple's Safari browser has a little known yet very useful feature called Shared Links, which basically saves in one central place links to articles that your Twitter followers and LinkedIn contacts post, and those published as RSS feeds.

Most websites, iDownloadBlog included, offer a series of regularly published articles in the form of RSS feeds that can be subscribed to in Safari so that they appear within your Shared Links section.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to subscribe to articles from websites using the Shared Links feature in Safari for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac.

9 ways 3D Touch can make you more productive in Safari

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 23, 2019

Safari, one of the most popular stock applications on your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, has gotten some sweet 3D Touch love in iOS.

If you own an iPhone 7 or later, you can Peek and Pop web links, bookmarks, Shared Links and Reading List items, enter Safari's private-browsing mode or open new tabs right from the Home screen, and then some more.

In this post, we'll take you through the nine ways you can use 3D Touch in Safari to browse the web faster and access popular features with fewer taps than without it.

Opera Coast gains Snapchat-like news feed, Opera Mini picks up 3D Touch support

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Opera Coast, a third-party web browser for iOS, has been updated in the App Store today with real-time news and notifications while Opera Mini now supports 3D Touch shortcuts for accessing your favorite sites by lightly pressing the app's icon on the Home screen of the iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus.

Opera Mini also integrates with iOS 9's Spotlight Search and has a few other refinements mentioned further below.

In Opera Coast, you can now preview headlines from sites you follow with a new feature, called For You. This basically aggregates online articles into a single tile, giving you an at-a-glance overview of your news right inside the browser.

Chrome for Mac nixes notification menu bar

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2015

Google's Chrome browser was updated yesterday to version 47 on Windows, Mac and Linux. The latest stable release of the browser includes bug fixes and removes a rarely used feature: the notification center in the Mac's menu bar.

Chrome for iPhone, iPod touch iPad also received an update yesterday in the App Store, bringing out support for 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and enabling more shortcuts via external wireless keyboards.

Chrome for iOS gains 3D Touch shortcuts and support for more Bluetooth keyboard shortcuts

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 1, 2015

Google today updated its Chrome browser for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad in the App Store with two new feature additions: 3D Touch shortcuts on the Home screen via the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and expanded support for shortcuts when the app is used with a Bluetooth keyboard.

Pressing firmly on Chrome's Home screen icon on your iPhone 6s will now bring up a 3D Touch menu with Voice Search, New Incognito Tab and New Tab options.

How to install a web browser on Apple TV

Jeff Benjamin ∙ November 6, 2015

Sideloading the tvOSBrowser that we reported on earlier is easy, it just takes a bit of massaging to make it all work. You'll need to be familiar with our standard sideloading tutorial for sideloading apps, but there's one additional step that you'll have to take before it all comes together. In this tutorial, we'll show you all that's involved in a hands-on step-by-step video.

Hack makes new Apple TV run native tvOS browser

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 6, 2015

A new hack by Dutch developer jvanakker makes the fourth-generation Apple TV run a native tvOS web browser despite the fact that Apple's operating system powering the set-top box lacks web browsing functionality.

The most interesting thing about this hack is its use of Apple's private API based on the UIWebView class, which the company typically provides to iPhone and iPad developers as an officially sanctioned solution for embedding web views inside apps.