Chrome 64 rolled out to Android last month with features like sitewide audio muting and most recently an ad blocker. However, the browser also quietly gained a convenient little feature that automatically shortens URLs and converts them to their non-mobile version when sharing.
Google announced last year that Chrome would incorporate an ad blocker in order to improve the browsing experience on the web. Ahead of its launch tomorrow, the company has shared some of its technical details, as well as the UI ends users will see.
Following updates to Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux last week, version 64 is now rolling out to Chrome OS. In addition to several browser enhacements, Chromebooks add a new screenshot shortcut and a number of changes for Android apps.
Chrome 64 is rolling out to Mac, Windows, and Linux today with mitigations to reduce the impact of the Meltdown and Spectre CPU vulnerabilities. In addition to developer changes and other security fixes, there are a bevy of new features for users, including an improved pop-up blocker and sitewide audio muting.
For the second release in a row, the stable version of Chrome 64 is first rolling out to Android, instead of Mac, Windows, and Linux. Key feature in this release, besides security mitigations and bug fixes, include limiting malicious auto redirects and sitewide audio muting.
With version 63 rolling out on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Android, Chrome 64 is now in the beta channel. End users will particularly benefit from a stronger pop-up blocker, sitewide audio muting, and an assortment of other features, including those on Chrome OS.
Rolling out today, version 63 of Google Chrome includes a number security enhancements for enterprise users. Site Isolation allows pages to be rendered in a separate process, while TLS 1.3 is now enabled on Gmail. Google also announced other upcoming security features for the year ahead.
Google has done a lot to make Chrome OS better suited for the arrival of Android apps, from the design of the app drawer to other things like notifications. Now, Google is changing how to take a screenshot on Chrome OS by pulling from Android.
Back in August, Google began working on a split screen mode for Chrome OS devices in tablet mode. It addresses a primary complaint on touchscreen Chromebooks and is now nearing release. No longer requiring a shell command to enable, “Split view” is now available as a regular flag in the Chrome OS Dev Channel.
In recent versions, Chrome has implmented various measures to increase security and ensure a good user experience, like preventing content from autoplaying. The latest defends against malicious redirect behavior and will be rolling out in the coming months.
Autoplaying video or audio on the web can be convenient at times and very frustrating at others. To improve the experience, upcoming versions of Google Chrome will make “autoplay more consistent with user expectations” and give more controls for audio.