{"id":149323,"date":"2020-01-15T09:07:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T08:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=149323"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:25:16","slug":"best-new-features-browser-chrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/best-new-features-browser-chrome\/","title":{"rendered":"All the best new features your web browser got in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-149341\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Best_browser_features_2019_cover_wvkjvu.jpg\" alt=\"The best new browser features 2019\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Modern browsers like Mozilla\u00a0Firefox, Microsoft\u00a0Edge, Safari, Opera, and of course Google\u00a0Chrome are monster programs that can do amazing things. The days of Internet Explorer are long gone. You only have to consider the fact that Google used its web browser Chrome to develop a whole new operating system that runs Google powered laptops called Chromebooks, and rivals the likes of Windows and MacOS. This incredible feat has been made possible by Google\u2019s policy of continually updating the Chrome browser.<\/p>\n<p>It can be hard to keep up with all these updates, however, as they just keep coming. What use is a shiny new updated feature, if you don\u2019t even know that it\u2019s there. Well, that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for today. We\u2019re going to walk you through all the new features that came to the Google Chrome web browser in 2019.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Google Chrome\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_optimized,f_auto\/p\/b2e6d43a-96bf-11e6-a674-00163ed833e7\/2551395796\/google-chrome-screenshot.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Google Chrome<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/chrome.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download Google Chrome \u25ba<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--70\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"70\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"7\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\">7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/chrome.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<h2>New Chrome features 2019<\/h2>\n<p>The Google\u00a0Chrome web browser received a massive 7 updates in 2019 with the first, Chrome 72, landing in January and the last, Chrome 79, arriving just before the new year in December. Let\u2019s look at all the best new Chrome features that these updates brought with them.<\/p>\n<h3>Default Flash blocker<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-149336 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Best_browser_features_2019_jndv1d.jpg\" alt=\"Default Flash blocker\" width=\"700\" height=\"168\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Google has already said that it will remove the Flash plugin from Chrome towards the end of 2020. In 2019, however, Google put the impetus on users to activate Flash in Chrome by making the browser block the plugin by default. You can set the browser to ask you before blocking it, however, on each site you visit. To do so copy and paste\u00a0<strong>chrome:\/\/settings\/content\/flash\u00a0<\/strong>into the Chrome address bar.<\/p>\n<h3>Password checkup tool<\/h3>\n<p>Google has integrated a former Chrome plugin directly into the browser, meaning it is now available for all Chrome users. The feature will scan your passwords and then check them against known databases of leaked passwords. Basically, if any of your accounts and passwords have fallen victim to any of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/yahoo-announce-that-all-accounts-were-effected-by-2013-security-breach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">massive data breaches you hear about all the time<\/a>, Chrome will now tell you. To activate this feature copy and paste\u00a0<strong>chrome:\/\/flags\/#password-leak-detection\u00a0<\/strong>into the Chrome address bar.<\/p>\n<h3>Send tabs to other devices<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-149337 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Best_browser_features_2019_Send_tabs_to_Device_ocbgyj.jpg\" alt=\"Send tabs to other devices on Chrome\" width=\"700\" height=\"421\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Chrome 77 introduced an interesting feature that allows users to send tabs to other devices that use the same Google account on Chrome. If you use the same Google account on Chrome across different devices,\u00a0<strong>you can now right-click\u00a0<\/strong>on any of your open tabs on Chrome for desktop and hit the\u00a0<strong>Send to your devices\u00a0<\/strong>option to see a list of devices you can share the tab with.<\/p>\n<h3>Copy and paste across devices<\/h3>\n<p>Another cool <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/chrome\/answer\/185277?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&amp;hl=en-GB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chrome Sync<\/a> feature that was introduced in 2019 is the clipboard synchronization feature across multiple devices. This new feature means you can copy something on one device and then paste it on another that is using the same Google account for Google\u00a0Chrome. This feature came with Chrome 79, which means both devices will need to be updated to Chrome 79 before it will work. If you have two devices that qualify, however, you\u2019ll be able to right-click anywhere on the webpage and then select\u00a0<strong>Copy to (your device\u2019s name)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>Chrome backgrounds and themes<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-149338 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Best_browser_features_2019_Chrome_backgrounds_and_themes_awynle.jpg\" alt=\"Chrome backgrounds and themes\" width=\"700\" height=\"481\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Another cool feature that landed with Chrome 77 is the\u00a0<strong>Customize\u00a0<\/strong>button you\u2019ll find in the bottom-right corner of the Chrome homepage. Clicking this will give you a series of different customization options including\u00a0<strong>Background<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Colors &amp; Themes<\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong>Shortcuts<\/strong>. You can decide on the shortcuts Chrome will show on the homepage, pick from a whole host of interesting background images, and set different themes and color schemes for the browser.<\/p>\n<h3>The Dark Mode<\/h3>\n<p>Google split the Chrome Dark Mode roll-out over two separate updates with the Mac Dark Mode coming with Chrome 73 and the Windows Dark Mode coming with Chrome 74. Both operating systems now support Chrome\u2019s Dark mode but there are no controls for this on the web browser itself. Instead,\u00a0<strong>Chrome simply copies your system OS color scheme<\/strong>\u00a0meaning if you\u2019ve set your Mac or Windows system to run in Dark Mode then your Chrome browser will do too.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/chrome\/answer\/9275525\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Chrome support page here<\/a>\u00a0shows you how to do so.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/10\/whatsapp-logo-192.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">Take an early look at WhatsApp\u2019s brand-new dark mode<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/whatsapps-dark-mode-preview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">Read Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/whatsapps-dark-mode-preview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<h3>Tab info cards<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-149339 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Best_browser_features_2019_tab_info_cards_fxmhpo.jpg\" alt=\"Tab info cards\" width=\"661\" height=\"268\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A small but useful change is the introduction of tab info cards. All you need to do here is hover your cursor over an open tab and Chrome will show you the name of the site open on the tab, and its URL.<\/p>\n<h3>Dodgy site warning<\/h3>\n<p>Chrome\u2019s password protection features were updated again when Chrome 79 landed. Chrome now offers real-time protection and will warn you whenever you enter your passwords on sites that are suspected of phishing.<\/p>\n<h3>Hardware support for media controls<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-149340 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Best_browser_features_2019_hardware_media_controls_pgyjev.jpg\" alt=\"Hardware media controls\" width=\"640\" height=\"181\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Chrome now supports media control buttons on any hardware you have connected to your device. This means if you have a keyboard with a\u00a0<strong>Play\/Pause\u00a0<\/strong>button, you can now use that button to control playback on any media that is active in Google\u00a0Chrome. The same goes for other controls and other types of hardware such as headphones etc.<\/p>\n<h3>Tab freezing<\/h3>\n<p>This updated feature might not sound too exciting, but it will actually make a big difference for laptop users. Basically, Chrome now automatically freezes tabs that you\u2019ve had running in the background for a while. Chrome will no longer load ads or perform other CPU heavy tasks in tabs you\u2019re not using, but will instead pause them and then resume them when you open them again. This is to put less pressure on your device\u2019s CPU and then, accordingly, make your laptop\u2019s battery last longer.<\/p>\n<h3>Password manager<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-149335 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Best_browser_features_2019_Password_Manager_dhefod.jpg\" alt=\"Chrome password manager\" width=\"700\" height=\"279\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Chrome 75 introduced the built-in password manager to Android and iOS devices meaning Chrome can now generate and store strong and unique passwords for you every time you open a new online account. This is an incredibly useful and essential feature as any time you duplicate a password across different accounts you leave yourself vulnerable to hacking.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey\">\r\n<p class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__title\">More from Softonic<\/p>\r\n  <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__row\">\r\n    <a title=\"6 Chrome extensions to make you more productive at work \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/6-chrome-extensions-to-make-you-more-productive-at-work\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/pexels-photo-374899.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__text\">\r\n        <p>6 Chrome extensions to make you more productive at work \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    <a title=\"Be more productive with these 9 Chrome extensions \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/be-more-productive-with-these-9-chrome-extensions\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__article sc-related-articles-grey__article--last\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/Best_Chrome_Ext_image4-1024x503.png)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__text\">\r\n        <p>Be more productive with these 9 Chrome extensions \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__row\">\r\n    <a title=\"This is how to make Google Chrome more secure \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/this-is-how-to-make-google-chrome-more-secure\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/09\/Chrome-security-1024x576.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__text\">\r\n        <p>This is how to make Google Chrome more secure \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    <a title=\"How to save articles to read offline in Google Chrome \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-save-articles-to-read-offline-on-google-chrome\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__article sc-related-articles-grey__article--last\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/05\/chrome-android-game-1024x614.png)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-grey__text\">\r\n        <p>How to save articles to read offline in Google Chrome \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Chrome is the most popular major web browser. Here we walk you through all the biggest new features that landed on Google Chrome in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":149342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[2518,2441],"tags":[1082,1066,1053,1068,1045,1083,1631,1126,1440,2096],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-149323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","category-how-to","tag-android","tag-apple","tag-firefox","tag-google","tag-google-chrome","tag-ios","tag-microsoft-edge","tag-online","tag-opera","tag-safari"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325381,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149323\/revisions\/325381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149323"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=149323"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=149323"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=149323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}