Chrome version 66 for Android has been officially released in the Play Store, and it’s packing a ton of changes hidden behind the chrome://flags menu, along with the ability to search through your stored passwords instead of leafing through them manually, and even export those passwords using the built-in Android sharing dialog. The flag-bound changes mainly pertain to the UI, while the password management menu’s new search option is enabled by default and mimics the one found on desktop versions of Chrome. Under the hood, some new policies regarding when pages are allowed to autoplay videos will now be fully enforced; namely, videos without audio, videos in tabs where users had tapped or clicked inside the site previously, and videos inside sites that users have added to their home screen are the only ones allowed to autoplay in Chrome now.
The UI changes are hidden behind chrome://flags/#enable-chrome-duplex and chrome://flags/#enable-chrome-modern-design. The Duplex option brings a brand new navigation option, wherein featured content in a given page lives on top, and a bottom bar can be dragged upward. This bar contains bookmarks and other resources. The modern design flag, on the other hand, enables a slight redesign in some areas of the browser with more stark white space, shadowing, and rounded elements, such as the address bar. These changes bring the browser more in line with what’s been seen thus far of a new aesthetic that’s been dubbed Material Design 2 for the time being. As bonuses, new audio and clipboard APIs are available for developer use in this version.
The UI changes seen in this update as optional flags actually mirror many of the changes seen in the beta version of this update. It would seem that Google did not deem the new UI tweaks fit for primetime just yet, and there’s no word on when they will be released. The fact that they are built into the app on the Stable Channel, however, is promising, even though they are hidden. The autoplay changes, meanwhile, have been a long time in the making, and now that they’re making their primetime debut, users won’t have to worry about annoying autoplaying videos with audio anymore, and webmasters may begin to rethink using such a jarring media strategy in the first place.
