Google has just open source the Chrome in iOS in Chromium by altering its code. Now ordinary iOS users and not just programmers can benefit with frequent updates to help the iOS browser be at par with its Android counterparts.

Chrome has been an open source from the very beginning except for iOS. The Chromium project of Google was created to enable developers to tinker, test and modify the open source browser code.

The iOS code was not included in the Chromium repository because of the complications that go with its inclusion especially in running Chrome on mobile devices. All iOS browser uses WebKit while Google only supports Blink, which is the rendering engine of Chrome for all platforms. In order to have the iOS code delivered to Chromium, Google also needs to support the Apple engine.

Over the years, the Chrome team was able to alter its code to include Chrome on iOS. Developers can now get the iOS code from the repository to compile the iOS version of Chromium. However, they need to run OS X and use the Xcode to do this according to Tech Crunch.

The inclusion of the iOS code in the open source browser project can speed up its development. This is accomplished because all tests running on Chromium will automatically run on Chrome for iOS code base as well.

Moreover, the open source iOS code allows users to test for more bugs and vulnerabilities. There could even be more new third party iOS browsers according to The Verge. The clear advantage of the open source code is not only for developers but also for users who will benefit from the frequent updates.

In the past, the iOS browser was criticized as not being at par with Android counterparts because Apple imposed all browsers to use the same rendering. With the open source code, the iOS browser may finally catch up particularly in terms of search query accuracy.

Tags Google