Opening a web page in an app can be a painstaking process, but it might get a little easier with a new Chrome update for Android apps. The new Chrome M124 update adds the ability to open web pages within the program in a kind of picture-in-picture mode. This will allow users to switch between the app and the web page without losing the browsing session.
Google announced that the new Tabs feature on the Chromium Blog is for Android apps that use the Chrome Custom Tabs feature. It allows developers to offer customized browsing experiences within their applications.
The example given by Chrome developers involves clicking a link in the Gmail application, which opens a browser window. Apps that use Chrome-based mobile browsers like Gmail will have a new icon when the browser window opens. Look for a down arrow next to the URL bar. It is very minimal and easy to miss.
Clicking the arrow takes you back to Gmail but leaves a small window floating near the bottom of the screen showing the open browser. Click it and you can return to Chrome.
It is unclear whether the Chrome M124 update has been rolled out to most users or all users. We tried to test this feature on an older but up-to-date Samsung Galaxy S22 and the feature didn’t seem to be available yet. The Chrome Blog did not indicate when the M124 update will arrive on all devices. A previous blog from earlier this month stated that the larger M124 update will be rolled out to various devices throughout the month.
When the feature becomes available, it seems quite handy. The ability to quickly return to an app or browser without closing them or having to navigate around Android to return sounds amazing.
As mentioned, it’s only available in apps that use Chrome-based mobile browsers, but it would be a nice feature to see all over the place. Especially Samsung phones that use Samsung’s “Internet Browser” by default.