Given its large user base, Google has historically been very cautious about changing Chrome’s interface and layout. That said, one such change may be in the works in Chrome for Android, adding customizable toolbar shortcuts.
On Android, after Duplex/Duet was abandoned, the Chrome UI kept a toolbar with a home button, address bar, tab switcher, and overflow menu with many actions.
Google now seems to be rolling out “toolbar shortcuts” between the omnibox and tab buttons/counters more broadly. One of three actions can be displayed here: new tab (plus sign), share, or voice search (microphone).
By default, the button you see is “Based on your usage,” while Google offers “Current Recommendations.” New tabs and shares have been included in the overflow menu, while voice search appears when tapping the address bar. The first two actions can be considered critical to browser usage, and it makes sense why they should be promoted. In fact, the obsolete Chrome Duet bottom bar redesign puts these actions front and center.
That said, users can manually select the shortcuts they want, or even turn off toolbar additions entirely from Chrome settings (under Advanced, below the home button, can also be disabled). You can also get it manually with this flag:
chrome://flags/#adaptive-button-in-top-toolbar-customization
Toolbar shortcuts go back to Chrome 92 for Android in July 2021. At the time, it was rolled out to some people as part of normal A/B testing. It’s become more widely available in recent weeks, including after version 101 stabilized on Tuesday, but Google hasn’t officially announced the feature, and it could eventually be pulled.
This addition is a small tweak in the grand scheme of things (and could easily be overlooked/disabled), but it represents a significant UI addition to the layout of Chrome for Android. (The last one is Material You revamp, where the functionality hasn’t changed.) Google must have thought the button was a big enough improvement that users could roll it out.
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