Moving to mobile Chrome
Posted on: July 8, 2012
There are several reasons to use the new mobile Chrome browser for iOS over the default Safari. This site provides ten reasons, but I was sold on just one.
Like a growing number of fortunate people, I browse the Web on more than one machine: a Mac, a PC, an iPad, and an iPhone. If I cannot finish reading something on one machine, I like to continue reading it elsewhere on another.
While there are services like Pocket and even Safari’s Reading List, nothing beats leaving a Web page open in a tab on one device and being able to have that synchronized across devices.
This way I can start reading an article in my office in desktop Chrome on my Mac, bring my iPad to a meeting, and pull up the same resource up on mobile Chrome should a serendipitous need arise or if the meeting gets boring.
How might you do the same? First, get Chrome for iOS.
The problem with iOS is that you cannot change your default browser. But there is a solution if your device is jailbroken and a workaround if it is not.
With a jailbroken iOS device, search Cydia for Browser Changer and install it. Then go into your Settings, scroll down to the Browser Changer options, activate it (it is off by default), and select Chrome.
When you change the default browser, clicking on links in email, SMS, or other apps, or selecting Send to Safari, will launch Chrome instead.
If you do not have a jailbroken device, you can manually redirect sites called up on Safari to Chrome with a Safari Bookmarklet. This workaround is not as convenient as changing your default browser.
Chrome for iOS is not perfect though. It lacks the Twitter integration that Safari sports. But the inclusion of this feature might only be a matter of time.
I wrote the paragraph above thinking that there was no solution or workaround for using Twitter bookmarklets. There is!
