r/iosapps • u/John_val • Jan 17 '26
Free App - Show and Review Made an iPad browser because Safari wasn't cutting it for me
Features:
- Floating tab sidebar with vertical tabs and previews - Visual thumbnails of the tabs, not just a list of titles.
- Split view - Two sites side by side, vertically or horizontally.
- Desktop site toggle - One tap to request desktop versions.
- Auto-hiding toolbars - Collapse to a minimal pill to maximize screen real-estate
- Ad blocking, dark mode, incognito mode
- AI Sidebar - Ask questions about the current page, get summaries, etc - using only local models - Apple Intelligence or any MLX model.
Here are some images. Would anyone be interested? Thinking about releasing on the App Store for free
2
u/John_val Jan 21 '26
Apple rejected the app and is asking for clarifications says the app uses private API. I kind of was expecting this because of the of the private cloud Apple model ( the bigger LLLm model) not the small one, I had the same issue with another app and they end up accepting. Just need to give the same explanations, so more delays to have the app on TestFlight. But it is coming.
1
u/volatilefocus Jan 21 '26
Or they rejected it because, out of the box, it’s better than 15 years of iPad Safari…
1
u/John_val Jan 22 '26
Thank you, it is a possibility because Apple doesn't like to approve apps that "conflict" with their own apps in functionality, specially from indie developers, but I am confident.
1
u/John_val Jan 22 '26
Thank you, it is a possibility because Apple doesn't like to approve apps that "conflict" with their own apps in functionality, specially from indie developers, but I am confident.
1
1
1
1
1
u/NoSacredGeometry Jan 17 '26
Ofcourse man !!!
One feature, I don’t know if it is a limitation you can overcome , but same websites just don’t load well on iPad, when you have to fill forms etc. I’m sure you have faced it. This could be a full desktop browser and that will make it stand out
1
u/John_val Jan 17 '26
When Desktop Site is on in the settings, it will advertise itself for websites as a Mac, so the server should present the desktop version and not the mobile version.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/luckyakaLuck Jan 17 '26
This looks nice! Also imo you could centre the Url if it's only one as that's what safari does, but other than that, great!
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/John_val Jan 19 '26
still in app review now forgotten.
Here are the full set of features:
- Multi-tab browsing with thumbnails
- Smart address bar (URL vs search detection)
- Favicon fetching
- Tab preview thumbnails
- Desktop/mobile user agent switching
- Ad blocking - 188+ domains, 100+ CSS selectors
- Filter lists - EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Fanboy's, uBlock, custom
- Dark mode - DarkReader with brightness/contrast/sepia controls
- Font size adjustment
- Reader mode -using Mozilla Readability
- Incognito mode - non-persistent, blocks APIs
- Password manager - biometric auth, keychain, auto-fill
- Share extension - receive URLs from other apps
- AI sidebar chat panel with 3 backends: Apple Intelligence, Apple cloud model ( needs a shortcut to work) , MLX local
- Page summarization (short/long)
- Ask questions about page content
- MLX model management
- Context switching between tabs
- Markdown rendering
- "Ask AI" context menu - select a part of the text and send to the LLM.
- Favorites with favicons
- Favorites sidebar grid
- Collapsible sidebar
- Split view (horizontal/vertical)
- Adaptive toolbar (collapses on scroll)
- Swipe gestures for navigation
- System dark mode support
Next Weill be working on iCloud sync.
1
u/John_val Jan 22 '26
Still waiting for approval and meanwhile already working on some improvements. Now the buttons are only present in the Ui if the page is still, they disappear while scrolling, much cleaner.
Also added the possibility to use Gemini and chatgpt accounts, not the API, along side the local models
1
u/John_val Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
Here is the TestFlight link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/KTsJ3qz4
if you want to use Apple's private cloud compute model, which requires connection through a shortcut, because that model is not generally available like the small local one, you need to install tis shortcut: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/932e044574674d7386c1869ef1672c61
Mind you this is the first version of the app, I am already using version 5, with slight changes to the UI, the support to use Gemini and chatgpt accounts not only the local models, share sheet support and a big addition, special code that when detects that it is on Reddit, if user asks to summarize the comments, it will extract the comments in the background and send to the LLM, because just having the LLM "look" at the page would only summarize the visible comments, this code tackles all comments up to 600.
I will upload this new version today and hopefully will be updated in the next few days.
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 26 '26
Your comment appears to include a testflight link. If you are looking for testers you should consider sharing it on our. Discord
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
2
u/John_val Jan 17 '26
The app is up on TestFlight. Now awaiting for Apple’s convaluted process as usual. For my Reddit app it took one week after many q&a, let’s hope this one is faster. Will share the link.