Imagine a perfect Chrome browsing experience on your Android. We’re talking smooth refreshes, effortless searches, tabs that talk to you, and gestures that flow. It turns out that iPhone users already have all of this — and more — and frankly, we want those features too. Google, it’s time to bring your iOS Chrome app to Android, and it starts with these five features.
1 Effortless refresh
That pull-down gesture on iOS is fire
Pulling down on Chrome on the iPhone and watching that bouncy animation isn’t just satisfying — it is also incredibly useful. You can open a new tab or close an old one with a few swipes of your thumb. The bubbly animation seems almost organic, as if the browser is alive. There’s a haptic feedback, just a tiny little nudge from the back of the phone, to give you the impression that you’re actually touching the internet. It’s a beautiful thing.
On Android, though, Chrome’s UI is as plain and uninspired as can be. Pull down on the browser to refresh the screen and nothing moves. You’ll see a little spinning arrow for a moment, and that’s it. You’ll need two hands if you want to open a new tab, because the plus button is so far up at the top you’ll drop your phone if you try to reach for it (E.T. excluded).
We would love for Google to bring its animations from iOS over to Android. It shouldn’t be too hard, because other browsers have decent immersion on Android. We can’t understand why Google isn’t keeping up with its own browser on its own phones.
2 Reachability
Bring the search bar to the bottom of the screen
Our phones are mighty big these days, and the trend with Android is go tall and narrow. This makes our phones easier to hold in one hand, but nigh impossible to reach the top of the screen with our thumbs. Google Chrome on iOS solves this issue by allowing us to move the address bar to the bottom of the screen, where we can easily tap it one-handed.
There is no such option on Chrome for Android. Anybody using Chrome on a Pixel 8 Pro understands how difficult it is to contort your hand into weird positions to search for something. It’s not like it would be impossible for Google to do this. Many other browsers offer a bottom address bar, including arguably Chrome’s two biggest competitors on Android: Edge and Samsung Internet.
Thankfully, it seems a bottom address bar may be coming soon to Chrome for Android — at least in some capacity — as we reported a few days ago.
Chrome for Android could get a (very limited) bottom bar again
A new flag for a bottom-based custom tab interface was spotted, but it will only be available with links opened from the Google app
3 Clean reading
Reader mode should be everywhere
This one’s cheating a little, because Chrome is missing a reader mode on both Android and iOS, but Google should take some inspiration from other browsers and implement a reading view. Safari has an amazing reader mode that works with almost any website. Edge, Opera, Firefox, and others also have excellent reader modes for both platforms.
There once was a reader mode workaround for Chrome hidden behind a flag, but Google removed that more than a year ago. To be fair, there is a weird Reader View option that pops up randomly for some websites on Chrome for Android. It’s not for every site, and it certainly isn’t consistent. Google should get with the times and add a setting like every other browser has.
4 Background audio
Listen while you browse
You can start a video or song in one tab on Chrome for iOS, and then open a new tab and continue listening to whatever is playing on the original tab. This is fantastic for browsing the web during a meeting or when listening to a podcast. The audio simply continues in the background until you turn it off or close the tab.
However, on Android, you won’t find a similar option. You can start playing audio on one tab, but the moment you open a new tab, the audio stops. Considering there’s no downside to allowing background audio playback, we would love to see this feature make the jump to Chrome on Android.
5 Seamless gestures
Swiping between tabs just makes sense
You can swipe from tab to tab when using Chrome on iOS. Simply swipe your thumb along the bottom of the browser and the next tab in line will show up. Swipe back to get to the previous tab. This sure beats having to awkwardly reach up to the top of the screen, tap the tab box, and then browse through a grid of open tabs to figure out the one you want.
Which is exactly how you switch tabs in Chrome for Android. It’s a lengthy three-step process and trying to do it one-handed without dropping your phone is difficult. If anyone from Google is reading this, please bring the same swipe functions from iOS over to Android.
The path to better browsing
These Chrome features on iOS don’t just make it a better browser — they leave leave Android users wanting more. There’s lots about Chrome on iOS that makes it slicker, more intuitive, and more user-friendly. Whether it’s the pull-down refresh or background audio tabs, or simple gesture swiping to switch tabs, Chrome for Android is seriously lacking. Google should bridge this gap and give us the Chrome browser we deserve.
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