However, if you find yourself in these apps when you would rather be in Google’s apps, all you need to do is shift your focus to using the Chrome and Gmail apps instead. Mobile Safari is a great browser, and the Mail app is very solid too. So, all that is left to do is to wean yourself off some of Apple’s default apps. Clicking that, allows you to choose a Google iOS app to open something that may normally be opened by Safari or the Mail app.

If you navigate to the Settings in Gmail or Chrome, you will find a menu option called Google Apps. Found an interesting link in Google+? Tap the share arrow, and you can open it in Chrome.Īpple doesn’t allow you to set default apps on the iPad, so how is this possible? Well, it is all down to a bit of clever engineering from Google. Clicking the link inside of Gmail will open the file in the Drive app, instead of Safari. The same applies for links that lead to a file in Drive. For instance, it you click on an email link while inside Chrome, the iPad will automatically open the Gmail instead of Apple’s Mail app. Whether you realize it or not, Google has updated its iOS apps so that they can talk to each other. It’s simple really, and there is no need for workarounds or even jailbreaking your device, because Google has done all the hard work for you. Today I saw a post on Google+ by Chris Betcher, a Google Certified Teacher and Trainer, that reminded me how to do just that. Well, you can, to a degree, and here’s how. If, like me, you are a Google Apps user who loves to use their iPad, you may have longed for the ability to have your favorite Google services set as the default apps on your iPad.

Open google drive on ipad