Google is currently rolling out the stable version of Chrome 109 on desktop and mobile as it adds new features. However, those features are dependent on third-party developers implementing them.
The update gives developers (opens in new tab) new tools to improve the interactivity between their software and the browser. Conditional Focus (opens in new tab) is being added, which will allow a video conferencing app to decide if it wants to focus on either a tab or window when screen sharing begins. If the developers want neither, they can set the capturing page as the main display instead. In a similar fashion to what Zoom already does, the browser will also be able to suppress audio in a video call so people don’t have to mute their microphone. The main difference is Chrome’s audio suppression appears to work with all video conferencing apps so long as the developers have tweaked their software to support it.
For Chrome 109 on mobile, the browser now works with the experimental Secure Payment Confirmation (SPC) standard allowing people to use their phone’s biometric screen unlocking feature for verifying payments. Instead of having to go through multiple pages to verify your identity, you can just use your fingerprint (opens in new tab). This feature is contingent on banks, credit card issuers, and payment platforms implementing SPC on their software, so it may be a while before this sees widespread support.
Other notable developer-centric features like the new CSS values can be found on Chrome Developers blog (opens in new tab).
Firsty-party changes
The Chrome 109 update package includes some first-party changes (opens in new tab) that the everyday user will enjoy. If the browser detects that you downloaded something potentially malicious, it will offer a more detailed explanation of why it stopped the download. For example, the warning will explicitly tell you if the file has malware that could potentially steal information from your social media accounts. The “From the web” feature, which informs users about a particular web page, has been renamed to “About this page” making its function more obvious.
17 security fixes (opens in new tab) are present in Chrome 109, but most of them aren’t dire. The majority are patches for some poorly implemented components like Fullscreen API and Permission prompts for a smoother experience. We should also mention that this is the last version of Chrome (opens in new tab) for Windows 7 and 9.1 Moving forward, there will be no more updates or security fixes.
Experimental features
As for the rest of the features, they’re all experimental, meaning their quality will be a little dubious. Material You theming is present on Chrome for desktop, allowing you to change the look of the browser on the New Tab page. However, it appears to only be fully functional on the Canary channel (opens in new tab); a special version of Chrome where users can try out experimental features. There’s also Tab Groups Save to transfer tab groups from one version of Chrome (Windows, Mac, or Linux) for use on other operating systems. You can try these out and more for yourself by entering “chrome://flags” in the browser’s address bar after updating.
Google warns that trying out the experimental features can compromise browser security. For that reason, we recommend checking out Techradar’s best antivirus software for 2023, so you can safely use the features without compromising on safety.
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