With iOS 14, Apple finally lets you choose which browser you want to use as your default, letting you switch away from Safari if you’d rather use a third-party alternative like Chrome or Edge. Apple is also letting iPhone users change their default email app in the updated OS.
To be a candidate for the default browser, developers have had to update their apps. All browsers are still required to use WebKit as their underlying browsing engine, meaning that the main differences between them will come down to their user interfaces and how they sync with other platforms, rather than how they fundamentally render web pages. At the moment there’s only a limited selection of browsers that can be set as the default on iPhone.
Here’s a list of alternative default browsers we can confirm:
- Chrome
- DuckDuckGo
- Edge
- Firefox
Notably absent from this list are the iOS version of Brave (although the company has confirmed that the latest version of its browser is currently going through Apple’s review process) and Opera Touch (the iOS version of Opera). We also downloaded a variety of other iOS browsers that are frequently recommended in “best iOS browsers” lists including Dolphin, Ghostery, UC Browser, and Aloha, and found that they did not appear in the default browser selection menu.
As of this writing, there appears to be a bug in iOS 14 which resets your default browser to Safari whenever your device reboots. Apple is yet to respond to our request for comment on the bug, but we’d expect it to be fixed with an upcoming patch for iOS.
In order to change your default browser, head into the Settings app, then scroll down to the browser you want to be your default. Click it and you’ll see a “Default Browser App” option if it’s default eligible.
Author: Jon Porter
Source: Theverge
