µBrowser: Watch Web Browser 17+

Enhancement

This app is great but there’s some problems that I feel like take it out of its price value, first is the big x when the search is opened, whenever I search something and the website shows up there’s a big x in the corner that just takes up space and I feel like it’s useless and even if u scroll up it doesn’t go away, second thing is the search engine I don’t really see why I’m limited to duckduckgo because I really hate it and having other search engines would’ve been really helpful

Developer Response ,

Hi Kor0zz,

Thanks a lot for your honest feedback – I really appreciate it! You’re right about the “X” button taking up space. Unfortunately, it’s part of a system view provided by watchOS, so I can’t remove or change it directly. I’ve already submitted feedback to Apple and hope they’ll improve this in the future.

As for the search engine: I started with DuckDuckGo for its simplicity and privacy focus, but I totally understand that it’s not everyone’s favorite. I’m looking into adding options for other search engines in a future update.

If you have any other ideas or run into more issues, feel free to contact me anytime!

– Arno

Only bought it today but so far am impressed

Ubrowser works quite well seeing as the Apple Watch doesn’t have its own browser. There’s WebKit, but it’s got quite a few limitations. Ubrowser has limitations as wel, but I’ll discuss those soon. It’s not lightning fast like Safari on iPhone, but that isn’t that much of an issue. Websites are surprisingly scaled properly to the watch, so everything is readable and the buttons are large enough to press. Overall, it’s quite nice.

Now for the limitations, however. My main issue is that you cannot sign in on websites. I tried to go to Google chat and the sign in page repeatedly loaded and reloaded when I tried to sign in. Video playback also doesn’t work, although the browser recognizes a video. This isn’t a huge issue, but still a little annoying.

Should you buy it? Here’s my verdict, after a day of use: Yes, you should. It’s only $1 (for me), and for that dollar you get an almost fully-functional web browser (the only downsides being what I listed above). The companion app on your iPhone makes it easy to add bookmarks for sites you visit regularly. Duck-Duck-Go is not as fast, nor as smart as Google, but it still comes up with relevant results.

Great for the price

microBrowser obviously won't replace iOS Safari, and for me, honestly, it's more of a novelty than something I expect to seriously use very often, at this point.

That said, it works suprisingly well on many sites - especially on the larger screen AW Series 7. It's best for sites that don't require much interaction.

If your Watch has an internet connection via WiFi or Cellular, you don't need to have your iPhone with you to use microBrowser. This can be handy if you're jogging without your iPhone, or if you forgot to bring your iPhone with you.

Regarding my "novelty value" comment. That's how I felt about much of the Apple Watch functionality when I got my first Watch, a Series 3. I thought it was super cool to have essentially a tiny computer on my wrist that I could use to check my messages, see a few news headlines, get a quick overview of the weather, etc. But I never really relied on that early Watch, except for fitness tracking. But the Watch models of at least the past 2 years are far more capable, faster, and have bigger screens than the Series 3 - and they are far more useful in their own right.

I don't regret buying that Series 3, and I absolutely don't regret buying microBrowser for 99 cents. I've already had way more fun with it than with most 99 cent games I've purchased. And I do see myself using it occasionally to check some of my favorite websites when I'm on the go.