Just how ‘desktop-class’ is iPadOS 13’s Safari web browser?

Browsing the internet on iPad is so immersive it’s like holding the web in your hands. And now, powerful new features make Safari on iPadOS a desktop-class browsing experience.
Browsing the internet on iPad is so immersive it’s like holding the web in your hands. And now, powerful new features make Safari on iPadOS a desktop-class browsing experience.

For years, Mobile Safari has been criticized, especially on powerful iPads, as a weak, limited experience. One of iPadOS 13’s most-heralded features is a “desktop-class” version of Safari for iPad. For the past few weeks, 9to5Mac‘s Bradley Chambers been testing Desktop Safari on the iPad to see if it’s genuinely a desktop browser.

Bradley Chambers for 9to5Mac:

Native access to Google’s productivity suite is a key task for me. My school runs off G Suite, so I use it daily. The iPad apps do not offer as full a featured experience as the web. Using the web interface on iPadOS is a much better experience. I was able to access all the features and work like I would on a Mac…

I could see the entire [WordPress] dashboard in a very similar manner to the desktop. In practice, it’s just as frustrating as before. Even with a full web browser, the text selection on iOS is still more difficult than I’d like. In the WordPress window for this article, I wanted to rearrange some text, and it took me a few tries to get it all selected and moved. While the experience was passable for the occasional interaction, I wouldn’t want to have to work with desktop Safari on iPad with the native WordPress interface every single day. Overall, I give the experience a C+.

Desktop Safari on iPad is decent in iPadOS 13. I hope Apple expands it in iPadOS 14 and going forward. Functionally, a few things need to happen with iPadOS to continue to grow the functions where more people can use it as a primary machine.

MacDailyNews Take: iPadOS 13’s Safari is a good start; a solid foundation upon which Apple can build, refine, and improve.

1 Comment

Reader Feedback (You DO NOT need to log in to comment. If not logged in, just provide any name you choose and an email address after typing your comment below)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.