Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Tl; DR
- Google Chrome is testing a predictive return function that previews the previous page, preventing users from accidentally navigating.
- Pulling Android’s integrated feature, the preview displays the previous page of your history, but a gray screen if it comes home.
- The functionality is currently in A / B test in the stable version of Chrome, but users can activate it manually via functionality indicators.
The accidental release of an application can be frustrating, especially when it leads to a loss of progress or data. This is why Google introduced a feature called predictive back in Android 13, which allows you to preview the previous screen before finishing the rear gesture. This prevents you from inadvertently leaving an application on which you want to stay. Web browsers are a perfect use case for this, as they can preview the previous page of your history. Now it seems that Google agrees because the company has started testing this exact feature in Chrome for some users.
The other day, I noticed that when you return to Google Chrome, the browser showed an attenuated overview of the previous page in tabs that had a navigation story.
The behavior was different in the new tabs. In some cases, the overview was an opaque gray background with the Chrome logo, indicating that the gesture would give me to the new tab page. In other cases, he has shown a gray superposition, signifying a return to the home screen of my phone. Finally, if the gesture would close the tab, no overview appeared at all.
I see this new page transition animation in Chrome version 138, the latest stable version. Although the functionality was spotted for the first time last year, it was hidden behind a flag at the time. I have not activated any chrome indicator on my device, which suggests that Google is now A / B test the animation with users. Hopefully the tests are well, because this feature will be useful for preventing accidental navigation.
If you do not yet see this animation and you want to activate it immediately, you can do so by activating the following chrome flags:
Code
chrome://flags#back-forward-transitions
chrome://flags#right-edge-goes-forward-gesture-nav(Copy and glue the first chrome: // flag in the chrome address bar and press Enter to be taken directly from the flag in question. Change it from “default” to “activated”. Repeat with the second flag, then restart Chrome.))
The first flag allows overview of the rear gesture. The second flag allows the same overview to appear during the front navigation (by sliding inwards from the right edge of the screen).
Please be part of our community. Read our comment policy before publishing.
