There are only two mobile browsers that have pull: Safari and Chrome. Between them, they control 91% of the global market. Android users have no access to Safari so Chrome and Safari slug it out for iPhone users. And that battle has suddenly changed, with Google’s surprise new update targeting millions of users. If you use Google Chrome on your iPhone, you’ll be interested in the four upgrades announced. These improve Google Lens search, online shopping, and integration with Google Drive, Google Photos, and Google Maps.
First, there’s the Google Lens upgrade, as described in Google’s official blog post. On Chrome for iOS, you can perform Google Lens searches using photos from your camera or gallery. Just tap the search field and then the Google Lens icon. With the new update, you’ll be able to perform these searches with additional refinement text. For example, when viewing photos of sweatshirts, you can enter a colour to refine your search results. Or maybe you have a photo of a place on your screen and want to add text asking where in the world it is.
Next up, there’s a new feature called Shopping Insights, but it’s only available to US users for now. When you view a product in Chrome that Google knows is available at a discount online, you’ll see a little blue-and-white icon in the address bar that says “Great Deals Now.” Tapping the icon will show you the product’s price history over time.
Other changes here improve integration between Chrome for iOS and other Google products. You can now save files and photos to Google Drive or Google Photos so they don’t take up space on your iPhone. Just tap the Google Drive option when saving a file, or long-press on a picture and select “Google Photos” in the pop-up.
And then there’s Google Maps. In Chrome for iOS, you could see the map popup without actually opening Google Maps, but now the process has been streamlined to require just one tap. Chrome automatically recognizes and underlines addresses on the Internet.
Like Shopping Insights, the Google Maps update isn’t available everywhere right away. Google says both features will be expanded to more regions in the future, so keep an eye out. To get everything as soon as possible, be sure to update your Chrome for iOS to the latest version.
Note that all of these features, or very similar ones, are already available in Chrome for Android, so if you’re using a phone with Google’s mobile operating system, you won’t miss out on anything.
