Chrome for iOS update brings tighter integration with Google apps and more

By Trevor Mogg July 18, 2013

Google’s busy week continues with the rollout Wednesday of the latest version of its Chrome browser for iOS. The release comes a day after the Web giant opened its new Maps web interface to all users and also introduced an updated version of its Maps app for Apple’s iDevices.

The latest version of Chrome features tighter integration with other Google apps that you might have on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch – think Maps, YouTube, Drive, and Google+. So now, if, for example, you click on a Maps link in a search result, your Google Maps app will open instead of the Maps site within the browser, offering an altogether more user-friendly experience.

To enable this functionality, open Chrome and tap the tab to the right of the search box, scroll down and tap on settings. Next, select Google Apps from the list and then simply tap on the ones you want to enable. Currently, the four mentioned above are listed, with Google promising more soon.

Also, if you sign in to Chrome with your Google account when using the browser, you’ll now be able to sign in to your other Google apps with a single click.

Access to your full browser history via the menu, fullscreen browsing on the iPad and text-to-speech enhancements also come with the update.

In a post introducing the revamped mobile browser, Google software engineer Peter Lee also said that in the coming days the company would be rolling out an experimental data compression service enabling users to save bandwidth, load pages more quickly, and browse more securely on Apple devices.

If you don’t already have Chrome but are interested in giving it a whirl, you can grab it from the iTunes store here. Those of you already using it should receive an update prompt via the App Store on your device as usual.

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Contributing Editor

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