It’s the week for new features for Google’s iOS apps.
The Mountain View-based search titan released key updates to Google Maps and Chrome for the iPhone and iPad, bringing new features to both products.
After a prolonged absence from the iPad, Google Maps is making a triumphant return with version 2.0, which also brings a cleaner UI and a suite of tools to help you discover places you might be interested in nearby. Many favor Google Maps over Apple’s built-in mapping solution, and this update is just going to add more fuel to that fire.
Chrome for iOS just got an update that allows it to integrate better with other Google apps you have on your device. Now you’ll have an option to open a link in its appropriate app, rather than being stuck in Chrome. To make that a default behavior, you can tell Chrome to always open a particular link in the appropriate app, or you can just tell it to do so that once. Also, if you’d rather quickly view a Google Spreadsheet in Chrome rather than take the time to switch over to the Google Drive app, you can ignore the notification and continue as normal.
In a post to the Google Chrome Blog, the company also announced that it plans to roll out a new data compression service to its iOS users that should speed up browsing time. While details are scarce, it may be similar to the technology behind the Opera Mini browser for iPhone.
