Opera first launched Coast back in September 2013, on the iPad. Although it didn’t make a huge impression on the App Store first time around, Opera is probably hoping its new version will be more popular.
The app has been fully reworked for the iPhone size. There are hardly any buttons onscreen; the app relies almost exclusively on gesture-based navigation.
For both iPhone and iPad, the developers have also added a new recommendations section called ‘Stuff we like’. It’s basically a collection of bookmarks for popular sites — which may help some users find some “interesting sites to waste time on”.
Importantly, this update also adds iCloud syncing of home screen bookmarks (the tiles on the main page of the app). With the app now being universal, this kind of syncing is really important for convenience.
Until Apple changes its policy, of course, the biggest hurdle Coast faces is that it can’t become the default browser on iOS. With so many apps already integrating with either Safari or Chrome, Opera will honestly have a hard time grabbing a portion of the alternative browser market.
Still, there is no harm in giving Coast a try — it’s a free download from the App Store.
