Insight launches a customizable iOS browser with support for extensions
A#nbsp;new startup called Insight is#nbsp;bringing web browser extensions to#nbsp;the iPhone, with the goal of#nbsp;delivering a#nbsp;better web browsing experience by#nbsp;blocking ads and trackers, flagging fake reviews on#nbsp;Amazon, offering SEO-free search experiences or#nbsp;even calling out media bias and misinformation, among other things.
These features are made available by#nbsp;way of#nbsp;Insight’s extensions, some of#nbsp;which are suggested during the app’s first launch. Others, meanwhile, can be#nbsp;browsed inside the app, where they’re organized into categories like Search, Shopping, Cooking & Dining, News, Health and Reading. The browser can also make suggestions of#nbsp;extensions to#nbsp;try, based on#nbsp;your browsing behavior, if#nbsp;you opt into that experience.
One extension, for example, can block ads on#nbsp;Google, Amazon and in#nbsp;your social media feeds, like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. Another works with ReviewMeta to#nbsp;detect fake reviews on#nbsp;Amazon.com and lets you set price alerts with help from CamelCamelCamel’s price tracker. Others let you do#nbsp;things like enable dark mode experiences on#nbsp;sites that don’t offer the feature, check for bias in#nbsp;news via Media Bias Fact Check or#nbsp;watch videos in#nbsp;picture-in-picture mode on#nbsp;YouTube and other video sites.
In#nbsp;total, the company has around one hundred extensions already created, but it#nbsp;offers tools that allow anyone#nbsp;— even non-developers#nbsp;— to#nbsp;create their own, too.
Using a#nbsp;simple interface similar to#nbsp;something like the iOS Shortcuts app, users can define the conditions for their extension using basic "if, then" logic. For example, "if I’m on#nbsp;a#nbsp;page that matches this URL" or "is on#nbsp;this list of#nbsp;domains," "then also show this other page."
To#nbsp;make these sorts of#nbsp;features work on#nbsp;mobile took some creativity. Apple restricts what developers are able to#nbsp;do#nbsp;with WKWebView#nbsp;— which means a#nbsp;mobile browser can’t offer the same sort of#nbsp;extensions as#nbsp;you can find on#nbsp;the desktop web.
To#nbsp;work around this problem, Insight created a#nbsp;sort of "sub-tab" workflow where you navigate using swiping gestures. For example, when online shopping, you could view the product you’re interested in, then swipe over to#nbsp;see the available coupons, the trusted product reviews or#nbsp;to#nbsp;comparison shop across other sites.
When looking for a#nbsp;recipe, you could limit searches to#nbsp;only a#nbsp;list of#nbsp;your favorite food blogs. And because you can use extensions together, you could also block the ads on#nbsp;the food blogs and then swipe over to#nbsp;view the site in a "reader mode."
How this all works is#nbsp;up#nbsp;to you. It’s dependent on#nbsp;what extensions you have installed and enabled, and how they’re configured.
The idea for Insight actually arose from an#nbsp;earlier effort from a#nbsp;startup focused on#nbsp;building a#nbsp;custom search engine for doctors. The team had participated in#nbsp;Y#nbsp;Combinator’s winter 2019 session, where they developed a#nbsp;search engine that would filter out the junk medical content and other pages aimed at#nbsp;consumers from the web, in#nbsp;order to#nbsp;direct doctors to#nbsp;sources they could trust.
But things changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
"A lot of#nbsp;the users we#nbsp;had been working with, up#nbsp;to#nbsp;that point, were medical students. And when the pandemic came to#nbsp;the U.S., medical students and medical schools were shut down and a#nbsp;lot of#nbsp;the students were sent home," explains Insight co-founder and CEO Archa Jain. "Our user base disappeared overnight," she said.
The team decided to#nbsp;refocus their efforts on#nbsp;another idea they had been tossing around internally for some time.
"We realized that the problem we#nbsp;were solving isn’t medicine-specific. The fundamental problem was that the internet is#nbsp;just not one-size-fits-all. So#nbsp;we#nbsp;thought, what if#nbsp;everyone could have this ability to#nbsp;customize their browser experience the way we’re doing for this one population? They could really mold their browser to#nbsp;their own needs," Jain said.
That’s how Insight came to#nbsp;life.
Insight was built by#nbsp;a#nbsp;small team, including Jain, whose engineering background includes time at#nbsp;Google, Uber and Calico, and fellow co-founders Abhinav Sharma, previously of#nbsp;Quora, Mozilla Labs and Facebook, and Shubhi Nigam, previously a#nbsp;PM at#nbsp;Newgen Software.
The company is#nbsp;backed by#nbsp;a#nbsp;seed round of $#nbsp;1.5 million from Y#nbsp;Combinator, Heartcore Capital and Altair Capital.
Longer-term, Insight intends to#nbsp;layer on#nbsp;a#nbsp;pro version of#nbsp;the service on#nbsp;top of#nbsp;the existing offering available today. It#nbsp;also aims to#nbsp;bring the browser to#nbsp;the desktop, where it#nbsp;will work as#nbsp;an#nbsp;extension itself.
Since launching into beta testing in#nbsp;December 2020, the app’s top 10% most active users have been averaging over 1,000 pageviews on#nbsp;Insight per day, which indicates some loyal customers have perhaps shifted to#nbsp;using the app as#nbsp;their preferred mobile browser. Pre-launch, the app had also become the No. 1 most popular download for a#nbsp;time on Airport, an#nbsp;app store for beta products.