With version 94, Google has switched to a four-week cadence for Chrome. Chrome 93 was the last version to follow a six-week release cycle. Chrome 94 is now rolling out to Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS with the following new features, changes, and improvements. The latest version released after three weeks obviously means you get fewer new features.
Chrome 94
What’s new:
1. HTTPS First Mode for desktop and Android: Google announced HTTPS-only Mode for Chrome sometime back, the setting to opt-in to feature is now available by default in this verison.
Visit Settings > Privacy and Security> Security and toggle “Always use secure connections“.
What is HTTPS-First mode :
Chrome tries to load all web pages via secure connections whenever possible, if that’s not feasible, a full-page warning will be displayed for unencrypted sites. You can proceed to the site, by clicking “continue to site”.
2. Chrome 94 running an origin trial where it allows Progressive Web Apps to register as URL handlers at the platform level.
3. Sharing Menu is expected to roll out to users. Chrome for Android already offers a Share menu, Google is now bringing that to desktop with screenshot option included.
You can test the screenshots feature and Sharing hub by enabling the following flags:
chrome://flags/#sharing-hub-desktop-omnibox
chrome://flags/#sharing-desktop-screenshots
As of now, you can take screengrabs and save them to your device. Image Editor may work in future updates.
Google is working to unify share options in the context menu, hence you can expect, future chrome versions to show QR code option also in the context menu.
4. Simplified and revamped Settings Page: Google has restructured Chrome Settings to improve navigation. Instead of scrolling through a long list of Settings, Chrome displays one section at a time. What this means is, you need to click on a desired setting section on the left side each time when you want to see or access them.
5. What’s New in Chrome page: After updating to this version, some users will see the What’s-New page, the page explains new features in the release. The page will automatically open and display as a focused tab after the update. You can manually visit this in the address bar to see how it looks like:
6. Google is bringing a new onboarding experience for iOS users running Chrome.
During beta 94, Chrome tested the following features:
- Lens Search for Images on desktop,
- An experiment to address Tab group annoyances on Android by providing an additional “open in new tab” option in the long-press menu to prevent links opened in new tabs from forming a group.