I’ve tried Firefox, Brave, and Orion. I’m not comfortable with Chrome.They all seem fine on the Mac, but buggy on the iPad.
I use iCab when I don’t want to use Safari.
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Sadly, browsers on iOS are all wrappers around a safari web view because apple (currently) mandates that. This means that it’s a lot harder for developers to port over their browsers in the same way they work on the desktop. Another downside is they can’t leverage extensions. So if you’re used to adblockers or other helpers, those won’t work.
Finally, on the iPad, many videos won’t be able to properly go full screen. I don’t know why, but it’s a thing.
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They were probably buggy as they were all forced to use the underlying Safari engine. Now Apple has been forced to lift that restriction I’d imagine these to become a lot better. I know Google and Firefox are already working on versions that use the “normal” backend for those browsers so this should improve things very soon.
I’d wait a few months and then take a new look at iOS / iPadOS browsers.
On MacOS and Linux I use Firefox and Brave (+ Safari if I have to) and really hope they’ll be able to port those engines over. Having firefox on my iPad with Brave for the Chromium stuff woud be great!
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If I am in the situation that I find Safari not being sufficient, I am using iCab, too. I have had no issues with iCab. I am not using it very often, though. Safari is my choice 99% of the time, which means that I am fine with Safari most of the time.
I may give third party browsers a spin more often, if and when they are able to use their own engines. It remains to be seen if they will be better. But competition is always a good idea.
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I have become a fan of the Brave browser and find works very well for my use case.
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Do you sync between desktop and ios? I just tired using Brave again and nothing would sync up. Even when I had “Sync Everything” checked.
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Have you tried Command? It’s good for research if that’s what you are looking for. It integrates with Notion and Readwise for highlights.
Command isn’t available on the desktop.
I’m looking for a browser that syncs between the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. That’s a requirement for me.
I’m back to Safari for now–and honestly I’m OK with it–but keeping my eye on Orion.
I don’t trust Brave because of the crypto connection.
It’s on Mac and iOS.
Nope, not on the Mac. Maybe M1 or M3 Macs but no native Mac version. So says the App Store.
I use Edge as well as Safari.
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For me the best alternate browsers these days are Orion and Arc. Orion feels more “mac-assed” while Arc is more feature complete. Both are cranking out releases like crazy, and include additional tab/session management capabilities, I specially like how they sync open tabs across devices.
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No, I did not setup sync as I only use this as a secondary browser.
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Dang. I stand corrected. I didn’t even realize it was just an iPad port. It’s worked well enough for me I just thought it was another Mac app.
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I use Orion on Mac and iPhone. It’s Safari on steroids. Orion can use extensions from Firefox and Chrome, also on iOS. But apparently it doesn’t stick for you.
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The thing with Orion is that creating a browser application around a web engine is harder than it seems (just look at orionfeedback.org, the variety of issues is surprising). Id say the Orion dev team is pretty small and they are both working on Mac an iOS products, so there are a lot of corner cases that still make Orion feel like it is in its infancy. If you are affected by some of these cases then Orion is buggy for you. Arc is more polished for day to day use.
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Unfortunately not (yet) 1Password.
When 1Password adds Orion to their whitelist I want to give this browser a try.
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