Another month, another Chrome release: After the regular beta test period, Google has just started implementing version 88 of its browser, and there are quite a few improvements and significant changes on board. The version enhances some password protection features and paves the way for more web apps in the Play Store, but it also bids farewell to FTP connections and puts the last nail in the coffin of the Flash Player.
Password protection
As we have already discussed, Chrome 88 has a number of new password protection features. In addition to checking your saved passwords for violations, the browser will also alert you when you want to save a password that is considered too weak to be secure. If you need to change your already saved passwords, a new button in the built-in password manager will now allow it for the first few support services. Biometric authentication for automatic password entry is planned soon on Android.
Manifest V3 support
Chrome 88 is the first version that fully supports Google’s controversial new Manifest V3. The most important change in Manifest V3 is the abolition of the webRequest API in favor of the declarativeNetRequest API. Instead of allowing extensions to examine and filter every network request that comes to Chrome, which is not the safest option in terms of privacy and security, the declarativeNetRequest API only allows extensions to Chrome to filter the browser itself analyzes. Developers are not happy with the change, as extensions can only apply a maximum of 30,000 lines in Chrome 88, while some of the more common blocks like EasyList have more than 60,000 lines. Google has already promised to increase the number in Chrome to 89,000, but it may not be enough to run more than a few blocks at a time.
Google will approve and ship the first extensions using the new manifest after the release of Chrome 88. At this time, Google has not announced the inevitable shutdown date of Manifest V2 and the webRequest API. Other browser manufacturers on Chromium, such as Vivaldi and Opera, have promised to support the older API.
Read more about Manifest V3 in our coverage here.
Play Store billing for web apps
Chrome 88 provides support for Play Store purchases for web applications as part of the Payment Request API. On Android, websites can use the Google Play Billing Library. This is important for developers who want to earn their web applications in the Play Store, as the policy prohibits in-app payments with other billing methods. Developers interested in implementing it can find more information here.
Flash and FTP debugging
It’s been coming for years, and Chrome 88 is finally the first version of Chrome that removes all remnants of Flash Player. Earlier on the Internet, when HTML, Javascript and other web tools were not as versatile as today, Flash Player was a fantastic plugin that made video playback, lots of browser games and more possible. But with the rise of certain flashless phones (clear throat iPhone) and more powerful web tools, Flash Player has become increasingly embarrassed because of its slow, secure resource risk. Adobe has also pulled the plug on its tools and has been blocking Flash content since January 12, 2021.
Similarly, all support for FTP was removed from Chrome after the removal of the feature in Chrome 80. FTP is still a widely used protocol for accessing and transferring files over the Internet, but web browsers have always been poorly equipped for file page. There are much better client programs for FTP connections, such as the open-source FileZilla.
Screenshots in Incognito
Screenshots in Incognito work as expected in Chrome 88.
Chrome has long prevented you from taking screenshots while browsing in Incognito to prevent you from saving certain potentially infringing content, but there are circumstances when you want to preserve information from Incognito tabs. This is finally possible with Chrome 88 thanks to a new # incognito screenshot flag that brings screenshot support back into Incognito mode when activated. It is not clear when the functionality will be extended to everyone by default.
Tab Search
If you’ve got something like me, you’ll open dozens of tabs during a regular browsing session, and this is where the tab search can be helpful. The feature has been available in Chrome OS for some time and is now finally making a leap to other desktop operating systems with version 88. You need to do this in chrome: // flags under # enable-tab-search (copy and paste the link address in your address bar). After restarting your browser, you’ll find a new icon to the right of the tab bar that you can click to see an overview of all your open tabs, including a search bar. You can also drag it up via Ctrl + Shift + A.
Tab searches are limited to the browser versions of the browser for now, and we do not know if Google will ever extend them to mobile devices.
Tutorial videos
Google is working on adding tutorial videos to the browser. You can currently enable it via the #video-tutorials flag, but at this time it only consists of placeholder videos from the Google Go app. It is visible as maps on the new page, between your most visited sites and the Discover feed.
The titles already indicate what content we can expect in the future: there are ‘How to use Chrome’, ‘How to download content for later’, ‘How to search with Chrome’, ‘How to vote with you to search ‘and’ How to use incognito. ‘The videos are limited to Android, and Google will probably only activate the tutorials for everyone once the right content is available.
Other changes
Apart from these major tweaks to Chrome, there are some minor changes:
- Chrome has long supported dark themes, including Microsoft’s on Windows 10, but some quirks have never been addressed on the desktop OS until now. Dark mode eventually obscures the scroll bar in more places, such as Settings, History, Bookmarks, and other internal Web sites.
- Chrome 88 dropped support for macOS 10.10 Yosemite, and now needs macOS 10.11 El Capitan or later.
- Chrome has previously added left and right buttons to navigate through tabs, and a new #scroll tabstrip button flag is available that keeps the buttons visible at all times.
The # browse-tabstrip buttons contain flag.
- Google’s Legacy Browser Support extension, which allowed IT administrators to set rules to automatically open other browsers when certain pages are loaded, is no longer supported from Chrome 88. Most of the features of the extension are now built directly into Chrome.
- Links that open in a new tab ( tags with “target = _blank”) automatically act as if “rel = noopener” is set. This will help prevent so-called tab-napping attacks.
- WebXR experiences (AR and VR content) can now scale their content dynamically, which can improve frame rates in some cases.
- Web applications can optionally enable a new feature called Origin Isolation, which increases the security of a page in exchange for certain APIs not being available.
- A new # Destroy-profile-on-browser-close-flag is available which “[releases] memory and other resources when the last browser window is closed, “instead of default, which occurs when the Chrome browser is completely abandoned.
- A new flag of # permission predictions is available that switches to a less intrusive interface for page permissions, when Chrome predicts that you’re less likely to grant that permission (for example, a website you & # 39; ve never visited before).
- The DevTools (Ctrl + Shift + C) are about 37% faster thanks to JavaScript enhancements. There are also new CSS visualization tools for angular debugging, emulation for unsupported image types, storage quota simulation in the storage panel, and more for developers.
- The addEventListener class has got a new AbortSignal option to make it easier to close EventListeners when they are no longer needed.
- Chrome 88 accelerates hidden-page JavaScript timers, which reduce CPU usage and consume less of your precious battery.
- Web Component Support v0 has been removed from Chrome.
- Google now enables developers to enable or disable pointer acceleration and other underlying platform changes. This is especially valuable for games.
- A new CSS feature class with an aspect ratio allows developers to set image ratios for any element, not just photos.
Download
The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing application. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and that it has not been tampered with in any way. Instead of waiting for Google to send this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.
