Chrome on Android soon will get an option in Site settings, which when turned on, continuously requests the browser to open the desktop version of sites. The option can be enabled and used right now in Chrome 96 Canary.
Why you may want to see the desktop version of a Webpage on mobile?
Generally, if you use Android devices, the browser displays a website version optimized for smartphones by default
- Developers these days design their websites for mobile than desktop, and on certain sites, feature access could be limited. To view the full website, you may have to switch to desktop view.
- Users running Android tablets with large sizes may want a dekstop experience than mobile to be honest.
Note: Google has recently defaulted desktop mode for Android tablets running Chrome. - You may want to check how your site looks on the desktop for compatibility reasons.
How to request a desktop site in Chrome on Android
Like other mobile browsers, Android Chrome offers a setting to view the webpage in desktop mode.
All you need to do is visit that site, tap on the menu and select the “Desktop” option checkbox. However, the option is available per-site basis and you need to manually do this each time for every site.
Google is working to provide a “desktop site” option in its Android Chrome Settings (disabled by default) that always tries to request for dekstop view of sites when enabled.
Permanently enable desktop sites in Chrome on Android
- Launch chrome
- Visit chrome://flags
- Search for “desktop”, for “Global setting to request desktop site on Android“, select Enabled and restart the browser.
- Tap on menu , select Settings > Site Settings > Desktop Site> enable toggle to “Request the desktop view of sites“.
Closing words:
If viewing the desktop version for a site is a one-off thing, you can continue to use the option available in the menu without needing to enable the setting.
Now, you tell us when was the last time you’ve asked Chrome on Android to open a desktop site?
More about Chrome for Android:
Chrome to warn when you download files in Incognito
Chrome Tab Groups on Android getting significant changes after User feedback
