Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is working on a “Tab Declutter” feature for Chrome on Android.
- Tabs that have been unused for a long time will be archived.
- You’ll be able to restore or delete archived tabs from an archived tabs list.
Is Chrome on your Android phone being overrun by tabs you haven’t closed out of? Google may release a feature that could help declutter the mess.
As spotted by 9to5Google, strings of code in Chromium — a free and open-source web browser project maintained by Google — reference a “Tab Declutter” feature built for Android. The feature appears to be locked behind some flags.
If the user enables this feature, it will allow the browser to automatically archive tabs that have been deemed inactive. This function could help speed Chrome up as your main tab list is cleaned up. It would then move those inactive tabs out of your main tab list into an archived tab list. In the archived tab list, users would be able to choose the fate of those inactive tabs: delete or restore.
It’s unclear how long a tab would have to remain unused before Chrome would classify it as inactive. This could be a nice solution if you don’t want to close out any of your tabs, but you would like for your main tab list to be a little more organized.
The outlet adds that it doesn’t expect the feature to come out until Chrome 125 launches, at the earliest. Keep in mind that this code simply signifies that Google is working on the feature. There’s no guarantee that the feature will roll out.
Something else that was recently discovered behind flags in Chrome for Android was the ability to use other password managers and autofill providers. When this feature is enabled, it presents the user with two options, namely “Default” (Google Password Manager and Chrome Autofill) or “Use other providers.”
