If Apple opens up iOS 17 to third-party browser engines this year, Chrome will be ready. According to a report from The Register, Google is already working on an “experimental app” that will bring the Blink-based browser to iOS.
The project, which is described as “a port of the iOS content wrapper”, is used “to measure graphics and input latency by providing traces for analysis.” Google insists that the browser will not be available to users and the company will continue to comply with Apple’s policies. A spokesperson told The Register that the project is purely for “experimental” purposes.
However, it’s hard not to read between the lines. Bloomberg reported last year that Apple could open up iOS 17 this fall in unprecedented ways, including allowing third-party app stores and browser engines to appease regulators. If that happened, Google would be able to create a real Chrome browser, not a WebKit browser with Chrome style and features.
According to The Register’s sources at Google, the code “looks like the start of an alternate build of the browser, albeit in skeleton form,” and it’s missing some of the functionality needed to release the finished product. However, it could definitely be ready by the time iOS 17 is released in September if Apple allows it in its App Store.
And that would open the door for other browsers as well. Several Mac browsers use the Google Blink engine, including Chrome, Opera, and Brave. Assuming Google’s experiment succeeds and Apple allows third-party engines at some point, they will likely also adopt Blink for iOS along with Firefox’s Gecko engine.
Blink Browser will be the first true competitor to Safari on the iPhone. With the same WebKit engine, there’s little reason to download a competing browser other than sync, but Google is betting that this will change this year.