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Comment by prostoalex | Hacker News Reader

>>> Apple doesn't allow any other choice of browser except for those using it's core WebKit engine

1) Not true. http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/mobile/ios.html

2) "Its".

    Not true.

Yes it is: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/?fromgroups=#...

    Chrome for iOS has some pretty major technical
    restrictions imposed by the App Store, such as the
    requirement to use the built-in UIWebView for rendering,
    no V8, and a single-process model.

"Per Apple's requirements for browsers released through the App Store, this version of Chrome uses the iOS WebKit, that is the mobile Safari iOS engine and components, but restricted from using their Nitro JavaScript engine."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome#iOS_version

"Rendering and the Javascript engine are provided by iOS through UIWebView." - https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/faq

You're right, I didn't realize that.

Chrome for iOS uses the WebKit engine that's built into iOS. The only iOS browser that doesn't that I can think of is one of the Opera ones which does it's rendering on remote server.

I think the point is that although you can install another browser, you can't set it as "default" -- links from other apps, from Mail, etc. must open in Safari unless the other browser is hardcoded into the app (like "Open in Chrome" menu items). Having an ability to set default apps would make iOS significantly more sophisticated, in my opinion.

A good reason for jailbreaking is to allow you to set any browser as the default browser and allow any 3rd party UIWebView application the ability to use the Nitro JS engine that Safari uses.

My default browser on iOS is Chrome and it runs as fast as Safari.

Chrome uses the built in WebKit (though brings its own network stack).

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