Safari

How to Speed Up Web Apps on the iPhone

Alex Heath ∙ March 31, 2011

In iOS 4.3, Apple has supposedly limited the speed of web apps added to the iPhone's home screen. Develepors and users have been reporting that web-based applications launched from an independent springboard icon are loading more than 2x slower than sites opened in Mobile Safari.

Meaning that, web apps/favorite sites launched from an icon shortcut aren't given any access to the Nitro Javascript engine that's baked into iOS 4.3. If Apple has intentionally hampered the performance of web apps in 4.3, such a move could been seen as a subliminal push to get people downloading more App Store apps.

If you've noticed lagging performance with your favorite web apps in iOS 4.3, there's an easy way to take advantage of Mobile Safari's full resources...

Pwn2Own Safari Exploit Not Fixed in iOS 4.3.1, Could Mean Return of JailbreakMe

Alex Heath ∙ March 26, 2011

Charlie Miller, a security expert who managed to jailbreak iOS 4.3 during the Pwn2Own hacking contest, has revealed an interesting piece of information about 4.3.1. According to Mr. Miller, the Safari exploit uncovered at Pwn2Own is still un-patched in Apple's latest build of iOS.

An official jailbreak has yet to be released for 4.3.1, but the fact that this obvious exploit still exists points to the possibility of a jailbreak solution similar to JailbreakMe. There is no concrete evidence that this bug will be used in a jailbreak tool for iOS 4.3.1...

Google Instant Previews Available on iOS

Cody Lee ∙ March 8, 2011

Google is constantly innovating features when it comes to web searching. They've been pioneers in the search industry for many years, and they don't show any signs of stopping. One of their most recent innovations, Instant Preview, has officially made its way to iOS devices.

The feature is actually pretty handy. If you haven't used it on your desktop yet, it's the little magnifying glass that shows up next to each search result link when using Google. Clicking this magnifying glass opens up a thumbnail preview of the website in a nice overview...

iOS 4.3 vs iOS 4.2.1 Safari Web Browsing Speed Comparison

Guest Author ∙ March 5, 2011

At Apple's iPad 2 Event earlier this week, one of the major improvements in iOS 4.3 was Mobile Safari performance.

Steve Jobs claimed that Apple has included the new Nitro JavaScript engine in iOS 4.3 which now powers Safari. According to Apple, the new Nitro JavaScript engine, not only improves web browsing responsiveness, but also runs JavaScript up to twice as fast as iOS 4.2.1, resulting in web pages and interactive features loading faster than ever before.

iOS 4.3 Will Be Released on March 11th for GSM iPhones Only

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 2, 2011

At today's iPad 2 media event, solid details were revealed about the upcoming iOS 4.3 release.

Unsurprisingly, iOS 4.3 will make its debut on the same day that the iPad 2 is officially available for sale; March 11th.

What's interesting is that one notable Apple product in particular was left out of the iOS 4.3 goodness -- the CDMA based Verizon iPhone 4...

Google Logo Utilizes the iPhone’s Accelerometer, Today Only

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated March 18, 2019

Today, Jules Gabriel Verne is the inspiration behind Google's often changing homepage logo, with a submarine inspired illustration that's fitting considering he was the man behind the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.

Verne was born on February 8th, 1828, hence the commemoration.

That's nice and all, but the real reason this is news is because of the logo itself. On a desktop browser you'll see that you can manipulate the submarine's scenery by means of a small toggle located on the right-hand side of the logo.

On the iPhone though, it's a whole different story. That's because Google has tapped into the iPhone's accelerometer to allow you to change scenery simply by moving your iPhone...

How to Add the iDB Bookmark to Your iPhone’s Home Screen

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 1, 2011

Not a day passes when I'm not asked, "Where can I download the iDB app?" This is usually in response to a video, or a screenshot that showcases my Home screen.

Indeed, plopped squarely on my Home screen is an icon that does in-fact look like an official app for iPhoneDownloadBlog; however, it's not an app. It's just a bookmark saved to my Home screen.

Will iDB ever release an official app? The verdict is still out on that. In the meantime, though, feel free to follow this brief tutorial that shows you how to get an iDB bookmark on your desktop.

Besides, It's almost as cool as an official app...

Google Rolling Out Instant Preview to the iPhone, iPad

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 30, 2011

Google continues its iOS update-fest, with Google Instant Preview being the latest feature from the search giant to make its way to the iPhone.

Personally, I'm not a big user of Google Instant Preview on the desktop, but I could see how it would prove beneficial to those involved in an intensive search for something specific.

Instant Preview allows you to quickly compare results, and pinpoint relevant content on the desktop; now those same features are heading to your iPhone...

AdBlocker is an Easy to Use Ad Blocking Solution for Your iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 5, 2011

I've never really considered ad-blocking a feature I needed to have on my iPhone, and after using AdBlocker, I still feel that way. That's not to say that AdBlocker is a bad jailbreak tweak, in fact it is excellent at some of what it does.

My point stems from the fact that ads just aren't that big of an issue on the iPhone. Honestly, when was the last time an advertisement on the iPhone seriously annoyed you?

In fact, the main place where I find ads that annoy me is in Cydia, but ironically enough, AdBlocker doesn't have an option to block ads in Cydia...

‘Pull To Refresh Safari’ Makes it Fresh to Reload the Web

Jeff Benjamin ∙ December 23, 2010

Pull To Refresh Safari is the latest jailbreak tweak to appear on the scene that adds Twitter App like refresh functionality to a stock iPhone app; in this case Safari. Not too long ago, Pull To Refresh Mail was released, which added the same unique refreshing capability to the stock Mail app.

Personally, I'm all for tweaks like this; it feels like a native part of the iPhone's interface, while at the same time modernizes apps that haven't changed much since they first debuted...

Browse Mobile Safari Using the iPhone 4’s Gyroscope

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated November 12, 2018

The iPhone 4's gyroscope is one of the more underused features of Apple's flagship iOS device, so it's nice to see developers like Occipital -- creator of the iPhone app 360 Panorama -- put the technology to good use.

During the development of 360 Panorama, the crew uncovered the ability to control Mobile Safari using nothing more than the iPhone's gyroscope. Want to give it a test spin? Check out the link inside...

iOSFlashVideo is Another Addition to the Growing List of Flash Workarounds for iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ December 8, 2010

First there was Frash, then there was the much hyped SkyFire browser. It's obvious that there are plenty of folks out there that still want Flash capabilities on the iPhone.

Though much of the need has been quelled with the mass adoption of HTML 5 video tags, there are apparently still a few sites that haven't made the switch. Obviously this presents an issue for us iPhone users.

As a remedy, we've had jailbreak solutions and we've had official App Store app solutions. Now, we can officially say that we have a Safari bookmarklet solution -- iOSFlashVideo.