What’s new in Chrome 116 Beta: Better incognito screenshots
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Google just released Chrome 115 in stable, and that means a slot in the beta program is free. That’s where Chrome 116 Beta comes in, and it is packed with some interesting updates setting it apart from smaller other Chrome releases. It’s slated to go stable as early as August 9, when it will roll out gradually for a few users until it comes to a wider rollout a week later. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
Chrome 116 makes Memory Saver’s effect clearer on desktop
Google has a few improvements in store for its Memory Saver, a recent addition to Chrome that automatically suspends tabs when you haven’t accessed them for a while to save energy and memory. Right now, there is no visible indicator that a website is suspended, and you don’t really know how much memory the process saves in any case. Chrome 116 is looking to fix both of these gripes.
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Google describes that there will be increased visibility of discarded tabs and you will have more insight into the memory usage of inactive tabs. This is achieved by turning favicons of suspended websites gray. When you hover over them, you will see new memory saving stats below the preview window that shows the site’s contents. Additionally, the familiar Memory Saver icon that shows up in the address bar when you restore a site now pulls up a much more detailed diagram showing how much memory you saved by suspending the site, along with a concrete MB number.
Chrome 116 is expanding Material You on desktop
Google Chrome is working on a Material You-inspired redesign for the desktop version of Chrome, and version 116 adds some more strides. When you use dark mode and activate the chrome://flags/#chrome-refresh-2023 flag, you will see that even more interface elements are pulling colors from your selected Chrome theme. That’s the case for the overflow menu, which takes a subtle hue based on your theme color.
At the same time, the company is working on combining Microsoft’s transparent window background effect with Material You. The active tab is getting a Material You treatment while the rest of the top app bar is pulling colors from the desktop or window behind them, making for a frosted glass-like transparent effect.
Chrome 116 wants to make it even faster to reach businesses on Android
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Old vs new behavior
When you search for a place on Chrome for Android, you’re most likely looking to get specific information about it, like how you can get there or what reviews are saying about it. Google Chrome 116 recognizes that this is a feature often sought for and tests adding shortcuts to the autocomplete interface. When it thinks that you’re looking for a business, it will give you deep links to reviews and directions on Google Maps as well as a shortcut to call the place.
Chrome 116 brings improved incognito screenshots to Android
Chrome has long allowed you to take screenshots in incognito with the right flag enabled (chrome://flags/#incognito-screenshot). However, this method came with the downside that previews were allowed for incognito tabs in the recent apps overview, which may not be ideal. Google is fixing that on Android 13 and newer thanks to a new API that lets the system block previews and screenshots in the multitasking overview while allowing you to make screenshots when you’re in the app itself. It’s accessible via the chrome://flags/#improved-incognito-screenshots flag.
Download Chrome 116 right now
The new beta is available in the usual places. It’s rolling out to the Play Store on its dedicated app listing for Android, and you can either upload your existing Chrome Beta installation on desktop or get it over at Google’s Chrome Beta website. As always, a beta isn’t as stable as the finished version, so expect to run into the occasional bug or two and don’t rely on it to get important work done.
Source: Android Police
