Stream Web is a new web browser made by a team of former Apple and Adobe employees and it’s very different from Safari. What’s good is the improved browsing experience and what’s not good is the loss of some convenience.
All navigation can be done by swiping and the option to view two webpages at once can be useful
Both Safari and Stream Web share the same swipe gesture to go backwards and forwards. Where Safari has buttons and the status bar blocking webpages, Stream Web hides all that, requiring a swipe to bring additional interactions into view.
Additionally, in Stream Web a swipe across the bottom of the screen switches between open webpages. A time saving feature not available in Safari. Some of Stream Web’s other interesting features are Visual Sharing, which allows you to size and cut a section of a page to share on social media, email or SMS, Your Stream, which saves everything you’ve shared via Visual Sharing, and infinite tabs, which I’ll touch on later.
What I like most about Stream Web is the full screen view of the webpages and the option to view two pages at once. I don’t like the clutter that appears in Safari when I swipe to move up the page, because I don’t always need the buttons that appear. I’m glad Stream Web has found a way to give me full screen all the time and only give me more functions when I want them. Also, I don’t need to view two webpages on my iPhone or iPad often, but when I do I appreciate having the option.
Stream Web (right) takes up a lot less real estate than Safari (left)
Unfortunately, there is plenty that I dislike. I can’t save bookmarks and Stream Web doesn’t save the last webpage or pages opened. That said, websites can somewhat bookmarked by clipping them and adding them to Your Stream, but it is not convenient, because you have to create an account and sizing clips can be tedious.
Also, I switch between a lot of apps often, so I want them to be the same whenever I go back to my browser. Stream Web should keep my last webpages open, because it’s a hassle to retype a URL. Also, I don’t understand the point of having infinite tabs if they all disappear when the app closes.
Stream Web works well as a browser, the full screen view is great, but it’s a pain that webpages disappear after the app closes. If you want to give Stream Web a try it’s free to download from the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Then, tell us if you like Stream Web enough to switch from Safari or another iOS web browser you use.
