Following testing in March, Google Chrome is officially launching “Minimized Custom Tabs” that make use of PiP windows. The big focus is on multitasking and letting users “effortlessly transition between native app and web content.”
When opening links using a Chrome Custom Tab (like from Gmail), you’ll see a new downward-facing chevron next to the back button. This will shrink that webpage down into a Picture-in-Picture window. That PiP features the site favicon, page name, and domain, with only one available at a time.
You can dock that PiP to the left/right edge of your screen, as well as resize the window (though that’s somewhat counterintuitive and takes up real estate).
To view the full page in the Chrome Custom Tab, tap the window and click the central fullscreen button. Swipe the rectangle to the bottom of your screen or tap the corner ‘x’ button to remove.
Google is heavily emphasizing how this “seamless integration enables multi-tasking across surfaces, enhancing the in-app web browsing experience.” Historically, PiPs are used for video content.
While most apps on Android use Chrome Custom Tabs (or just open Chrome directly), other apps like Instagram and Threads have their own browsers. This new feature will not work in those cases.
Please note that this is a change in Chrome, and we hope other browsers will adopt similar functionality.
Minimized Custom Tabs are available with Chrome 124 for Android, with 125 already rolling out.
More on Chrome:
- Chrome for iPhone now lets you customize the menu bar & carousel
- Google is fixing a bug that kept showing blank tabs in Chrome for Android
- You can turn off Chrome’s Help me write suggestion
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