lifehackerlifehacker LifeHacker LifeHacker Application that allows you to browse the net with Apple Watch "µBrowser"

µBrowser ($0.99, ¥120 in Japan) is an app that lets you browse the internet on your Apple Watch.

Even if your phone is broken or you don't have your phone with you at the gym, you can search the web with your Apple Watch.

More than serious motives, I wanted to have fun trying out something new, and that's what led me to μBrowser (pronounced "microbrowser").

μBrowser is a fun and compact browser that does a pretty good job with the Apple Watch.

On the Apple Watch, you can access web pages from Siri's search results, but you can't edit the URL and it's subject to Siri, which understands your queries and displays appropriate results.

How to use µBrowser with Apple Watch

µBrowser is optimized for Apple Watch Series 7.

You can type using the built-in keyboard.

Earlier Apple Watch models forced you to rely on handwriting keyboards, dictation, and bookmarked links.

But the quickest way to open various websites is μBrowser's iPhone companion app, which allows you to bookmark your favorite URLs and access them in the Apple Watch app.

You may not want to use μBrowser on your Apple Watch as an alternative to Safari or Google Chrome browsers on your iPhone, but μBrowser can open websites like Lifehacker.com without issue and will be available in 2021. You can also read longer articles like our article on the best Chrome extensions of the year.

The font size is a little small, but it's big enough considering the size of the Apple Watch screen.

Limitations when using µBrowser on watchOS

Unfortunately, µBrowser prompts you to "sign in" every time you load a website.

Users have to keep tapping 'Continue' to access the website even though they are not signed in to anything. This app uses the watchOS authentication flow (as stated in the app description), which forces this dialog to appear.

During initial setup, you will see a page stating that this restriction will be lifted whenever Apple allows developers to do so.

In addition, it may not work well on pages that use a lot of Javascript. Such pages may reload automatically, and elements such as video embeds and images may not load correctly.

Also, there is no "back" button. With this app, you have to start browsing anew each time.

It's not a typical browsing experience at all, but it still works.

It's only about $1 and may come in handy someday. Besides, isn't it fun to discover new things you can do with your Apple Watch?

Source: App Store