Google continues to innovate its browser to give users a smoother, more integrated browsing experience.
In recent years, the browser market has become increasingly competitive. Innovations from companies like OpenAI and Arc have pushed industry giants to introduce significant innovations to maintain their lead. Google, with its Chrome browser, is no different and continues to work tirelessly to improve the user experience.
The latest version of Chrome, particular, try to improve the way users interact with the web and native applications on their devices. In a recent announcement, the company unveiled a new feature that aims to make web access more seamless and integrated. This innovation is designed to improve continuity between native apps and web browsing, ensuring a more natural and seamless user experience.
Increasingly smooth navigation with the new Google Chrome feature
Google unveiled a new feature for Chrome called “Minimized Custom Tabs“. This innovation will allow users to easily switch between a native app and web content with a simple tap, turning the tab into a picture-in-picture window that floats above the native app.
Custom Tabs are an existing feature in Android browsers that allow developers to integrate a personalized browsing experience into their apps. Until now, these cards offered a better solution than the WebView, which did not support all the features of the web platform. However, opening the user’s browser could interrupt the app experience. Minimized Custom Tabs solve this problem, allowing users to stay within the app while browsing the internet.
This new feature can increase user engagement and reduce the risk of them abandoning activity on a particular app. Developers who direct users to a website to sign up for an account or take out a subscription will greatly benefit from this smoother integration. The picture-in-picture window can be docked to the side of the screenallowing users to easily return to the native app with a simple tap.
The introduction of Minimized Custom Tabs is part of a context in which Google is strengthening web integration on Android. With new features like “Circle and Search” and other AI-powered integrations, users can access web content through simple gestures such as circling or highlighting elements. This makes interaction with the web even more immediate and intuitive.
The new feature is available in the latest version of Chrome (M124) and will be automatically applied in all contexts where developers are already using Chrome Custom Tabs. Google also expressed hope that other browser makers will also adopt similar features, further improving the user experience across all platforms.
