If Apple spread out up iOS 17 to third - party internet browser engines this year , Chrome will be ready . According to a write up fromThe Register , Google is already working on an “ experimental software ” that brings a Blink - powered web browser app to iOS .
The projection , which is described as a “ content shell iOS larboard ” is being used “ to quantify graphics and input reaction time by providing traces for psychoanalysis . ” Google importune the web web browser will not be available to users and the company will go on to abide by Apple ’s policies . A spokesperson told The Register the project is strictly for “ experimental ” use .
However , it ’s surd to not read between the lines . Bloomberg reported last year that Apple could open up iOS 17 in unprecedented way this fall , let in the margin ofthird - party app storesand browser app engine in an sweat to gentle regulatory agencies . If that were to befall , Google would be able to build a true Chrome internet browser rather than a WebKit internet browser with Chrome styling and features .
accord to The Register ’s source within Google , the computer code “ looks like the beginning of an alternate browser app frame , though in skeletal frame ” and is missing several necessary features to make it a shippable production . However , it could emphatically be quick by the time iOS 17 ships in September if Apple allows such a affair in its App Store .
And it would reach the door to other browsers as well . Several Mac browsers apply Google ’s Blink engine , include Chrome , Opera , and Brave . Assuming Google ’s experiment is successful and Apple allows third - company engines at some degree , they will likely take Blink for Io as well . In a espouse - up composition , in fact , The Registerreportedthat Mozilla is also “ doing some exploratory work to sympathize the technical challenges ” for a version of Firefox on iOS that habituate the Gecko rendering engine .
A Blink web browser would bring the first veridical competition for Safari on the iPhone . With the same WebKit engine , there is little reason to download a competing web browser other than syncing , but Google is betting that will change this year .
Update 2/9 : add information that Mozilla is also build a web browser app for Io that uses the Gecko engine .
