Google speeds up Chrome’s release cycle

With Chrome 94, Google will offer feature updates every four weeks.

Google Chrome (Pixabay)

Google Chrome users will receive updates more frequently in the future. Google announced on Thursday that it will now roll out future milestone releases that bring new features every four weeks. As of now, Google rolls out such milestone releases every six weeks. The change will come into effect with Chrome 94 in Q3 2021.

Google said that it would add a new Extendable Stable option with milestone updates every eight weeks. The option is for enterprise administrators and Chromium embedders who require relatively more time to manage the updates. The company further said that the security updates for Extendable Stable would be rolled out every two weeks to fix key issues.

“For users on Chrome OS, we also plan to support multiple stable release options. We'll have more to share with Chrome OS administrators in the coming months about the choices you'll have for milestone updates to your managed devices,” wrote Alex Mineer, Technical Program Manager, Chrome Operations in a post.

Google Chrome users will receive updates more frequently in the future. Google announced on Thursday that it will now roll out future milestone releases that bring new features every four weeks. As of now, Google rolls out such milestone releases every six weeks. The change will come into effect with Chrome 94 in Q3 2021.

Google said that it would add a new Extendable Stable option with milestone updates every eight weeks. The option is for enterprise administrators and Chromium embedders who require relatively more time to manage the updates. The company further said that the security updates for Extendable Stable would be rolled out every two weeks to fix key issues.

“For users on Chrome OS, we also plan to support multiple stable release options. We'll have more to share with Chrome OS administrators in the coming months about the choices you'll have for milestone updates to your managed devices,” wrote Alex Mineer, Technical Program Manager, Chrome Operations in a post.|#+|

Engadget points out that the latest move brings Chrome in line with Mozilla's Firefox, which offers a monthly update schedule since 2020.

Separately, Google is taking new measures to prevent websites and advertisers from tracking users through its Chrome browser. The company recently announced it would no longer track users through a separate set of identifiers. Instead, Google will offer “privacy-preserving APIs” that block individual tracking while offering results for advertisers and publishers. The move is said to be part of the company's plans to phase out the support for third-party cooking on the browser completely.

“We're making explicit that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products,” David Temkin, Director of Product Management, Ads Privacy and Trust wrote in a blog post.