Chrome 118 Beta

Chrome 118 went live in beta on September 14, 2023, and will go live in stable on October 4, 2023. Following the big desktop update with Chrome 117’s redesign, this release is concerned with tying up some loose ends and doesn’t bring too many features. One of the bigger additions is the native integration of passkeys on macOS.

What’s new in Chrome 118: Extending passkey support

• Chrome 118 upgrades Reading Mode with a Read Aloud feature

  Chrome 118 brings a new “Read Alond” option to the browser’s Reading Mode, significantly upgrading the small and kind of useless reading mode in Chrome that only lives in the sidebar. The button does exactly what you would think it does, and makes it easy to focus on the text you’re reading better.

  Google Chrome’s useless Reading Mode to get a useful audio upgrade

• Chrome 118 turns Material You on for the Read Aloud button

  Chrome 116 is bringing Material You to the desktop version of the browser, and along the way, some kinks are being ironed out. When you use the Reading Mode in the sidebar with Material You theming, the Read Aloud button stuck out like a sore thumb, only ever being available in blue. With Chrome 118, this is a thing of the past, and the button takes on a color dynamically fitting your browser theme.

  Google Chrome’s Reading mode could soon get a colorful splash of Material You

Chrome 117

Google Chrome 117 was released in beta on August 16, 2023 went live in early stable on September 6. It’s the first version to start rolling out more Material You elements to desktop computers, dunking the interface into a color based on your Chrome background. It also gives you more control over tab group syncing and lets you unblock third-party cookies temporarily, among other things.

What’s new in Chrome 117: Material You for your desktop

• Chrome 117 has a fresh Material You look on desktop

  After month of testing, Google has announced that it’s rolling out the big Material You-inspired desktop redesign to Chrome, starting with version 117. You may not see the change immediately, as it rolls out in stages, but once it’s there for you, the browser’s interface colors are dynamically pulled from your Chrome theme, which you can choose and customize in the bottom right corner of the new tab page. A similar update is rolling out to Chromebooks with ChromeOS 117, but since Google has full control over the OS, it is integrated much more tightly and works based on your desktop wallpaper.

  Google celebrates Chrome’s 15th birthday with a fresh Material You makeover

• Chrome 117 lets iPhone users move the address bar to the bottom

  Google Chrome for Android experimented with a “Duet” interface for a long time, which allowed you to move the address bar to the bottom for easier access without changing how you grip your phone. Years after Google abandoned this feature on Android, the company is resurrecting it for iOS, where you can enable a flag to move the address bar to the bottom. It should be noted that Safari has switched to this approach a few iOS versions ago already, so a bottom bar might be in higher demand on iOS than on Android.

  Google Chrome is letting iPhone users move the Omnibox to the bottom

• Chrome 117 is getting proactive about warnings for unsafe extensions

  Google Chrome wants to be better about warning you when you had an unsafe extension installed. When its automated tools detect a malicious extension in your browser, it will be removed automatically, which has happened before, but without a note on what was going on. In other scenarios, the extension may be left installed, but you will still be notified about changes to it. That’s the case when the developer unpublished the extension or when it was removed from the Chrome Web Store due to violating the policy.

  Chrome 117 is getting proactive about warnings for unsafe extensions

• Chrome 117 makes Reading Mode even more cumbersome to use and customize

  Chrome’s Reading Mode is frankly a joke, with it only available in a sidebar. That means that busy website design that you might want to avoid with Reading Mode will stay visible in the main panel. With Chrome 117, Google is experimenting with a way to make it harder to reach settings for Reading Mode, requiring more clicks to adjust things to your liking. 

  Google is making Reading mode settings slightly harder to access in Chrome

• Chrome 117 might make password sharing simple

  Google has been experimenting with sharing passwords for a long time now, and it looks like the tests are continuing. The company was spotted adding a share button to saved credentials, though at the time of writing, this button doesn’t do anything just yet.

  Chrome is experimenting with the option to share your saved passwords

• Chrome 117 might let you unblock third-party cookies temporarily

  Many people are blocking third-party cookies because of the privacy nightmare they present. However, some sites still rely on the technology that’s soon to be phased out, and you may have to activate them to get certain features to work. Chrome 117 is testing an option to allow third-party cookies temporarily, adding a switch to the crossed out eye symbol in the overflow menu that depicts that third-party cookies are blocked.

  Google Chrome is working on an option to temporarily unblock third-party cookies

• Chrome 117 wants lets you enable or disable tab group sync

  One of Google Chrome’s strength is its excellent cross-platform sync, allowing you to pick up a different computer and have all of your data, including passwords and open tabs, available at your fingertips. Google Chrome 117 experiments with adding one more extra point to the list of things you can toggle on and off individually: Saved tab groups. This will make it possible for you to decide for yourself whether you want them synced across different devices.

  Google Chrome will give you more control over syncing saved tab groups

• Chrome 117 introduces Privacy Sandbox features

  As the industry is moving away from privacy-invading third-party cookies, the advertising business is looking for alternatives to keep showing relevant ads. Google’s idea here is the so-called Privacy Sandbox, which moves the user tracking from cookies to the browser itself, supposedly only giving advertisers more broad key information on what topics they should show. Privacy Sandbox is becoming broadly available with Chrome 117, with third-party cookies soon to be phased out. 

  Privacy Sandbox pushes cookies to the back burner in Google Chrome

• Chrome 117 has a redesigned Chrome Web Store in tow

  While technically not a Chrome feature, the Chrome Web Store is a vital part of the Chrome experience as it is the place to go for extensions and custom themes. That’s why we’re looping in the Chrome Web Store’s latest redesign as a Chrome 117 change. The new look is more in line with Google’s current Material You design language, utilizing colors, more white space, and redesigned buttons to make the look match the current state of affairs on Android.

  Google Chrome Web Store gets its long-overdue Material You makeover

Chrome 116

Google Chrome 116 was released in beta on July 20, 2023, and went stable on August 9. There are a few key enhancements to the Memory Saver, a feature that automatically hibernates inactive tabs on desktops, but other than that, most other enhancements are behind-the-scenes things that you have to enable explicitly via flags. Here’s everything you should know.

What’s new in Chrome 116: Smoother scrolling on Android 14

• Chrome 116 adds more Material You elements to desktop

  Google has a big redesign ready for desktop Chrome in 2023 that incorporates a lot more Material You elements. In preparation for this, Chrome 116 now dunks more parts of the interface in the same color as the theme color you picked.

  Google is expanding Material You on Chrome Canary for desktop

• Chrome 116 improves Incognito screenshots

  It’s been possible to take screenshots in Incognito for a long time using a flag, but the problem with this solution was that it also meant your preview in the Recents overview wasn’t obscured. To combat this, Chrome 116 is introducing a new flag that allows screenshots but that still obscures the preview of the Incognito window in the multitasking view. This is made possible with a new system capability in Android.

  Chrome’s Incognito mode gets a privacy-preserving screenshot option

• Chrome 116 is making Memory Saver’s working more obvious

  In addition to the visual refresh for Memory Saver detailed above, Chrome 116 also gives you a quick look at how much MB you’ve saved with the feature when you hover over an inactive tab. It’s a neat way to give you that info without having to open the tab again, which defeats the purpose of Memory Saver in the first place.

  Google Chrome wants to make Memory Saver’s effect clearer

• Chrome 116 is giving Memory Saver and the media player a visual refresh

  Google Chrome’s media player has become incredibly powerful, allowing you to turn on live-generated captions for any content you might want to see. To give you more control over the feature, a fully redesigned media player gives you quick access to settings. In that same vein, the Memory Saver has been updated with new visuals that make it clearer if the amount of memory you saved is a lot or not.

  Google is giving Chrome’s Memory saver and media controls a visual refresh

• Chrome 116 is adding Google Maps shortcuts to the address bar

  When you search for a business on Google Chrome, you might just want to get to the juicy bits quickly. Google Chrome 116 experiments with an option for that for some people, putting links to reviews, directions, and the phone number right in the auto-complete suggestions when you start searching. This should make it easier for you to find the information you need with even fewer taps.

  Google Chrome is testing a way to jump straight to the juicy bits about a business

• Chrome 116 combines Windows 11’s Mica effect with Material You

  You would think that Google’s Material You design language and Windows 11’s translucent Mica effect might clash, but it looks like Google has found an elegant solution to make its browser appear as a first-class citizen on Windows without losing its signature design. Chrome 116 is testing a translucent Mica background on the app bar and inactive tabs while it uses Google Chrome’s signature colors for the active tab and the address bar. Google started experimenting with Mica in Chrome 115, but it looks like this will only go live in Chrome 116.

  Google Chrome mashes together translucency and Material You on Windows

• Chrome 116 rolls out permanent search side panel

  Chrome 116 wants to make it easier for you to jump back into your Google Search session. It achieves that with a new side search panel that you can open with a click on a new Google logo in the right of the browser bar. When you don’t have an active search in it, you can use it to quickly drag and drop an image or term from the main website that you would like to look up on Google Search.

  Why search the old way when Chrome 116 lets you sidestep to success?

• Chrome 116 rolls out permanent search side panel

  Chrome 116 wants to make it easier for you to jump back into your Google Search session. It achieves that with a new side search panel that you can open with a click on a new Google logo in the right of the browser bar. When you don’t have an active search in it, you can use it to quickly drag and drop an image or term from the main website that you would like to look up on Google Search.

  Why search the old way when Chrome 116 lets you sidestep to success?

• Chrome 116 rolls out Google’s AI Search Experience website summaries

  Google wants to make it easier to understand the gist of long articles (yes, the irony is not lost on me, maintaining this 10,000+ word resource). That’s where a new Google Search experiment comes in that automatically summarizes long articles for you. While not technically a Chrome feature, and you have to opt into it separately, it is rolling out only on Chrome for now.

  Google’s Generative Search Experience is ready to share its page summaries

• Chrome 116 rolls out Google’s AI Search Experience website summaries

  Google wants to make it easier to understand the gist of long articles (yes, the irony is not lost on me, maintaining this 10,000+ word resource). That’s where a new Google Search experiment comes in that automatically summarizes long articles for you. While not technically a Chrome feature, and you have to opt into it separately, it is rolling out only on Chrome for now.

  Google’s Generative Search Experience is ready to share its page summaries

• Chrome 116 and future versions will get weekly updates

  Google only recently adopted a four-week schedule for new version releases, but you may not know that the company also brings regular security fixes to stable releases every two weeks. The company found out that some bad actors were fast enough to exploit this short period of time. That’s why Google is adopting a new one-week schedule for security updates starting with Chrome 116.

  Google’s kicking Chrome into overdrive with plans for the most frequent updates yet

• Chrome 116 and future versions will get weekly updates

  Google only recently adopted a four-week schedule for new version releases, but you may not know that the company also brings regular security fixes to stable releases every two weeks. The company found out that some bad actors were fast enough to exploit this short period of time. That’s why Google is adopting a new one-week schedule for security updates starting with Chrome 116.

  Google’s kicking Chrome into overdrive with plans for the most frequent updates yet

• Chrome 116 makes scrolling as smooth as iOS on Android 14

  Android 14 has a new API on board that allows Google to make scrolling in Chrome a lot smoother, with the company claiming that it can now reach iOS-like levels. Due to technical reasons, Chrome couldn’t use the same scrolling library as most other native Android apps, so it’s good to see the company finding a workaround for a better experience.

  Android 14 will make scrolling in Chrome as smooth as iOS

• Chrome 116 makes scrolling as smooth as iOS on Android 14

  Android 14 has a new API on board that allows Google to make scrolling in Chrome a lot smoother, with the company claiming that it can now reach iOS-like levels. Due to technical reasons, Chrome couldn’t use the same scrolling library as most other native Android apps, so it’s good to see the company finding a workaround for a better experience.

  Android 14 will make scrolling in Chrome as smooth as iOS

• Chrome 116 is making search on mobile smarter

  Google wants to make it easier to research topics and continue your browsing journey on mobile. The company has announced a new “Related to this page” section in search suggestions when you’re visiting websites, and new trending searches suggestions when you’re just starting to search. On Android, touch to search has also been leveled up with more suggestions.

  Google smartens up Search on Chrome for mobile

• Chrome 116 is making search on mobile smarter

  Google wants to make it easier to research topics and continue your browsing journey on mobile. The company has announced a new “Related to this page” section in search suggestions when you’re visiting websites, and new trending searches suggestions when you’re just starting to search. On Android, touch to search has also been leveled up with more suggestions.

  Google smartens up Search on Chrome for mobile

• Chrome 116 lets you easily copy video frames

  Google Chrome 116 introduces the option to copy individual video frames from YouTube and other streaming websites via the right-click menu. To access it on YouTube, you have to right-click twice in order to open Chrome’s own right-click menu rather than YouTube’s custom one, but once you’re through this hurdle, you can get going with it. The copy feature makes it easier to cite certain parts of a video without having to download the full video first and extract the frame in question.

  Google Chrome is making it easy to capture still frames in videos

• Chrome 116 kills the click-to-call feature

  A long time ago, Google introduced an ingenious but apparently rarely used feature: Click to call allowed you to select a phone number on a website and then send it to your Android phone with your Google account on it, making it easy and seamless to call a phone number you find on your desktop. Google has removed this option with Chrome 116, citing low usage.

  Google Chrome’s click-to-call feature is dead, without a suitable replacement in place

Chrome 115

Google Chrome 115 came out in beta on May 31, 2023, and went live in stable on July 12, 2023. It has a bigger than usual gap, which is a regular occurence during the summer months when many workers are on vacation. The update adds some choice enhancements, like Google’s Reading mode, a more intuitive Memory Saver interface, and automatic upgrades from HTTP to HTTPS whenever possible.

What’s new in Chrome 115: Google’s Reading Mode is here

• Chrome 115 enables the Windows Mica effect

  Microsoft is modernizing its operating system, and third-party apps like Chrome can also take advantage of some of the new visual tweaks the company made. Among them is the Mica effect for windows, which offers a slightly translucent effect to the app bar, making parts of the background colors shine through. The effect is enabled by default for everyone using Chrome 115.

  Chrome’s tab bar is getting an eye-catching redesign on Windows 11

• Chrome 115: Stop Memory Saver for your favorite websites

  Google Chrome’s Memory Saver automatically hibernates sites that you haven’t actively used in a while, but this can be annoying when it’s a tab you would like to keep active at all times, like WhatsApp Web or Google Messages Web. That’s where Chrome 115 comes in with a new option in the address bar that makes it easy to exempt websites from Memory Saver. If you want to do this in earlier versions, you need to head to Memory Saver’s settings and manually add the sites in question there.

  You can soon stop Google Chrome’s Memory Saver on your favorite websites

• Chrome 115 makes Memory Saver more prominent

  Google wants you to know that it’s working hard to reduce Chrome’s memory footprint, and its Memory Saver feature is likely the signpost feature in that quest. That’s why the company is making it more prominent. Tabs that are hibernated by the feature will become darker and more muted to help you tell them apart from others, and a new Chrome flag allows you to tweak when exactly the Memory Saver is supposed to kick in after not touching a tab.

  Google Chrome wants you to notice Memory Saver with these features in the works

• Chrome 115 is rolling out more Privacy Sandbox APIs

  Google wants to replace third-party cookies with its Privacy Sandbox, which is supposedly a less intrusive way to track users to give them targeted advertisement (the name is certainly misleading). In Chrome 115, the company is rolling out a few more APIs for developers and some controls for users, making it easier to manage which data websites and advertisers are allowed to use.

  Google inches closer to replacing third party cookies with a fresh set of APIs

Chrome 114

Chrome 114 was released as beta on May 4, 2023, and launched in stable later that same month on May 24. It only adds a few enhancements to the Android version, but you can see a lot of progress being made for the desktop redesign, which is slated to fully launch in September 2023. 

What’s new in Google Chrome 114: Transparent navigation bar for Android

• Chrome 114 gets a new password manager UI

  Google’s Password Manager isn’t as fully fleshed out as the competition, but it does the trick. With Chrome 114, Google is rolling out a new both prettier and more useful interface that can also be enabled via a flag. The redesign makes it easier to autofill password, adds the option to add notes to your entries, and offers a better workflow for importing passwords from other managers.

  Google wants to make the switch to its password manager painless

• Chrome 114 uses Android’s transparent navigation bar

  Android has supported fully transparent navigation bars ever since the company switched to gesture navigation, but so far, only a handful of apps are taking advantage of that. Chrome 114 can be counted among them, at least when you enable a flag and if you’re okay with a visual bug that makes part of the website’s top disappear when you scroll.

  Chrome 114 finally has a transparent navigation bar on Android

• Chrome 114: Reading Mode

  Google is finally adding a native reading mode to Chrome, a staple feature long offered by competitors like Safari and Firefox. The addition was announced with much fanfare, but we’re skeptical how well the feature is implemented. Unlike other browsers, the reading mode will sit in a sidebar in Chrome, meaning that the original website and potentially distracting ads and video content will still be in your view. It’s also rather hard to access, buried in a two-step menu.

  Chrome’s upcoming Reading Mode looks nothing like the others

• Chrome 114 is putting Google Password Manager in a more prominent spot

  Google has started pushing its own password manager hard in recent months, with new features like notes and better encryption quickly being added. With Chrome 114, the company is exploring a new, more prominent placement of the password manager in the overflow menu. This makes it faster to access in case you ever need to copy and paste credentials or change anything.

  Google really wants you to store your passwords in Chrome

• Chrome 114 is starting the journey to lock-less HTTPS pages

  Ever since HTTPS websites were launched, they were marked with a lock icon depicting that they offer an encrypted connection. As almost all websites these days are HTTPS-encrypted these days, the symbol is losing its meaning, and many people aren’t even sure what exactly it stands for. That’s why Google is retiring the lock in Chrome, with version 114 making the first step. The lock is instead replaced with a settings toggles icon that makes it clearer that you can tap that button.

  Google is trying to get rid of Chrome’s HTTPS lock icon again

• Chrome 114 is testing a new single-row layout for shortcuts on desktops

  Google Chrome’s new tab page has been virtually unchanged for years on desktops, but Google is exploring some tweaks. Chrome 114 offers flags that make it possible to show your shortcuts in a single row rather than two rows. It’s unclear if this experiment is moving forward anytime soon, though.

  Google Chrome is testing a new single-row layout for shortcuts on desktop

• Chrome 114 is adding a cleaner download experience on desktops

  Google Chrome is adding a new, cleaner download experience that moves downloads from the bottom into a menu at the top, next to the address bar. One grievance with this redesign is the pop-up that shows you when a download finishes, taking up your attention and keyboard focus. A new toggle in Chrome’s settings is changing that, with no pop-up appearing at all.

  This new Google Chrome toggle makes downloads less distracting on your computer

• Chrome 114 adds a new background tab animation for Chrome’s big desktop redesign

  Google’s big 2023 desktop redesign is coming along nicely with changes big and small. One of the smaller changes is a new hover animation using your Chrome theme’s colors when you move your cursor over an inactive tab. It’s a minor but welcome addition to the new look.

  Chrome’s 2023 redesign is coming together with new hover animation

• Chrome 114 experiments with adding Pixel’s Live Translation feature

  Google’s Pixel phones are always on the cutting edge of software features that often take months or years to come to more devices. Chrome 114 is experimenting with one such feature called Live Translate. While Chrome already offers automatically generated subtitles for audio and video content playing on the web, the next step the company is experimenting with is Live Translate. This automatically translates audio from one language to another and displays the translated text in a subtitle.

  The Pixel’s Live Translate feature could soon come to Google Chrome on desktop

• Chrome 114 has some love for iOS

  Google may not be able to use its own browser engine on iOS, but some people still prefer its look and feel over what Safari itself provides. Google is offering a few new features for these folks, including better Lens, Maps, Calendar, and translation integrations.

  Google’s got plenty of Chrome love to go around with new features for iOS

Chrome 113

Google released Chrome 113 in beta on April 6, 2023 and published it to everyone in stable on May 2, 2023. The version is jam-packed with new features that add quality-of-life improvements, along with laying further groundwork for the big 2023 desktop redesign. Read on below to find out more.

What’s new in Chrome 113

• Chrome 113: Autofill items are easier to clear

  As you use Chrome, your autofill suggestions for fields on websites may have become sheer unusable depending on how many different things you fill in on a regular basis. That’s where a tweak that Google is testing in Chrome 113 might come in handy. With the right flag enabled, a trash can icon appears next to individual autofill items, making it easy to clear out the suggestions you no longer need.

  Chrome’s autofill history is getting easier to clear

• Chrome 113: Add notes right to websites

  Chrome is working on an option to add notes to a website. A new Chrome flag adds an option to the context menu for taking notes on a website. Clicking this opens a sidebar that lets you collect thoughts about an article or anything else really. Right now, you can’t annotate specific parts of websites, though, so the feature is clearly still in early stages.

  Forget bookmarks — Chrome now lets you jot down notes in the margins

• Chrome 113: More toolbar shortcuts for Android

  Chrome on Android has offered an extra customizable item in the toolbar for a while now, giving you access to a feature you often use right next to your address bar. Two new options are joining the existing features: Translate and Add to bookmarks. On Chrome 113, you still need to activate flags to force these options to appear, but once you have access to them, they will either appear automatically based on your usage or when you specifically select them.

  Chrome’s toolbar shortcut is getting some handy new features

• Chrome 113 lets you easily delete the last 15 minutes of browsing history

  If you’ve caught yourself researching or watching something that you wish you had only looked at in incognito, Chrome might have a solution for you. After activating a flag on Chrome 113, it’s possible to delete the last 15 minutes of browsing from your history, including cache, cookies, and more with a shortcut in the overflow menu next to the address bar.

  Quickly delete the last 15 minutes of your browsing history with Google Chrome’s latest feature

• Chrome 113 lets you temporarily disable all extensions

  Certain Chrome extensions (yes, we’re talking about ad blockers here) sometimes break websites. You can usually work around the problem by opening the website in question in an incognito tab, which doesn’t load your extensions by default. To remove this extra step, Google is working on a shortcut in the toolbar that lets you quickly disable all extensions on the tab you’re currently visiting. This can be activated in Chrome 113 using a feature flag.

  Google Chrome extensions won’t break your favorite websites anymore

• Chrome 113 is making a new web app installation prompt more widely known

  Installing web apps isn’t always a pretty experience, especially when compared to Android apps from the Play Store. That’s why Google is making clear to developers that they can offer additional information about their service right in the system installation prompt. On Android, the new design looks right in line with Play Store overlays, giving you screenshots, a short description, and more right in the installation prompt.

  Google Chrome web app installs get new Play Store-like design

• Chrome 113 is introducing a new look for Android foldables and tablets

  Google Chrome’s big screen interface is getting a little long in the tooth on Android, and Chrome 113 changes that. Rolling out to some people and available as a flag for those who are impatient, Chrome 113 offers a redesigned look that gets rid of the cabinet-style tabs at the top in favor of a cleaner, floating design that highlights the current tab only. 

  Google Chrome has a snazzy new interface on tablets and foldables

• Chrome 113 is running a lot faster on high-end phones

  Google announced that it made changes to Chrome that allows it to run faster on high-end Android phones. On supported phones, Chrome now prioritizes speed rather than binary size, making the program take up more space on them, but also giving it better performance. According to Google, this makes Chrome up to 30% faster on the Speedometer 2.1 benchmark. You should definitely be able to notice that in real life.

  Google Chrome on Android just got a lot faster, but only on selected devices

• Chrome 113 offers a new system share sheet on Android 14

  Android 14 is making it possible for apps to add their own actions to the system share sheet, and Chrome 113 is one of the first apps to take advantage of that. Chrome’s new system share sheet collects all the usual extra capabilities in a new top row, like sending to your devices, copying the link, creating a QR code, and printing.

  Android 14’s new share sheet is live in Chrome Beta

Chrome 112

Google Chrome 112 was released as an early stable on March 29, 2023. It offers a handful of new features and preps some bigger design changes coming to the browser later this year. It also deprecates Chrome apps for good on desktop computers, which has been a long time coming.

What’s new in Chrome 112

• Chrome 112 lets you turn off the browser’s custom share sheet on Android

  Third-party share sheets don’t always provide the best experience, especially if you’re someone who relies on Direct Share targets like your most contacted friends and family members. With Android 14 prepping some solid improvements to the system share sheet, Google Chrome appears to get ready to get rid of its custom share sheet. Chrome 112 has introduced a toggle that lets you optionally turn off the browser’s solution, allowing you to rely on the built-in system instead.

  Chrome’s finally getting rid of its awful custom share sheet

• Chrome 112: Hints of big desktop redesign

  Every once in a while, software needs a fresh coat of paint. The same is true for Chrome, which has had the current design on desktop for quite a while now. As spotted in Chrome Canary 112, the company is about to make Chrome look a bit more in line with its current design guidelines from Android, Material Design 3. We can look forward to more rounded corners, a better separation between tabs and background, and new toggles.

  Hints of Chrome’s 2023 Material You refresh show up in Canary for desktop

• Chrome 112: New privacy settings for Topics API

  When Chrome 112 launched in Canary, a few people received a new settings pane that allows them to set up their ad preferences as part of the Topics API, Google’s replacement for the privacy-invading third-party cookies that are currently used for ad tracking and personalizing. The new panel makes it possible to tweak which topics you’d like to receive ads about and which websites are allowed to receive which details about your browsing behavior. The question remains whether this browser-based approach is going to be more private than the current system its replacing, though.

  Chrome is showing off new privacy settings for Google’s solution to replace cookies

• Chrome 112: The omnibox might grow ever so slightly with Chrome’s 2023 refresh on desktops

  Google has a design refresh planned for 2023, and it might come with a slightly taller omnibox. This would mean that the address bar at the top of the browser might take up a little more space on desktop computers, though if you don’t look at it side-by-side, you’d be hard-pressed to notice any difference.

  Chrome’s address bar could grow taller in Google’s 2023 Material You refresh

Chrome 111

Google Chrome 111 was released on March 1, 2023. It adds a few choice enhancements like a more powerful picture-in-picture mode and smoother transitions for web apps. An experiment in it also shows you how many downloads you’ve currently got active. Check out what’s new in Chrome 111 in the article below.

Google Chrome 111: What’s new

• Chrome 111: Number of downloads indicator

  Google is experimenting with showing the number of downloads that are currently in progress right in the address bar. This is a part of the download bubble in the top right corner which still hasn’t rolled out to everyone. When you have more than one download at a time, a small number will appear in the download bubble, indicating how many files you’re downloading at once.

  Chrome’s got the number on your downloads in latest UI experiment

• Chrome 111 API might make web apps feel more native with transitions that are easier to implement

  Google has been working on a new Transitions API for 18 months, and it’s finally going stable for developers with Chrome 111. The new API makes it easier to create transitions between different sections in single-page applications. It may take some time until web developers implement it widely, though, especially when their projects are already up and running.

  Chrome 111 beta wants your webpages moving and shaking with transition animations

• Chrome 111: The Cleanup Tool is going the way of the dodo

  Google’s Chrome Cleanup Tool was a boon back when it was introduced in 2015. It made it possible to reset the browser back to its default configuration even when extensions may have tried to override defaults. With extension installation not as simple as it used to be, this isn’t too big of a problem anymore. Google says that next to nobody uses the tool anymore, and so the company is deprecating support starting in Chrome 111.

  This once-vital Google Chrome feature is done for, but you won’t miss it

• Chrome 111 will remember if you prefer the desktop view of a website on Android

  Sometimes, the mobile version of a website just doesn’t cut it because it’s missing features compared to its desktop counterpart. Chrome for Android has allowed you to switch to desktop view for ages, but now, the browser will remember which view you prefer and always load the website in question in that view by default. It was already possible to do this in the past by heading to a specific part of Chrome’s settings, but now, whatever you toggle on or off for a website on the fly will be remembered.

  Chrome’s making it even easier to get the full desktop web experience on your phone

Chrome 110

Google Chrome 110 is the latest browser release to reach the stable channel, and it has a tweaked rollout schedule in store. Starting with this version, Chrome will roll out to a small subset of users a week before the full release in order to ensure that no previously undetected bugs have slipped through the cracks. As such, Chrome 110 comes to first users on February 1, 2023, and rolls out widely from February 7, 2023.

Google Chrome 110: What’s new

• Chrome 110: Tweaked rollout schedule

  Chrome 110 is the first release to launch with Google’s tweaked rollout schedule. Starting with this version, Google will seed new stable releases to random people in the public a week early to see if there are any lingering bugs that were missed in beta and developer testing. The majority of people will still receive the update in the usual cadence.

  Google tweaks Chrome’s release schedule to limit the impact of nasty bugs

• Chrome 110: All extensions could soon be deactivated at once on a website

  With Chrome 110, Google was spotted adding a one-click option to disable all extensions on a given website at once. While the work on this is still in early stages and not fully functional without activating some flags, it will sure make life easier when you don’t quite understand why a website just doesn’t work for you. It might also make it more comfortable to visit banking websites and the likes, knowing that no rogue extension could snoop on you.

  Google Chrome could soon have a one-click solution to disable unwanted extensions

• Chrome 110 adds notes field to Google’s Password Manager

  Google is turning Chrome into more of a proper password manager, and part of this is proper support for a note field. With Chrome 110 on Android, this is finally rolling out more widely. The feature allows you to add a quick note to your password manager, be it an extra security phrase or specifics about the login process that you need to store somewhere.

  Google Password Manager is widely rolling out a long-overdue feature

• Chrome 110 adds biometric authentication to Google’s Password Manager

  You may be surprised to learn that Google Chrome hasn’t offered to secure your passwords with your biometrics in the past on desktops, but this is the world we live in. Thankfully, this is changing with Chrome 110, which adds optional support for securing your passwords with your screen lock — which includes any biometric options provided by your desktop or laptop. This is pretty much identical to the experience you get when you access saved passwords in Chrome for Android. 

  Chrome finally adds biometric authentication to keep Password Manager secure

• Chrome 110 gets memory and battery saver for desktops

  Chrome is known as a resource hog, though things have gotten better in recent years. The latest features that Google announced for Chrome 110 are supposed to make things even better in low-memory and low-battery situations. The company’s new Memory Saver automatically suspends tabs in the background, reloading them only after you’re returning to them, much like The Great Suspender extension that fell from grace after a change in ownership. The company is also introducing an Energy Saver mode that’s meant to kick in when the battery is low on laptops, reducing or turning off options like smooth scrolling.

  Google Chrome rolls out long awaited battery saving features

Chrome 109

Chrome 109 isn’t the biggest release in recent history, but it offers a few choice upgrades. It will make it possible for banks and credit card providers to add a native purchase confirmation dialog to web shops, screen-sharing improvements, and preparations for a world without third-party cookies. The release went into beta on December 1, 2022, and was launched in stable on January 10, 2023. Read more about Chrome 109 below.

Google Chrome 109: What’s new

• Chrome 109: Material You on desktops

  Material You revolutionized how Google apps look on Android, and the company is now moving to get this theming system to desktops, too. After experimenting with a system-wide Material You theme on Chrome OS, Chrome for other operating system is getting a Material You Lite option, if you want to call it that. Instead of adhering to your system’s wallpaper colors, the Chrome interface will use the colors from your new tab wallpaper.

  Google’s Material You is spreading to Chrome for desktop

• Chrome 109: Synced tab groups

  Chrome has long offered the option to save tabs in groups, but it was flawed. While the browser can retain groups when you close and re-open it, you can’t move groups from device to device. This is changing with a new commit, which will add tab groups to Google Chrome’s sync mechanism.

  Chrome’s problem with saved tab groups is finally getting fixed

• Chrome 109: Previous search queries in new tab page

  Google is experimenting with showing previous search queries among your grid of most visited websites in Chrome 109. The feature isn’t live for everyone just yet, though, so it’s likely that Google is only testing it as one possible option to help you jump right back into research. The search shortcuts replace some of your most visited pages on your new tab page.

  Google Chrome is shoving previous search queries into your new tab page

• Chrome 109: Safety Check helps you stop the notification madness

  Websites are increasingly turning into proper web apps, and with that, more and more of them also gain the ability to send notifications. While you shouldn’t hand out the permission to bug you at any time lightheartedly, you might still find yourself with a flood of irrelevant notifications from way too many apps. To combat this, Chrome will now suggest you turn off notifications and other permissions when it detects that sites are sending a lot of notifications. 

  Google Chrome helps you reign in notification-blasting websites

• Chrome 109: Incognito mode is getting more private

  Google has announced that it’s adding the option to lock your Incognito tabs with your fingerprint or other safe biometric authentication. This option has been in testing for a long time, and is slowly rolling out to everyone now. The option was previously already live on iOS, but is only now coming to Android.

  Google is making Chrome’s incognito mode more private on Android

Chrome 108

Chrome 108 is chock-filled with quality-of-life additions. It lays the groundwork for the most promising passwords replacement yet, offers battery and memory savings on desktops, and more. It was released in beta on October 27, 2022, and came to the stable channel on November 29, 2022.

What’s new in Google Chrome 108

• Chrome 108: New omnibox design for Android

  Google Chrome for Android has a redesigned address bar and suggestions interface in the works. The new design will mostly only be visible when you tap the address bar, making the suggestions for it look more in line with how the Google Search app and the Pixel Launcher search looks like on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. It’s most likely that the redesign will roll out with or after the release of Chrome 108, where it offers the best glimpse at the new design.

  Google Chrome for Android has a snazzy new address bar in the works

• Chrome 108: Support for password-replacing passkeys

  Passwords have long been proven to be flawed given that there are little to no checks as to how often you can reuse them or how well they’re protected. To combat that, Google and other industry players are introducing passkeys, which are tied to your devices and much harder to hack or extradite. Chrome 108 is adding support for this, prompting you to create a passkey rather than a password on supported websites.

  Google Chrome 108 rings in the end of passwords

• Chrome 108: Find your bookmarks, tabs, and history with @

  Chrome 108 makes it easier to use the address bar to find specific items. When you type in @bookmarks, @tabs, or @history, you can filter results for these specific things only. This allows you to narrow down what you’re looking for rather than getting Google results, bookmarks, tabs, and your history mingled all together.

  Google Chrome makes it easier to search for tabs, bookmarks, and history

• Chrome 108: Google Password Manager takes the spotlight

  Google Chrome has long offered to save your passwords, but the company is currently working on making its password manager feel more like a proper solution that can compete with the best password managers out there. As such, the Chrome for Android password management settings entry now forwards you to the Google Password Manager, which makes for an arguably nicer experience.

  Google’s Password Manager has a new, prominent spot in Chrome 108

• Chrome 108: New price tracking shortcut

  Google is working on adding price tracking to its browser, and now, a new shortcut has surfaced next to the address bar for some Android users. On certain shops, you can tap it to have Chrome track prices and alert you when a desired item drops below a certain price.

  This Chrome shortcut could make tracking holiday-sale price drops a breeze

• Chrome 108: Memory and Battery Saver

  Google Chrome is known as a resource hog. Even though things have gotten better in recent years and months, the browser is still one of the most taxing programs on many computers. Google wants to combat that with a new dedicated Memory Saver feature, which reallocates resources from unused tabs for other tasks. This is supposed to free up to 40% of RAM compared to when you don’t use it. When you revisit tabs that were snoozed in the background, Google will reload them. The company has also introduced Battery Saver, which you can activate when your battery falls below 20%. It limits background activity and visual effects that websites can use.

• Chrome 108: Material You tests intensify

  Google is preparing to add more Material You elements to the Android version of its browser. The latest area to receive the latest Material Design look is the address bar and its search suggestions, which look a lot more like the Google Search app or the Google Pixel Launcher search. This is active on a randomized basis for users.

  Google continues testing Material You address bar revamp on Chrome 108

Chrome 107

Chrome 107 is bringing smaller changes to the browser, but they might be helpful for those who find themselves videoconferencing most of the day. This version of Chrome was released on October 25, 2022. It first launched in beta on September 29, 2022.

What’s new in Chrome 107: Better presentations in video conferences

• Chrome 107: Better functionality on Android tablets

  While this is not a Chrome 107 per se, Google first announced these changes shortly before introducing this version of the browser. The company is finally making the browser better on Android tablets, with drag-and-drop functionality for links and media, a better desktop view, and an improved tab overview.

  Chrome gives tablets some long-overdue attention ahead of next year’s Pixel Tablet launch

Chrome 106

Chrome 106 adds a few enhancements, but mostly only prepares the ground for new features to come in later versions. For example, it finally adds an RSS reader to the desktop version of the browser that’s been available on mobile for a while, but it’s still hidden behind a flag and not fully functional yet. Version 106 launched in beta on September 1, 2022, and went live in stable on September 27, 2022.

Google Chrome 106 is here: Everything that’s new

• Chrome 106: Incognito tabs can be protected with biometrics

  Incognito browsing may not prevent your internet provider and other parties from tracking you, but it does hide your history and your cookies from your regular browsing session. And soon, it may also be possible to hide your incognito tabs from other people handling your Android phone or tablet. Google has added a new flag in Chrome 105 that allows you to lock your currently open incognito tabs behind biometric authentication. The feature then went live in stable in Chrome 106.

  Google Chrome will protect your incognito tabs with your biometrics

• Chrome 106: Tabs within tab groups are counted correctly on Android

  If you pride yourself on organization in all things, tab grouping in Google Chrome is probably one of your favorite things ever (though if you turn tab groups off, we won’t judge). Then again, it feels like the majority of Android users end up opening heaps of tabs on top of each other without a second thought, and only end up engaging with groups by accident. Wherever your feelings on them lie, Google is now showing tab groups a little love, as it finally gets smart about how Chrome tallies them up. Tabs within tab groups are now counted by the little tab counter up top next to the address bar.

  Google Chrome learns how to count tabs correctly on Android

• Chrome 106: Foundations for a password-less future

  Passwords are an ordeal, so most people just use something simple like “1234pass,” knowing very well how insecure this is. That’s where Google wants to come in with passwordless authentication. Instead of a password you need to remember or fill out using a password manager, Google moves your credentials on a secure device, with an encrypted backup in the cloud. That way, you only need to confirm on your phone that you really want to log in to that website. This is still in early stages, though, and websites will only slowly introduce support for this.

  Android and Chrome take their first steps towards a blissfully password-free future

Chrome 105

Chrome 105 comes with a few neat enhancements. Developers can make use of a new picture-in-picture API, there are enhanced window controls overlays for web apps on desktop, and it is now possible to natively create custom highlights on desktop computers — neat for developers. Chrome 105 first launched in beta on August 4 and then in stable on August 30.

Chrome 105 is live; here’s what’s new

• Chrome 105: Google’s own root store

  Most of your internet connections are encrypted these days. To make this work, browsers and any other software connecting to the internet need a reliable list of trusted certificates that make it possible to exchange a key and establish a secure connection. That’s where so-called root certificate stores or programs come in. These stores offer a list of trusted certification authorities. Only if a website’s certificate is issued by one of those will it be trusted. And now, Google has announced that it will start shipping its own root store with Chrome 105 — much like Mozilla has always done for Firefox.

  Google Chrome takes Firefox head on with its own root certificate store

• Chrome 105: New install prompt for PWAs

  Progressive web apps, or PWAs for short, are great. They allow you to install certain websites right on your computer, giving you a native-looking interface with its own window and everything to enjoy using it in. First spotted in Chrome 105 Canary, a new installation prompt might soon make its way to a computer near you.

  Google Chrome is testing much more informative PWA install prompts on desktop

Chrome 104

Chrome 104 brings a slew of new features to the table. Among them is the revamped Privacy Sandbox screen in settings, further multi-screen enhancements for desktop, and video-conferencing improvements. It was first released as beta on June 23, 2022, and went live in stable on August 2, 2022.

Google Chrome 104 is live, here’s what’s new

Chrome 103

Chrome’s incredible release pace doesn’t show any sign of slowing down, and not even a month behind Chrome 102 going stable, we’re getting our hands on the new release of Chrome 103. This version adds a few notable improvements, but most of these are solely behind the scenes, focusing on enhancements to page load times and new tools for web developers to work with. It was first released as a beta on May 26 and went live as stable on June 21, 2022.

Google Chrome 103 is now available, here’s what’s new

Chrome 102

Chrome 102 is filled with new APIs and features for developers to play with, and that’s good—that means we will soon get even better web apps that can compete even more with regular native applications. Chrome 102 initially went live as beta on April 28, 2022, and then went live in the stable channel on May 24, 2022.

Google Chrome 102 is out now, here’s everything that’s new

• Chrome 102 for Android will give shoppers details on online stores they haven’t visited before

  It’s hard to be sure if a store you’ve never visited is trustworthy, so Google wants to make things easier by baking its reviews right into its browser. It’s experimenting with a popup that gives you quick access to Google reviews, and you can also hit the little site info icon on the right of the address bar to see the average rating.

  Chrome 102 wants to make you a more informed shopper

• Chrome 102 lets you reorder your tabs with keyboard shortcuts

  This might be familiar if you use Chrome on Linux, but you can now finally use keybaord shortcuts on Mac and Windows to reorder the tabs in your tab bar. To move a tab to the left or right, you need to hit ctrl+shift and page up or page down, depending on which direction you want to move the tab. On the regular MacBook keyboard, page up or page down can be accessed by holding down the fn key and hitting arrow up or down, so you will in essence have to pair ctrl+shift+fn with arrow up or down. Many Windows laptops will require similar workarounds, depending on which keyboard layout they offer.

  Chrome 102 lets you reorder your tabs with the power of your keyboard

• Chrome 102 lets you show your pride

  Chrome 102 was released at the end of May, which is shortly before June. That month is, of course, officially Pride Month, and if you’re looking to decorate your gadgets with various wallpapers, Google has you covered. We’ve already seen the company roll out some backgrounds on ChromeOS, perfect for decking out your workspace through June and beyond. If that’s not enough for you, Google has returned with new themes for both the Chrome browser and Chromebooks, all made by LGBTQ+ artists and reflecting their own lives and experiences.

  Show your pride with Google’s new ChromeOS and browser themes

• Chrome 102 has you covered with new features announced by Google

  Google Chrome may not change all that much on the surface anymore, much to the dismay of those who would love the browser to implement bottom bar navigation on Android. But the company is still working on improving and optimizing every little piece of code within it, and it’s always catching up with the latest development trends. Google has highlighted a few new machine learning-based features that it has recently introduced to its browser, like an intelligently changing toolbar button for Chrome on Android, improvements to the history-replacing Journeys, and better phishing protection.

  Google reveals the latest features rolling out to Chrome, including a small UI tweak

Chrome 101

Chrome 101 doesn’t feature too many new user-facing features, probably because Chrome 100 was just much easier to market for Google. We’ve still found a few bits and pieces in the release. Chrome 101 initially went live in stable on April 26, 2022.

Google Chrome 101 is live, here’s what’s new (APK Download)

• Chrome 101 is preparing for tab group saving

  Tab groups can be incredibly helpful when you need to research different topics all at once and want to keep things organized. But sometimes you have to take a break from that research, and then it would be handy to be able to save a tab group. Google is working on just that and is experimenting with tab group saving in Chrome 101.

  Chrome Canary 101 takes tab group saving one step closer to completion

• Chrome 101 will let you add notes to saved password

  You’ll soon be able to add notes to credentials stored in Chrome’s built-in password manager, with Chrome Canary 101 revealing a new field at the bottom of the password editing mask. This will make it easier to add additional context to your login details, like when you last changed your password or the answer to a security question you might need to reset your account.

  Google Chrome will soon let you add notes to saved passwords

• Chrome 101 makes a new shortcut in the address bar more broadly available

  Shortly after Chrome 101 started rolling out, more and more people noticed a new button to the right of the address bar. It automatically changes depending on which action from the three-dot overflow menu you regularly use, allowing you to either open a new tab, share the page you’re currently on, or start a voice search query. However, it’s also possible to choose which of these three actions the button provides by yourself.

  Google is testing a new intelligent shortcut in Chrome

Chrome 100

Chrome 100 is the biggest release in a long while, with a ton of new features in tow. Google likely tried to time everything to make the first three-digit version of the browser to make a splash, and it shows. The browser entered the beta channel on March 3, 2022, and went stable on March 29, 2022.

Chrome’s milestone 100 release is here with a new icon in tow (APK Download)

• Chrome 100 makes Google Lens much more useful on desktops

  Google Lens was integrated into Chrome a whole while ago, but it hasn’t been super useful on the desktop version. This has changed in Chrome 100, where you can now easily use many more tools, with options for reverse-searching an image, selecting text on it, or translating text.

  Google Lens for desktop Chrome just got a whole lot more useful

• Chrome 100 for desktop debuts the Privacy Guide

  Chrome has been working on the so-called Privacy Guide for a while, and now, it’s finally live. The guide runs you through a number of privacy and security options, telling you exactly which features are going to help protect you from which attacks, but also which data you’ll be sharing with Google when you activate them.

  Chrome’s new Privacy Guide helps you understand all the ways Google tracks you while browsing

• Chrome 100 is getting a new icon, if you can even spot the difference

  Google has decided that it’s time for a small facelift for Chrome’s icon, now that it’s been using the same one for eight years. You’ll be hard-pressed to see what has actually changed at first glance, but once you look closer, you’ll see that the shadows inside the logo have disappeared, and the colors are a just a tiny bit more saturated. The blue “eye” in the middle has also grown ever so slightly in size.

  Google Chrome adopts a new icon design for the first time in eight years

• Chrome 100 could make it easier to mute tabs

  Google is working on bringing back the old way to mute tabs on Chrome desktop. You’ll soon be able to hit the speaker icon again to quickly mute a tab, as opposed to working your way through the right-click menu. This should go live in Chrome 100, barring any further problems that crop up during development.

  Google Chrome is finally bringing back the good way to mute tabs

• Chrome 100 further refines the new download UI

  We already know that Google is working on a small facelift for its download UI, and this work is being intensified in Chrome Canary at the moment. A toolbar icon next to the address bar is replacing the good old download bar at the bottom of Chrome, similar to how Microsoft Edge (and Firefox and Safari) are doing things. Check out the images of it in action in our post below.

  Google Chrome’s experimental downloads shortcut picks up some slick UI tweaks

• Chrome 100 adds more Material You elements

  Google’s Material You design bases its colors off your wallpaper on many phones running Android 12. Google Chrome will now use these colors in even more places around the interface, like the overflow menu and the reloading circle.

  Chrome 100 gets more colorful with deeper Material You integration

Chrome 99

Chrome 99 went live in stable on March 1, 2022. It doesn’t come with too many flashy features, as Google is apparently holding back a lot of things for its first three-digit release, Chrome 100.

Google has released Chrome 99; here’s what’s new (APK Download)

• Chrome 99 for desktop gets a handy sidebar for bookmarks and your reading list

  While the bookmark bar on Chrome can easily be enabled and disabled on the fly using Ctrl+Shift+B (or Cmd+Shift+B on macOS), keyboard shortcuts aren’t doing the trick for everyone. As such, Google has added a handy button to toggle a new sidebar in Chrome 99, which allows you to access your bookmarks and your reading list with a simple click — all without losing any vertical screen real estate, too.

  Chrome 99 for Windows and Mac picks up a neat sidebar for your reading list and bookmarks

• Chrome 99 makes right-click reverse image search much more cumbersome

  Chrome has long allowed you to reverse-search an image by right-clicking it and handing it off to Google’s image search, but no more. The company has removed the handy shortcut in favor of Lens, its intelligent image analysis tool. For those of us who just want to check if an image is original and new, this is annoying.

  Google Chrome drops right-click reverse image search in favor of Lens

• Chrome 99 lets you uninstall web apps through Windows system settings

  Web apps, or PWAs for short (progressive web apps), are becoming ever more capable and behave more and more like regular apps on your computer or phone. On Windows, the boundaries between native apps and web apps is getting ever smaller, as you can now uninstall web apps installed from Chrome via the Windows system settings.

  You can now uninstall Chrome web apps through Windows system settings, but there’s a catch

• New downloads workflow

  Google is working on a new place for downloads, moving them from a bottom bar into a small downloads icon in the top right corner. It’s just what Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari already do, and if you ask me, it’s a much cleaner solution, making it easier to reach your downloads at all times. This is currently being tested in Chrome 99 and could arrive in stable soon.

  Google Chrome is trying out a new shortcut for downloads

Chrome 98

Chrome 98 launched in stable on February 1, 2022. It brings a few new features like smaller but better looking emoji fonts, improvements for PWAs, and more.

Everything that’s new in Chrome 98

• Emoji to take up less space while looking better

  Emoji are a staple of communication these days, but they take up quite a bit more space thang good old regular fonts. Chrome 98 wants to change that with a new font format called COLRv1, which makes emoji take up less storage space while still making them look less blurry when blown up to huge proportions. The format achieves that by not storing emoji pixel-by-pixel, but rather by storing shape and color definitions.

  Chrome’s emoji will soon look sharper and take up less space

• Built-in screenshot and editing features for desktop Chrome

  Google Chrome for desktop could soon gain a neat feature from its mobile pendant — screenshot edits. Chrome Canary version 98 has received an in-development option that will allow you to capture, edit, and share screenshots. Just like in the mobile version of Chrome, the tool will live in the upcoming share button.

  Chrome for desktop might get built-in screenshot and editing features

• Privacy Guide

  A new Privacy Guide has been added to Chrome for Android as a flag, which means that you can now test it out on your own phone. Privacy Guide will be available in the app’s Settings menu by going into the Privacy and security subsection. It’ll allow you to review different app settings, telling you the purpose of each and what you’re sending Google in order to make that feature work. If something doesn’t sit right with you, you can disable it right from the menu. The flag is available on lower versions than 98, but Chrome 98 is the first to add an interface and workflow for Privacy Guide.

  Google’s working on a Privacy Guide feature for Chrome on Android

• Journeys, new Actions, and Android widgets for Chrome 99

  Google announced three features rolling out to Chrome 99, a while after the release first launched. For one, Chrome’s new take on a unified search and browsing history, Journeys, is going live, allowing you to view recent searches and related topics all in one single overview. For another, the company has added new so-called Actions to the browser, allowing you to give Chrome a handful of simple text commands right from the address bar. The additions include “Manage settings,” “View your Chrome history,” “Share this tab,” and “Play Chrome Dino game.” Last but not least, Chrome’s new widgets on Android are finally available.

  Chrome’s not-at-all-creepy insight into your search history is getting even more useful

Chrome 97

Chrome 97 launched January 4, 2022. The release brought a few select refinements and improvements, but nothing too earth-shattering. There are some simplifications when you want to delete local data saved by a website, enhanced support for international keyboard layouts (yes, that’s a problem to this day), preparations for better HDR support, and some minor PWA advancements.

Here are all the interesting things we’ve found in the release:

Everything that’s new in Chrome 97

• Per-page zoom options

  Sometimes, websites just don’t scale well on mobile screens, and for those of us with less-than-average vision, this means squinting and relying on accessibility services like Force enable zoom. On desktop, there’s a more elegant solution that scales the whole website to make it appear bigger, and judging by a recent update to Chrome Canary 97, this feature is making its way into the mobile version of the browser.

  Chrome for Android might be getting this feature previously reserved for desktop

• Google wants to mitigate any issues cropping up with Chrome 100

  Some websites are only capable of reading two digits for Chrome versions (as in Chrome 97), but with Chrome 100 coming up, Google is looking into ways to prevent wrong version number reads. You don’t want a page thinking you’re using Chrome 10 when you’re really using Chrome 100, as the site might not allow you to enter for security reasons otherwise. Google will make it possible for Chrome to claim that it’s version 99 indefinitely until enough websites are updated to properly read three-digit version numbers.

  Will Chrome 100 be the next Y2K? Not if Google can help it

Chrome 96

Chrome 96 was launched on November 16, 2021. In the link below, you can find a high-level overview of all the interesting new changes we found, while we also offer deep dives into some special features in the collection of articles below.

Chrome 96

• Scrolling screenshots on Android 12

  Android 12 introduced scrolling screenshots to Pixel phones, but the feature initially didn’t work with Chrome. As of version 96 of the browser, that’s a thing of the past. Google has flipped a switch allowing you to catpure as much or as little as you want of a website.

  Chrome finally works with Android 12’s scrolling screenshot tool

• Accessibility: More languages for machine-generated image captions

  Google has added a few new languages to its automatic image captioning service in Chrome. It now supports Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, Indonesian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, and Turkish, bringing the total to sixteen supported languages. This was made possible by developing a machine learning model that can simultaneously translate the image caption into each supported language.

  One of Chrome’s most useful accessibility features is now available for more users

Chrome 95

Chrome 95 launched on October 20, 2021 and came with a whole slew of updates. It brought some Material You design elements to the Android browser and some interesting features for developers that help websites perform better.

Read our high-level overview for all the neat new things that came to you in this release.

Everything that’s new in Chrome 95

Upcoming features still under development

Since Chrome is based on an open-source project, we stumble upon documentation detailing unreleased features that either haven’t made it into the beta or stable channels just yet. There are even a few features we found that aren’t live in any version of Chrome just yet, instead just being talked about by developers. This is what this section showcases.

• Chrome 119: Intelligent tab organization

  As we spend more and more of our lives in our web browsers, Chrome wants to get better at helping us stay organized while we browse the web. In Chrome 119, a new feature could make it possible to help you manage your tabs. There is supposed to be a new interface that makes it easier to reorder, move, and bundle your tabs across different windows, tab groups, and other surfaces.

  Google wants to intelligently organize your Chrome tabs for you

• Chrome 119: Hover link previews on desktop

  Chrome 119 is experimenting with a new hover preview option for links, but it’s still in early stages right now. In the current test implementation, you can hover over a link to see a preview of where it will lead you to, which you will have to exit with an extra click. Google will likely refine the system over time, but once it works properly, it could definitely turn into a time saver. A similar feature exists on Safari for iOS, where you can long-press a link to preview where it will lead you to.

  Google Chrome for desktop learns a trick from Safari for iOS

• Upcoming: Chrome might soon get a double-click-to-close-tab option

  Microsoft Edge recently introduced a feature that lets you double-click a tab to quickly close it. The handy shortcut joins other power-user tricks that achieve the same like clicking a tab with the middle mouse button or Ctrl + W. It looks like Chrome is also exploring a similar addition, as evidence spotted in the Chromium Gerrit reveals. This is still very much under development, though, and it might take some time until it goes live.

  Google Chrome is working on a faster way to close tabs

• Upcoming: Chrome could rename Journeys to Groups

  Google is constantly exploring new ways to make it easier for you to continue your browsing sessions. That’s likely where a new development comes in that would rename Journeys to Groups. Journeys is a relatively new feature that groups similar websites and browsing sessions to make it easier to continue your search for, say, the best Android phones. It’s still early days for this experiment, though, so it might never come to fruition.

  Google Chrome might be saying goodbye to Journeys and hello to Groups

• Upcoming: Chrome could rename Journeys to Groups

  Google is constantly exploring new ways to make it easier for you to continue your browsing sessions. That’s likely where a new development comes in that would rename Journeys to Groups. Journeys is a relatively new feature that groups similar websites and browsing sessions to make it easier to continue your search for, say, the best Android phones. It’s still early days for this experiment, though, so it might never come to fruition.

  Google Chrome might be saying goodbye to Journeys and hello to Groups

• Upcoming: New hover link previews

  Safari lets you preview links when you hover over them or long-press them on desktop, and something just like that could soon come to Chrome. Rather than having to visit a link you just want to take a quick peek at, you will be able to long-press or hover to see where your journey will take you.

  Google Chrome might learn a trick from Safari for iOS

Chrome has a solution for sites constantly asking to prove you’re human

Google Chrome tests Material You theming on desktop

Chrome is getting a handy little popup tool for interacting with saved passwords

New Google Chrome update on Android gives you more control of custom tabs

Chrome 109’s Material You-style Omnibox redesign on Android is here to stay

Google Chrome for Android tests a faster way to sign in on websites

Google Assistant can now warn when you need to change your password, and even help you change it