Apple's browser engine restriction is the subject of growing antitrust scrutiny, most recently by the Biden administration, which has recommended the passing of new legislation to ban 'gatekeeper' companies like Apple from banning alternative browser engines on its platform. Google claims that the app is merely 'an experimental prototype with the goal to understand certain aspects of performance on iOS,' and 'it will not be available to users and we'll continue to abide by Apple's policies.'Įven so, Google's experimental iOS browser project could be a sign that the company is anticipating changes to Apple's platform rules that would enable it to release a truly home-grown browser. This means that while browsers like Chrome and Microsoft Edge are built with Chromium on macOS and Windows, their iOS counterparts are forced to use Apple's WebKit, making them behave similarly to Safari.īased on the visible code commits, the app purportedly looks like the start of an alternate browser build and is still missing some key features at this early stage. Yet if Google attempted to release it on the App Store, it would not pass Apple's App Review process.Īpple's ‌App Store‌ rules dictate that browser apps on iOS and iPadOS must use its own WebKit browser engine. The experimental browser, which is being actively pursued by developers, uses Google's Blink engine.

Google's Chromium developers are working on an experimental web browser for iOS that would break Apple's browser engine restrictions, The Register reports.

Chrome on the app store