It’s easy to get carried away when it comes to opening tabs on your Android device. You end up opening so many you have a hard time finding the one you need.
The following Chrome flags will make it possible for you to group your tabs by topic and more comfortable when it comes to switching from one tab to another. There are some things to consider before you use these Chrome flags, however.
Dangers of Experimental Flags in Chrome
Chrome Flags are experimental features that Google wants to add to the stable version but that still have some bugs that need to be fixed. Just because these flags are experimental doesn’t mean that they will surely be added to the stable version.
Is there a risk that your browser experience can take a turn for the worse? Of course, remember that these features are not stable and can cause you problems. By using these preliminary features, you can jeopardize your privacy and security. You could also end up erasing browser data.
Don’t panic, this doesn’t mean that by turning on the experimental flags that allow you to group tabs for Chrome on Android that it will definitely cause you irreparable damage, but don’t rule it out.
That’s why it’s essential that if you make a change, you are absolutely sure that you know what you’re doing. If you change a flag and are not sure what it does, you can cause some severe damage.
How to Access the Experimental Flags Page in Chrome for Android
To access the Chrome experimental flags page, type chrome://flags in the browser’s address bar. At the top you will see a warning letting you know that by making specific changes you could end up losing browser data or could end up endangering your privacy or security.
How to Enable Necessary Flags
Now that you know how to access the experimental page in Chrome, you need to know what flags to look for and enable. In the search bar at the top, look for the following flags: #enable-tab-grid-layout and #enable-tab-groups.
Once you enable them, Chrome will ask you to relaunch it. If you do and notice that nothing has changed, go ahead and restart it once more. This is something I had to do during my testing.
How to Access and Manage the New Grouped Tabs
If you don’t have any tabs open, go ahead and open a few. Tap on the three dots at the top-right and select New tab. Once you have a few open, tap on the number that shows you the number of tabs you have open. You will now be looking at the new design.
One of the tabs you create will have a blue Create group option. By selecting this option, the icon of the site you opened will now be at the bottom, and you should be looking at the Google start page.
You can open a new tab by either tapping on the plus sign to the right, the three dots at the top-right or by tapping on the plus icon at the bottom-right. To eliminate a set of grouped tabs, you can either tap on the X each one of them has or slide them to the side.
The arrow pointing up doesn’t do anything extraordinary, but by pressing it you will see the start page of the site you accessed with that tab. To access the grouped tabs, tap on the number to the right of the Chrome address bar.
If you don’t see the blue “Create group” option, just create another tab. After accessing the site you open that tab with, select the number that shows you how many tabs you have open, and the create group option should re-appear.
Which Design Is Better?
When you compare the two designs, you can quickly come to the conclusion that the experimental feature is better. With the old model, you had various tabs open with a carousel movement. If you had multiple tabs open, you would have no idea where a particular tab was and had to browse through all of them until you found it.
With the new design, all tabs are in plain view, and to find a specific tab you only have to swipe down. With the new design, you can groups tabs by topic if you want. For example, in one group you can have sites open that contain information on Android and in another group have a website that has iOS content.
Another advantage that the experimental design has is that it’s easier to switch from one site to another. The site icons are found at the bottom, and you don’t have to close the site you are looking at to go to another one.
Conclusion
The new design you enjoy by enabling the flags is worth it. After a few days of usage, I have not experienced a single issue with them. Are you going to give them a try?
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