Google Chrome now lets iPhone users add website shortcuts on home screen
Google Chrome now lets iPhone users add website shortcuts on home screen
The latest Google Chrome update for iOS and iPadOS introduces the ability to add websites as shortcuts on the home screen, which will open in their own window.
Earlier, the functionality was restricted to Safari.
Earlier this year, Apple released iOS 16.4 and updated the WebKit engine, giving web apps access to push notifications and the ability to add shortcuts to the home screen. The latest app to take advantage of the feature is Google Chrome.
According to a post on Threads shared by Chris Messina, who is credited with the invention of hashtags, the latest Google Chrome update for iOS lets users add a shortcut to their favourite web pages to the home screen. Previously, the feature was restricted to Apple’s very own Safari but now makes it possible for Chrome users to quickly access websites without having to rely on the former.
Similar to how the functionality works with Safari, when a user adds a shortcut to a web page on their home screen, tapping on it will open the page as a normal app instead of opening Chrome. If you are running on iOS 16.4 or a newer version, the web app shortcut can also push notifications like natively installed applications.
Apple seems to be pushing web apps lately, with the beta version of macOS Sonoma also letting users add web app shortcuts using Safari. Last month, Chrome on iOS got several new features like the ability to use the camera to search for a product, improved translation capabilities and even create calendar events from the browser itself.