The Google Chrome app for iPhone just got a bunch of new updates, offering greater integration with the rest of the Google ecosystem… By basically turning Chrome into a super-app.
Over on the Google Official Blog, four new features have been added to the Google Chrome iPhone app – features that were already present on the Android version, but now iPhone fans get to benefit from. They’re quite simple features, but they’re also the kind of thing that’s going to make the Google walled garden all the more attractive to iPhone users.
First up, we have Google Maps features coming to Chrome on iOS. Now, when long-pressing your finger on an address in Google Chrome, you can see the location in a Google Maps pop-up – you won’t even need to have Maps installed. If you want to be navigated to the address, you can then press the ‘Get Directions’ button to have Google Maps open on your phone – if it’s installed.
The same goes for new Google Calendar pop-ups. Now, when long-pressing a date in Google Chrome, you can create a Google Calendar event that syncs up to your other Google apps – without needing to open the Calendar app at all. If you want to view the calendar event, you can click the ‘Open’ button to do this after it has been created (this will need the Google Calendar app installed).
There are also better Google Translate features being built in. When you select a body of text in Chrome that’s in a different language, you can now translate it without leaving the app by clicking the ‘Google Translate’ pop-up. Again, if you want more features, Google offers a button to quickly open the Google Translate app on your phone when you’re translating in Chrome (again, if it’s installed).
Finally, greater Google Lens integration is coming to the Chrome app on iPhones. While Google Lens previously let users search for images they had already stumbled across on the web, users will soon be able to take photos with their cameras or upload photos from their photos to search for them on the internet, all through Chrome and without needing the Google Lens app installed. These features are being rolled out over the “coming months”.
Google’s new Chrome features on iPhone really make the app seem like a super-app, and although these may seem like small changes, they also seem to be created in a way to gravitate users away from Apple’s slew of apps, like Apple Maps and Apple Calendar.
Not that there’s anything wrong with those apps, mind you. It just comes down to preference, really.