Google Chrome: iOS And Android Open Source Compared; Chrome v57 On Beta Stage

Google has built its Chrome browser on a source code from the Chromium open source project, however, such code repository has not featured Chrome for iOS. Now and for the first time, Google Chrome for iOS is confirmed to be an open source, after developers successfully accessed the code for Apple's mobile OS.

According to reports, Google would have to use two rendering engines in order to build the Chrome browser for iOS, the WebKit engine from Apple and Google's Blink engine. Although Webkit has been source since 2005, more complexities have been encountered by Google to support the two engines in its code for iOS.

Google Chrome for Android, on the other hand, has been almost completely open source since 2015. Based on reports, the Chromium open source project was mostly focused on the Chrome browser for desktops.

Moreover, Google enabled the developers to compile the Chrome for iOS code easily by open-sourcing it. The development times for the new applications that are built on the Chrome for iOS code will reportedly speed up as well. Incidentally, reaching this point has taken so long since the Chrome for iOS utilizes both the Blink and the Webkit engines, Top Tech News reported.

Google, meanwhile, may likely be teasing Andromeda through Chrome. According to reports, Chrome v57 has started the beta stage before the next update has been officially released. Incidentally, beta testing requires an early preview of what the software update can offer, and based on reports, the new beta build includes features like Fullscreen Media Orientation, improved media notifications and CSS Grid.

Among these new features, two more will reportedly provide clues about what a Google browser can offer. One is the Progressive Web Apps, which deals with the improvements, while the other one is WebAssembly that provide web apps more control over low-level operations than the JavaScript, Yahoo reported. Learn more about Google Chrome IOS here: