3 months ago, on March 23, I released Browsy, the smart fullscreen web browser to the world. And Today, after 3 months full of work, research, coding and testing, I’m proud to announce that Browsy 1.1 is now available on the App Store.
Browsy 1.1 is filled with a lot of new features and improvements that make the app so much better and more enjoyable. With the update, the app is no longer a nice addition to Safari, but a viable alternative. Like Safari, but without the Chrome.
Can’t wait to hear about all the new features? Then let’s dive right in :)
Safe and Sound
With Browsy 1.1, The app’s address bar has been bitten by a radioactive duck and is now known as Omnibar, savior of the web! With supersenses that allow it to search the web for search terms (with DuckDuckGo) and mind control to allow him to search inside other websites without going to those websites first (with DuckDuckGo !bangs).
I’m the translations manager for the Hebrew language in DuckDuckGo and their privacy first policy is a perfect fit for Browsy.
With great power, comes great responsibility. To keep your browsing 100% safe and secure, 1Password is now fully integrated into Browsy and allows you to fill in your passwords across the web and also create strong new passwords with just 2 taps, It’s Incredible. The 1Password extension is available in the Share button if you have 1Password installed.
Browsy’s URL Scheme has also been updated to use the new Omnibar, and by using this scheme:
browsy://?q=<Your URL or Search Term> you can open websites or search the web from everywhere. Here’s a Workflow app workflow you can use as either an Action Extension or a standalone workflow/button to use the URL Scheme from everywhere. Get it here.
New Pinboard Bookmarks View
As I promised when I announced Browsy 1.0, Version 1.1 includes a new Pinboard Bookmarks view. Enter your username and API token and Browsy will show you all of your latest Pinboard bookmarks. Currently the Pinboard view is only showing a list of bookmarks, but Search and tags are planned for a future release.
Keep Screen Awake
Browsy 1.1 includes a new “Keep Screen Awake” setting that prevents the screen from closing while using the app. This feature is perfect when you want to work on your Mac or iPad and keep Browsy open on your iPhone for searching something quickly, or if you are reading something at night and iOS keeps dimming or closing the screen for you in the middle. It’s been especially useful for me during the WWDC keynote at the beginning of the month. I couldn’t attend the conference physically, so I had the live stream open on my Mac and Browsy on the iPhone and iPad for keeping up with Apple’s news stream and tech websites live commentary.
Marky
Browsy’s unique Markdownify extension is an invaluable tool for anyone writing with Markdown on iOS. In Version 1.0, Markdownify was using heckyesmarkdown.com to turn webpages into Markdown. I worked closely with Brett Terpstra, the amazing guy that created Heck Yes Markdown 1, and I’m proud to announce that Marky, the API powering heckyesmarkdown.com is now residing at Sl’s Repository Ltd. I’ve been working on improving Marky and making it useful for more than just Markdown writing, so stay tuned :)
In-App Purchases
Another promise I made on the 1.0 announcement, Browsy 1.1 includes new In-App Purchases that allow users that love Browsy to leave a Nice (0.99$), Great (2.99$) or Incredible (4.99$) tip and support Browsy’s future.
All income from the new In-App Purchases during the 1.1 release week (June 28 - July 4) will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at Memphis. St. Jude are leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
More Buttons
With the new bookmarks button, I needed to find a way to maintain the fullscreen premise of Browsy. After trying a few solutions, I created Browsy’s new “More” button, a button that controls the visibility of all buttons (currently just the Share and Bookmarks buttons, with more to come), with a tap. The “More” button can also be controlled, hidden or shown in the Settings view.
I really hope you enjoy all of the latest additions to Browsy :)
You can download Browsy from the App Store for free here.
And as always, if you require assistance, have questions, ideas, suggestions, feedback or something to say about Browsy or anything on the website, feel free to contact me via email, Twitter or App.net, Thanks for reading! :)