Prior to the recent release of the Google Chrome Web Browser for iOS, I was stuck using Safari.  It’s not that I don’t like mobile safari, I actually think it is an excellent browser.  But the problem is that I like having different options.  On my mac I have 5 browsers (Safari, Chrome, SRWare Iron, OmniWeb, and Firefox), and I use each one every week.  Each browser has its own benefits, and each has its own drawbacks.

Well the release of Chrome for iOS finally gives me an alternative browser that doesn’t make me want to take a hammer to my phone.  However, there are still some features that are missing.  But don’t worry, the jailbreak community will take care of you.  Here are a few of the tweaks that you can install to make your Chrome experience much more enjoyable.

  1. BrowserChooser:  There are a few tweaks out there that allow you to choose your default iOS browser, however I think this was the first one that included Chrome as an option.  This tweak is free, but can only be downloaded from the following repository: 
    http://rpetri.ch/repo/

  2. Image courtesy of modmyi.com

    EasyRefresh for Chrome:  One thing that I find very odd about the Chrome iOS app is that there is no refresh button.  Sure, you can go through the menu and hit refresh, or just select the URL again and hit enter.  But it just seems like a bit of an oversight to not include a refresh button.  Well this tweak will add a refresh button to the end of the URL bar.  This is also a free tweak.

  3. Chromizer: The main draw (for me) to Chrome as my default browser was the touch gestures. Apple seems to be very big on the use of touch gestures on the mac and iOS devices, so I was a bit shocked when there weren’t gestures for Safari.  Chrome at least allows you to swipe to close a tab.  The Chromizer tweak adds some more key functionality.  For starters, it allows you to pull down on the page to refresh.  For those of you who use Sparrow on iOS, you should be familiar with this.  You can also tap the screen with 3 fingers to toggle full screen mode.  Better yet, when in full screen mode you can swipe left or right with 2 fingers to go back or forward to the next page.

Do you have any more tweaks or suggestions on how to make iOS Chrome better?  Or maybe you have some questions about one of the tweaks? Leave them in comments.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta