Chrome for Android is finally ready to embrace this Android 15 change

Starting with Android 15, Google made it mandatory for apps to support the “edge-to-edge” layout, allowing content to extend behind the status and navigation bars, as typically seen in e-book readers and video players. However, this was only a soft requirement, which developers could opt out of. Given that Google announced this change, you’d expect its own apps to follow the guidelines. However, that was not the case with Chrome — one of Google’s most popular Android apps — which lacked support for the edge-to-edge layout. Chrome 135 will finally change this.

Google has announced that starting with Chrome 135 on Android, the browser will draw content edge-to-edge, extending into Chrome’s toolbar at the top and the bottom navigation bar. So, you will see Chrome showing the web page’s content behind the navigation bar. The bottom “chin” will automatically hide as you start scrolling.

This won’t pose a problem, but Google says “in some cases content might get obstructed by the gesture navigation bar.”

Despite calling it an “edge-to-edge” layout, Chrome won’t show content behind the status bar. This makes sense as it could pose readability issues.

Google notes that this change in Chrome 135 only applies to small-screen devices. A future release will make the edge-to-edge change live on devices with larger displays, like foldables and tablets. The company has shared a migration guide for developers so they can adapt to this change with minimum hassle.

Google Chrome 135 is scheduled for release on April 1. The build is currently available for testing on Chrome’s Dev channel. Google also says that some users might see the edge-to-edge layout on older versions of the browser as part of its testing.

Android 16 will force apps to go full screen

Chrome is adopting the edge-to-edge layout at the right time. Starting with Android 16 later this year, Google will mandate that all apps display content on the full screen and remove the opt-out clause from the OS.

However, don’t expect your favorite apps to implement this change right away. That’s because this clause only applies to apps targeting Android 16. Technically, this gives app developers a few more years to add support for the edge-to-edge layout — until Google mandates that all apps being updated to the Play Store must support the Android 16 API.