When Google released its browser for iOS at the end of June, I came close to writing a glowing article after a quick test. A user interface that refreshed the iOS browsing experience dominated by the very conservative Safari. Bookmark synchronization across all devices (I was using Chrome on the Mac as well), the ability to access tabs open elsewhere, a unified address and search bar. It looked like a clear win.

I’m glad I put that article off.

Unlike Pixy, I found that even though I tried to use Chrome as my main browser, I quite often ended up in Safari. Whether because iOS doesn’t support alternative browsers, or because something in Chrome didn’t work for me.

Google isn’t to blame for the first problem — Apple is the one that should be repenting — but as a user I don’t enjoy it when apps send me to a browser I’ve decided not to use. That schizophrenia, where half my tabs are open in Safari and half in Chrome, really managed to get on my nerves.

But sometimes I came to Safari almost voluntarily. Chrome inherited one bad habit from its desktop version — it stubbornly remembers redirects, which has already cost me more than a few nerves during app development. With the mobile version, this got me into dead-end situations on hotel Wi-Fi networks.

Some of them implement login in such a way that, when you try to reach the page you want, they redirect the browser to a login page. Chrome caches this redirect and keeps performing it relentlessly even after a successful login. So I can no longer get to the page I originally wanted to see. And once again, I have to switch to Safari.

This and other small things gradually put me off Chrome on iOS entirely. But I didn’t want to give up bookmark synchronization between iOS and the desktop. I solved it by taking the path of least resistance — I abandoned Google Chrome on the Mac as well and started using Safari. iCloud handles bookmarks and open tabs too.

There’s an aura of IE hanging over Safari on the Mac (the idea that a browser built into the operating system is evil), but I have to defend it — in this case that’s not true. It’s a very capable browser with polished system integration — whether through support for touchpad gestures or its ties to OS X. For example, when I logged into Twitter on the web, it offered to add the account to the system’s integrated Twitter.

The only extension I can’t do without is AdBlock, and it exists for Safari in several implementations. So far I have no complaints about this switch.