Google has released Chrome 99.0 on March 1st and is now available for download. As of now, the update is still rolling out, if the about dialog doesn’t show you the update, wait for it to arrive or download Chrome and overwrite the existing installation to use the latest version. Check out new features, what’s changed and fixed in Chrome below.
What’s new in Chrome 99
The update comes with two significant changes:
- New feature related to PWAs integration with the Windows platform,
- Reverts the previous change to allow removal of default Search engines.
Chrome Web Apps can now be uninstalled from Windows Settings
Chrome and Micorsoft Edge supported Progressive Web Apps or Web Apps for some time now. Though Micorsoft Edge being the default and built-into Windows recognizes PWAs installed in it as the normal apps so that you can uninstall them from Control Panel or Settings app. This is not possible for PWAs installed in Chrome.
Google has now made that possible with the Chrome 99 release.
What this means is when you install Web Apps in Chrome, they’ll be registered, recognized, and appear in Windows Settings App or Control Panel to remove like any native Win32 App.
Here is where Chrome PWAs uninstall option will appear on Windows
- Start Menu
- Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features
- Settings > apps (on Windows 11 & Windows 10)
You can now remove default Search Engines in Chrome
While working on Chrome search engines and site search redesign, Google has removed the option to delete default Search engines from Chrome 97.
After users complained they use that option to remove search engines hijacked by malware, the company has restored the option in Canary. The change has been landed in Chrome 99 recently.
You can now remove default Search engines in Chrome 99 by visiting Chrome > Settings > Search engine > Manage Search engines where you can click on the 3-dot icon for specific search engines listed under Default Search engine and click Delete.
Chrome 100 is nearing:
Google Chrome reaches version 100 next on March 29, this month.
Browser vendors, Mozilla, Google, and Microsoft have already started testing if the version 100 user agent string causes any website to break.
You can read more details about those experiments below.
Google is testing if ‘Chrome/100.0’ User-Agent breaks websites
Mozilla’s UA String experiment to check if Firefox version 100 breaks websites
Have you updated to Chrome 99? Let us know if you notice anything new or broken with us in the comments below.
More on Chrome:
Chrome is bringing downloads icon to the toolbar
Google may soon run Privacy Sandbox V3 trials in Chrome
Chrome Prerender2 & Omnibox Prerendering to bring Speed Boost to page Loads in browser
Chrome Soon lets you mute compromised passwords
Chrome is making Extensions Menu better w/ Permissions Tab
