6 shape-shifting new Android browser powers

One of my favorite things about Android is how the platform is an infinity pool of possibility and power-user potential. No matter how long you’ve been using it or how deeply you think you’ve explored, there’s always something new and exciting bubbling beneath the surface and waiting to be discovered.

I was reminded of this delightful bit o’ nerd bait as I started digging into one such virtual gold mine this week — and that’s Google’s Chrome Android browser. Chrome is constantly being updated and expanded with interesting new elements, and some of the most intriguing additions of all are actually available to the curious among us well before they’re announced or in any way publicly promoted.

All you’ve gotta do is swim your way into the right out-of-sight channel, flip a secret switch or two to get the feature up and running, and then sit back and smile at the newfound enhancement you’ve unlocked for your personal Android productivity pleasure.

Before we dive in, allow me to issue a standard word of warning: All of these settings are connected to Chrome’s flags system, which is a home for under-development options that are still actively being worked on and aren’t technically intended for mainstream use. The flags system is meant for expert users and other similarly informed (and/or insane) folk who want to get an early look at advanced items. It also evolves pretty regularly, so it’s entirely possible some of the settings mentioned here may look different from what I’ve described or even be gone entirely at some point in the not-so-distant future.

What’s more, Chrome’s flags system has loads of advanced options within it, some of which could potentially cause websites to look weird, Chrome itself to become unstable, or even your ears to start spewing a delightfully minty steam. (Hey, you never know.) So in other words: Proceed with caution, follow my instructions carefully, and don’t mess with anything else you encounter in this area of the browser unless you actually understand it and know what you’re doing.

Capisce? Capisce. Now, grab your nearest snorkeling gear and Speedo (maximal skin coverage kindly requested), and let’s dive deep into Chrome’s latest unseen corridors.

[Psst: Want even more advanced Android knowledge? Check out my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to learn tons of time-saving tricks.]

Android browser power #1: Pinned tabs

Chrome has offered up the ability to pin a tab in the desktop domain for ages — and now, for the first time, that same feat is making its way into the mobile arena with a snazzy new tab-pinning setting for the Chrome Android environment.

Like with its desktop equivalent, pinning a tab on Android allows you to instantly send the site to top of your tab list for easy ongoing access. And once you get the feature enabled, it couldn’t be much easier to use: You just tap Chrome’s three-dot menu icon anytime you’re viewing a site and look for the “Pin tab” option that gets added into that main browser menu.

Pin a tab on the browser — now available on an Android device near you.JR Raphael, Foundry

Once you tap it, poof: The tab is pinned. And it shows up in your Chrome tab overview (accessible by tapping the tab number box in the browser’s address bar or by swiping downward on the address bar) accordingly.

Pinned tabs are set to stay in the topmost position, with a pushpin icon for added emphasis.JR Raphael, Foundry

Easy peasy, right? And enabling the option takes just a quick several seconds:

First, type chrome:flags into your Chrome Android app’s address bar.

Then type pinned into the search box on the screen that comes up.

See the line labeled “Android pinned tabs”? Tap the box beneath that and change its setting from “Disabled” to “Enabled.”

Tap the blue Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.

And that’s it: Once the browser restarts, the option should be present for you — and you can pin to your heart’s content.

Android browser power #2: A custom new tab page

Speaking of desktop-to-mobile differences, the Chrome desktop browser has long allowed you to customize and take control of your own new tab page — y’know, the screen that comes up when you first open the browser (or when you don’t have any other tabs open) — in all sorts of interesting ways.

But in the Chrome Android app, we’ve weirdly never had much of any real flexibility in that area.

Today — for you — that changes.

Check it out:

You can at last customize your Chrome new tab page — once the right out-of-sight settings are enabled.JR Raphael, Foundry

I’ve just enabled a series of new Chrome new tab page customization commands that let me tap a single new pencil icon in the upper-left corner of the screen and then edit all sorts of stuff. I can turn the site shortcuts on or off, enable or disable a bunch of different types of contextual cards that show up at different times, turn on or off and customize the Discover feed built into that area, and even change up the appearance of the page with a slew of nifty new theming options.

Chrome’s Android new tab page customization is filled with interesting new possibilities.JR Raphael, Foundry

Oh, and I can also add my own custom website shortcuts onto the page, too, and even pin ’em to the start of the list, if I want.

Custom website shortcuts might be the most useful new capability for the Chrome new tab page’s expanded form on Android.JR Raphael, Foundry

Ready to unleash all this awesomeness on your own Android environment?

Once again, type chrome:flags into the Chrome address bar.

This time, type new tab into the search box.

Look for the following options:

“Customize the new tab page”

“Customize the new tab page V2”

“Customize the new tab page for Most Visited Tiles”

“New tab page customization toolbar button”

For each of those, tap the box beneath the item and change its setting from “Disabled” to “Enabled.”

Now, change the search at the top to most visit and find the line labeled “Customize Most Visited Tiles” — and make the same shift for it.

And last but not least, tap that blue Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.

Once Chrome restarts, simply open up the new tab page and look for that pencil icon — or, with the website shortcuts, press and hold any icon in the list or scroll all the way over to the end of the list to add a new one — to get going.

Android browser power #3: The incognito split

This next one might be my favorite of all. If you ever have a moment when you opt to open something in incognito while you’re wandering around the web — to see something without any sign-ins, to avoid having a certain site in your history, or for any other 100% work-related reason that we won’t probe any further — you know how awkward it can be at times to have that site completely take over your Android browsing experience.

In many such scenarios, you’re probably just looking for a quick peek at the site before returning to your primary browsing path. And this next under-development Chrome enhancement offers a clever new way to make such a slice of sorcery transpire.

Once activated, anytime you fire up a new incognito window, it’ll open into a split-screen setup by default — like so:

Two tabs on-screen together — zero effort required.JR Raphael, Foundry

You can then slide upward on the divider between it and your primary Chrome session to split it off into its own full-screen interface — in which case it’ll exist completely separately from your regular Chrome session, as if it were its own independent app — or you can slide downward on that divider to close and dismiss it. Or, you can simply keep the two tabs open together in a split, in any ratio you like, to see and interact with both at the same time.

Here’s how to get this one enabled on your device:

To start, type chrome:flags into the Chrome address bar. (Starting to feel familiar yet?)

Type incognito into the search box on the screen that comes up.

Look for the “Open incognito tabs in new window” line and change its setting from “Disabled” to “Enabled.”

Tap the blue Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.

Then, just open up an incognito tab — via the main Chrome menu or by long-pressing a link within another page and selecting the option from there — and you should see the magic in action.

Android browser power #4: The incognito screenshot

Speaking of incognito intelligence, one of the most irritating things about using an incognito tab for actual productivity purposes (which, yes, some of us genuinely do!) is realizing that Chrome typically won’t let you capture a screenshot of anything within that tab.

It’s set to work that way on purpose, for privacy reasons, but it can be plenty irksome if you’re simply using the browser’s incognito mode to debug or look at a site without any of your standard sign-ins and settings present.

Now, you can opt to avoid that entirely, if you’re so inclined — and allow screenshots to function normally and capture the complete contents of anything inside a Chrome incognito tab.

Any guesses how we’ll get that done?

Hey, you got it! Type chrome:flags into that address bar again…

Then, once more, type incognito into the search box.

Look for the “Incognito Screenshot” option, and change its setting from “Disabled” to “Enabled.”

And tap that big ol’ Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.

After that, you can capture a screenshot of any incognito tab — using the standard power-button and volume-down button combo or any other Android screenshot capturing method you like — and your screenshot will be proper and present and no different from any other screenshot saved anywhere else across Android.

Android browser power #5: A simple summary shortcut

If you ever find yourself facing a dauntingly long online article that you really don’t want to read — not anywhere on this website or by this long-winded word juggler, of course — this next cup of steamin’ hot Chrome craftiness is precisely what the geeky barista ordered.

It’s a new way to add an on-demand one-tap summarizing shortcut right onto your Chrome Android address bar for instant access, anytime.

Just note that this one seems to rely on a server-side switch that enables an underlying mechanism to operate, so it may or may not work for you right away. You can always activate it and see, though, and if it doesn’t start working immediately, you’ll at least be set to see it show up as soon as the system becomes available.

With the option enabled, the “Toolbar shortcut” section of Chrome’s main settings gains the following new choice:

Summarize with one quick tap? Hey, why not — we’ll take it.JR Raphael, Foundry

And, if you select it and have the associated system fully activated, the summarize icon will appear at the right side of the address bar anytime you’re on a page where it’s possible to invoke it.

Let’s get there:

Type chrome:flags into that address bar to start.

Then type summary into the search box that comes up next.

Find “Adaptive button in top toolbar – Page Summary” and change it from “Disabled” to “Enabled.”

And tap Relaunch.

Then tap Chrome’s three-dot menu icon, select “Settings,” and select “Toolbar shortcut” to find and select your snazzy new summary option and see if it works for you.

Android browser power #6: PWA protection

Our final browser power-up is probably the least exciting but arguably the most useful — at least, in the right sort of situation.

First, for context: Progressive web apps are a special type of app you can install directly from the browser. They essentially run with Chrome as their engine but look and act just like regular apps — only with a fraction of the weight and resources required.

The problem, though, is that PWAs (as we’ll call ’em henceforth) aren’t treated as apps by Android. And that means they don’t automatically follow you around from one device to another and restore like more traditional types of apps do. It’s up to you to remember ’em and go back to find and install ’em one by one, via each of their associated websites, each and every time you sign into a new device or restart an existing one.

That, suffice it to say, is a massive pain in the patootie.

But now, Chrome has a better way. Halle-freakin’-lujah.

All you’ve gotta do is enable it:

One final time, type chrome:flags into that beautiful address bar of yours.

Type pwa into the search box.

Find both “Enable the PWA Restore Backend” and “Enable the PWA Restore UI” and flip ’em over to “Enabled.”

And — drumroll, please… — tap Relaunch.

Now, whenever Chrome detects that you’ve got web apps you might need to restore, it’ll pop up a simple prompt offering to do so — with absolutely no annoying web wading and manual app installing required on your part.

Restorable PWAs are finally a reality with the Chrome Android app’s latest under-development addition.JR Raphael, Foundry

Just remember that you’ll need to activate those same options on all of your devices in order for the feature to function properly and start detecting and suggesting PWA restores.

For now, it’s a peek into the future — and an enticing way to get a taste of something useful well ahead of most average Android-appreciating animals.

As a productivity-loving power-user, that may be the most satisfying feeling of all.

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