Tag: Chrome

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.

Google Photos is the latest Google service to receive a Progressive Web App treatment.  With the release of Chrome 67, you can now install Photos onto your Windows, MacOS or Linux computer and have an app-like experience in a web page.

For those that are new to Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs, they are web-based versions of an app but they act like a full fledge version of that app.  The idea is to get a touch friendly app experience without having to actually install anything.

Following the release of the Chrome 67 update for desktops, the Chrome for Android update has now too been updated to the latest build of Chrome.  Build 67.0.3396.68 was released earlier today and it will take a few days for everyone’s Play Store account to be updated so it can be downloaded.

The update brings a lot of security fixes and overall improvements to the browser along with a new generic sensor API which adds gyroscope support for augmented reality as well as the new Credentials Management API.  Of course, on the desktop version, the bigger news was the full fledged support of Progressive Web Apps in Chrome.

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.

Last week I posted about the new Chrome for Android beta app.  Unlike other beta programs in the Play Store, anyone can actually download the beta version of Chrome to their phone and give it a try without having to sign up for a formal beta program.  The update brought Chrome 66 to the app and on the surface, didn’t bring a lot of changes.

However, if you dig into the flags within Chrome for Android, you will find a new Chrome Modern Design option.  Enabling this flag transforms the User Interface into a rounded, clean design that frankly makes the current Stable channel UI look really dated.

For those who have the Chrome for Android beta app on their phones, a new update is rolling your way.  The third Chrome 65 based build has been released, bringing the version up to 65.0.3325.85.  It is the third consecutive week that the beta version of the browser has been updated for Android.

Unlike other beta programs in the Play Store, there is no sign up to get the Chrome beta for Android.  You can download it here and install it on your compatible devices.  Like all beta software however, its not recommended to run it as your daily browser or deploy it into production as there are likely still bugs to be found and there could be performance issues.