Category: Chrome for Android

The third Chrome 68 build has arrived for the Chrome for Android Beta app in the Play Store.  The app, which anyone can download and install on their phone, is now running build 68.0.3440.33.  If you already have the app installed, you should have the OTA update ready to install on your phone.

The focus of this update, as per the norm, is bug fixes and performance improvement in the browser.  As you may recall from the first beta release from a couple of weeks back, there are a slew of changes coming to Chrome for Android with Chrome 68.  A new horizontal task switcher is available, a new Home screen mini bar instead of a banner has been added as well as new identifications for non-HTTPS sites that you visit.

The second Chrome 68 build has arrived for the Chrome for Android Beta app.  Build 68.0.3440.23 is now the updated version number and it has been released into the Play Store.  If you have the Chrome Beta app, which is free and anyone can install, you likely already have the update installed.

As with most of these incremental updates to the beta app, this one is mostly focused on bug fixes and stability improvements as the Chromium team within Google, along with feedback from testers, continue to tweak the the build before it goes live for everyone in the Stable channel.

The Chrome for Android Beta app has been updated to Chrome 68 today, bringing with it the first real glimpse of what we can expect once it is released to the stable channel.  The build is 68.0.3440.14 for those keeping score at home and is already out in the Play Store.

As a reminder, anyone can download and install the Chrome for Android Beta app from the store and it can be installed at the same time as the stable version so you can check both of them out at the same time.

The Chrome team at Google has announced that starting with Chrome 68, the banner to prompt users to add a site to their Home screen will be changing.  Today, when you visit a site and are prompted to add it to your Home screen, it is a rather large banner.  Starting with Chrome 68, this will be displayed in a mini bar at the bottom of the display.

The goal of all of this is to eventually have an install button option on the omni bar in Chrome and this is a stepping stone to that eventuality.

About a week after the second Chrome 67 beta build arrived, the Chrome for Android Beta app in the Play Store has been updated with an updated build of the next version of the browser.  Build 67.0.3396.59 is now the version you will find when you install the Beta app for Chrome in the Store.  Unlike other beta programs, anyone can get the beta app by simply downloading it and you can use it side-by-side with the stable version of the browser.

There isn’t a lot to report as far as new features go in this build.  In reviewing the change log, most of the items mentioned are bug fixes or performance improvement updates.

Somethings things just don’t go as planned and Chrome 66 could fall into that category.  The update to the browser for MacOS, Windows, Android, iOS, and Chrome OS rolled out progressively starting in late April up through last week depending on the platform.  It came with an autoplay blocking feature that would prevent most websites from autoplaying audio and video content.  The problem is, it broke things.

Specifically, multiple reports came to the Chromium team about web games being broken after the update to Chrome 66 as well as some corporate web-based demos.  In response, Google has partially rolled back the feature with plans to reintroduce it later.