from Hacker News

Vivaldi on iOS

by aeadio on 10/5/23, 5:03 PM with 110 comments

  • by MatthiasPortzel on 10/5/23, 8:55 PM

    If you’re not using Vivaldi on the desktop, this isn’t for you (yet). It doesn’t have many of the features that desktop Vivaldi has, and it doesn’t have many features that other browsers don’t. Right now the main feature of this is that it syncs with the desktop version, which is something that people (Vivaldi users) have been asking for for a long time.

    But Vivaldi (the company), over the course of many years, took their desktop browser from a Chromium clone to the most feature-packed browser currently available. I’m confidently they’ll do the same with their mobile browsers.

  • by denysonique on 10/5/23, 8:31 PM

    Lack of an option to have the address bar at the bottom near the keyboard like on Safari, lack of address bar gestures for tab navigation. I don't see the iOS version of Vivaldi having any features that would be compelling enough to degrade my user experience by switching to it.

    The only other bottom address bar browser with gestures that I have seen is Kiwi on Android and I am surprised this paradigm is still not more common.

  • by rgreekguy on 10/5/23, 8:32 PM

    I might have missed an update in the past couple of days, but, otherwise, the experience on a fully up-to-date iPad Mini is the same like in Android in the past. Maybe a bit worse, too.

    It happily crashes, lags, as in, the touches take a couple of seconds to register, and overheats the iPadlet like I've been using the pen for 30+ minutes in the summer.

    Also, I can not understand why they do not have the custom themes on mobile, Android or i*OS.

  • by danpalmer on 10/6/23, 6:04 AM

    > In most browsers on mobile, it’s difficult to keep track of many open tabs.

    > We’ve integrated an elegant desktop-style Tab Bar in the UI by default.

    I think there's a good reason why no mobile browsers implement desktop style tabs. Even the Vivaldi screenshots in this post show just 2.5 tabs with significant truncation of all the visible tabs. On tablet this might work (where other browsers have a more traditional tab view), but on portrait phone this seems like a terrible idea.

  • by verandaguy on 10/5/23, 8:28 PM

    I'm not seeing a whole lot about whether or not this uses WebKit or Blink -- and IIRC newer versions of iOS have relaxed the policy about needing to use WebKit.

  • by haolez on 10/5/23, 8:57 PM

    I've tried to use Vivaldi for a few weeks, but I kept getting hit by glitches and small annoyances that ended bringing me back to Chrome.

    There are nice ideas there, but if I were them, I'd focus on making sure you are not losing users before going all in on growth and features.

  • by joshcollie on 10/6/23, 5:25 AM

    I find the promise of ‘unmatched personalisation’ or customisation lacklustre here. If you’re seeking something more customisable I’d suggest Quiche Browser. It’s a recent app by an independent developer that provides an experience that offers more UI customisation in a tasteful manner. Sure there are fewer bells and whistles features, but if you just want a minimal, privacy conscious browser that can adapt to you it may be worth a shot.

    https://apps.apple.com/app/quiche-browser/id1668363952

  • by sgt on 10/6/23, 7:15 AM

    According to Screen Time I am using my phone on average about 1.5 hours a day. I can't imagine a scenario where I would need a "speed dial" function to bring up many different sites at once, in order to do "real work". I use a computer for that.

    It's interesting to note that other people have entirely different usage patterns of their phones and actually prefer a small screen to a proper computer.

    Not saying either is right/wrong, just curious. How prevalent is this on HN, I wonder?

  • by jbverschoor on 10/5/23, 9:04 PM

    My thumb can’t stretch like that.. perhaps try out an app on real devices instead of simulators.

    Edit:

    It is quite fast. Search button tries to fix address bar location, but I don’t like it. Switching tabs is a pain and sweeping them interferes with iOS app switching. Difficult to add a new tab

  • by the_gipsy on 10/5/23, 8:42 PM

    It's just a WebView, right? Illusions.

  • by leotravis10 on 10/5/23, 9:37 PM

    Although I appreciate Vivaldi for getting a iOS version out, do keep in mind that it's very inferior to Safari much like all non-Safari browsers on iOS running WebKit because of how very privileged Safari is and sadly their hands are very tied. The only hope is that the EU's DMA and DSA can allow third-party browsing engines on iOS eventually, and this release is a head start type of move toward that goal I feel.

    Until that happens, Safari will always be the only browser that truly matters if you use a iOS device and that's a fact.

  • by albumen on 10/5/23, 9:01 PM

    Orion is the first browser on iOS that has convinced me to move away from safari. From the Kagi team, and admittedly still in beta, it's fast, rejects telemetry, and allows install of Chrome and Firefox extensions. The built-in pop up and blocking is great, and nukes YT ads too.

    Still a little rough around the edges (sometimes freezes; restart it; and switching orientation is slow), but the pros outweigh the cons.

    https://browser.kagi.com/

  • by pluc on 10/5/23, 8:28 PM

    Chrome on the App Store is nothing new.