Abstract
- Android customers have lengthy desired the power to maneuver the deal with bar on Google Chrome to the underside, and whereas this function was axed in 2020, iPhone customers can now take pleasure in this performance.
- By enabling a function flag in Chrome on iPhone, customers can transfer the Omnibox from the highest to the underside of the display, enhancing effectivity and comfort.
- Whereas this function continues to be being developed, it’s a promising signal for Android customers who hope that Google will finally convey the deal with bar to the underside on Chrome for Android as effectively.
Approach again in 2020, Android customers on Google Chrome cried out in sorrow because the long-developed Chrome Duet experiment died out. Duet was a function flag that customers may activate to maneuver the deal with bar — or Omnibox — from the highest of the display to the underside. Google labored on Duet for 4 years earlier than axing it, and Android customers nonetheless don’t have any option to transfer the Omnibox to the underside on Chrome. Nonetheless, Chrome on iPhone has given folks a option to just do that.
Safari, Apple’s native internet browser, has put the deal with bar on the backside of the display for years. Chrome for iPhone has all the time had its Omnibox on the high, which may be annoying for effectivity. As found by Steve Moser of The Tape Drive, iPhone Chrome customers can now transfer the Omnibox from the highest to the underside with a function flag (through 9to5Google).
To attempt it out, iPhone customers ought to sort this deal with in Chrome:
chrome://flags/#bottom-omnibox-steady-state
As soon as there, allow the flag. Then, swipe up, shut Chrome, and reopen it. The deal with bar will now be on the backside.
It’s nonetheless underneath growth, and whereas it’s nice in its present state, the highest portion of the display nonetheless has a grey background rather than the place the Omnibox was. With the Omnibox now on the backside as effectively, there’s much less display actual property to browse with. For individuals who nonetheless use the iPhone SE or iPhone 8, it would look wonderful, however for everybody else that has an iPhone launched in 2017 or after that isn’t the SE, it seems unhealthy.
Whereas it’s extra standardized to have the deal with bar be on the high of cellphone screens, it doesn’t make as a lot sensible sense in comparison with if it was on the backside. Folks naturally maintain their cellphone on the backside, and their thumb is nearer to the underside by default. That’s a part of the rationale quick-access apps are situated on a bar on the backside of just about all smartphone house screens.
It makes much more sense for the deal with bar to be on the backside when utilizing extraordinarily tall telephones, just like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. It is doubtless because of this that Samsung Web, which is the native browser for Samsung smartphones and tablets, already has the choice to modify the deal with bar location on smartphones. Samsung not too long ago added an possibility to maneuver the bar to the underside on tablets, too.
We hope that this can be a signal of issues to come back for Android. Whereas sure, it might need made extra sense so as to add this flag function to Chrome on Android earlier than placing it on the iOS Chrome app (as a result of, , Google owns Android and Chrome) it reveals that the Chrome Duet dream by no means actually died. Perhaps it simply developed, and maybe Google will add the flag on Android quickly sufficient.