amit
amit

I wonder how many people with iOS devices use any browser other than Safari. I can never convince myself to switch to any other browser — to be frank I never felt a need earlier when I was all in on Apple ecosystem. With recent switch to Windows, I have to reconsider.

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bradbarrish
bradbarrish

@amit I use Firefox on macOS as my main browser and use it on iOS as well to take advantage of sync features. Better plug-in support on macOS is really the deciding factor for me.

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amit
amit

@bradbarrish Yeah, it is the sync that I am interested in. When it was macOS and iOS, Safari had me covered. But with Windows, there's just no option. I am in no way going to use Safari there. So it has to be Firefox, I guess, which I use on Windows anyway.

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smokey
smokey

@amit I think that it is so difficult and you get so little from it (e.g., can’t be the default browser, is always going to be a UI on top of WebKit, with all the limitations of both WebKit and the iOS application/App Store model) that people either have to be a huge fan of another browser or have some other special use-case to even contemplate another browser. (And in my case, the iPhone is so small that I do very little browsing on it, so Safari is fine in a pinch.)

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amit
amit

@smokey I do use the browser a lot on mobile. And I especially like to have tabs, bookmarks and history across the devices. Safari both on macOS and iOS did that earlier, but with Windows in picture that sync was broken. However I do get your point -- other browsers are just not first citizens on iOS, Apple makes sure they can't be.

Very unfortunate we still can't select default apps after 12 iterations of a platform.

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bradenslen
bradenslen

@amit

Very unfortunate we still can't select default apps after 12 iterations of a platform.

Aside: This is what keeps driving me away from iOS.

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mrmanner
mrmanner

@amit I use two browsers (safari for personal, Firefox for work), mostly for the sync features. Nice to not have all work apps open on weeekends and vice versa.

Also I think that Firefox share sheet thing for opening links on iOS is far superior to Safari — there are options like “open tab in background” and “send tab to other device”.

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amit
amit

@bradenslen I won't blame you, it is a very valid reason to not prefer a platform.

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amit
amit

@mrmanner I typically do not enable any sync for browsers at work -- gets messy with intranet links. But I am enjoying the Firefox sync for personal usage. And I am really digging the "Send to Device" feature. It comes in a lot handy, especially given I had started missing the Continuity between laptop/iPhone/iPad.

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alans
alans

@amit I’m considering a similar switch. My current MacBook Pro is getting a little creaky and I’m thinking of a Win replacement. I too wish there were a better Terminal for windows, though. I don’t want to give up my fish shell!

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In reply to
amit
amit

@alans I pretty new full-time on Windows, so haven't yet hit against any limitations as such yet. Sure, terminal is a big-big miss, but have always been a bash user. And I believe you can have a fish shell in WSL. Haven't tried it myself though.

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