Today, Opera announced an update to Opera One, its iOS browser, with multiple improvements to tab viewing, searching, managing, and more. Here are the details.
Tab groups, search, swipes, and more
Most iOS users fall into two main categories: those who close a tab immediately after they’re done with it (even if they’re bound to open that same website again in a few minutes), and those who never, ever close their tabs.
Opera is out today with an update to its Opera One browser on iOS, which will probably be very appealing to that second group.
On its official blog, Opera says that, thanks to today’s update, Opera One now surpasses Safari and Chrome in managing multiple tabs.
The update brings a completely redesigned tab management system, with a handful of interesting enhancements aimed at “bringing the power of desktop-style tab organization to mobile.”
Here’s what’s new:
New Tab Layouts – Grid and List views: users can now customize their tab layout by choosing between two distinct views. The grid layout offers a balanced organization, allowing users to see several tabs at once with clear visual previews. The list layout optimizes for quantity, providing a compact view that makes hundreds of tabs feel less overwhelming. Users can switch between layouts by tapping the leftmost icon in the bottom bar of the tab gallery.
Tab Grouping – Control the Tab Chaos: This option allows users to easily organize tabs into tidy, customizable groups for activities like planning a trip, managing work tasks, or comparing online purchases. To create a group, users can long-press a tab, select the desired tabs, and add them to a new, named, and color-coded group. This feature is also available on iPad, where it resembles the desktop Tab Islands in Opera One – giving users the best tab organization features on all Apple devices.
Tab Search – Find any tab instantly: For users struggling to find a specific tab among many, a new search function has been added. A search icon in the tab gallery’s bottom bar allows users to quickly find any tab by typing a keyword related to its title or URL.
Intuitive UI with easy swiping: The tab gallery interface has been redesigned for easier navigation. Users can now swipe between icons at the top of the screen to quickly access regular tabs, private mode, and synced tabs from other devices.
The new version also lets users customize the menu, hiding or rearranging options according to their individual preferences. It also places Aria, the company’s free AI companion, at the bottom bar.
It is worth noting that Aria isn’t the same agentic AI that powers Neon, the agentic browser the company announced a few months ago. As Opera explains it, Aria selects “the best LLM for a user’s query,” but doesn’t appear to have any agentic capabilities.
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