As a longtime Apple user who's also a Chrome power user, I've found ways to bridge the gap between Safari's seamless iCloud syncing and Chrome's superior extensions and speed. While Safari excels at showing open tabs across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac—plus syncing bookmarks and Reading List—Chrome doesn't natively support this. Fortunately, reliable extensions and tools make it possible without sacrificing your workflow.
These battle-tested solutions have kept my tabs and bookmarks in sync across devices for years. Let's dive in.
Nothing beats picking up where you left off: browsing on your iPhone or iPad, then instantly accessing those tabs on your Mac. Safari's Tab View makes this effortless, but it doesn't extend to Chrome.
Enter CloudyTabs, a free GitHub app that brings this functionality to any browser. It places an iCloud icon in your Mac's menu bar, listing all open tabs from iCloud devices. Click any to open in Chrome (or your default browser).
Download from the CloudyTabs GitHub page: Scroll to Installation, click Download CloudyTabs, unzip, drag to Applications, and launch. Instant cross-browser harmony.
Apple offers official support here via its iCloud Bookmarks extension in the Chrome Web Store. It syncs bookmarks from your iPhone or iPad directly into Chrome.
Note: This works on Windows (Apple nudges Mac users toward Safari). Ideal for iPhone + PC setups. Install straight from the Chrome Web Store.
Access iCloud.com services like Mail, Photos, and Drive anytime in Chrome—no Safari required. The Launchpad for iCloud extension takes it further, adding a toolbar icon for one-click access to Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Photos, iCloud Drive, Notes, Reminders, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Find My, and more.
For heavy iCloud users, this gives Chrome a real advantage over Safari.
On Mac, save links to Safari's Reading List from Chrome: Control-click the URL, go to Services > Add to Reading List.
Note: Viewing the list requires Safari. For full Chrome integration, switch to Pocket or Raindrop.io.
Read also: How to Use Split View in El Capitan for Split Screen Multitasking
