Google removing in-app browser, starts reusing Chrome as custom for search results

Looks like Google is making a change in how you see news articles from its app. As reported by 9to5 Google, the search giant, back in April, started testing an inbuilt browser for articles that users opened from the ‘Discovered’ section and search results. It was even rolled out to a wider audience after a few weeks but is now being removed, resulting in those pages opening up on Google’s old Chrome Custom Tab implementation.

As mentioned in the report, the in-app browser was heavily themed and had a Google logo on the top bar with a leading animation when the site is being opened. The logo was replaced with the URL and the domain name once the page loaded. In addition, there was an icon for saving the page at the top bar towards the right side along with an option to share and three-dot overlay menu with options like Refresh, Open in browser, Settings and Send Feedback.

Also read: CERT-In warns users malicious Google Chrome extensions: Here are some tips to safeguard yourself

One of the major differences between the in-app browser and Chrome Custom Tab was that the former did not carry cookies or logged-in assets, which made it inconvenient for users. Moreover, it required a separate Settings page for clearing browser data. While opening a page from the in-app browser to the Chrome Custom Tab was not not instantaneous like before, it also didn’t have any Chrome shortcuts like Find in page, Desktop sit, Translate and more.

This news comes a few days after it was reported that Google started experimenting with a new change in Chrome Dev/Canary 85 that hid the full address from the URL bar of the current page you are on. What you will get to see is just the domain name, like say a google.com, all through.

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