As the browser market becomes more competitive thanks to innovations from startups like Arc, Google is preparing to make some big changes to the way its Chrome browser works. The company announced on Wednesday that it's introducing a new feature called “minimized custom tabs” that will let users move between native apps and web content with a single tap. When you do this, the custom tab will become a small picture-in-picture window that floats on top of the native app content.
This new addition focuses on the use of Custom Tabs. Custom Tabs is a feature of the Android browser that allows app developers to add a customized browser experience directly into their app. Instead of opening the user's browser or a WebView (which does not support all features of the web platform), Custom Tabs allow users to stay within your app while browsing. For developers, using Custom Tabs increases app engagement and reduces the risk of users abandoning your app and never returning.
Image credit: Google
Changing custom tabs to picture-in-picture windows makes the transition to the web experience feel more natural and makes it feel like you're inside a native app. This change is also useful for developers who direct customers to a website to sign up for an account or subscription, as it makes it easier for users to move back and forth between the website and the native app.
While minimized to a picture-in-picture window, custom tabs can be docked to the side of the screen. When the page is maximized, users can tap the down arrow to shrink it to a picture-in-picture window again.
This new web experience comes at a time when Google is working to make accessing the web a more natural experience on Android, with features like Circle to Search and other AI-powered integrations that let users access the web with gestures like circling or highlighting items.
The change will roll out in the latest version of Chrome (M124) and will automatically apply everywhere developers are already using Chrome's custom tabs. Google notes that while the change affects the Chrome browser, it expects other browser makers to adopt similar features.