Google Chrome is a desktop web browser for Windows, macOS and Linux. It opens websites and web applications in tabs, with a combined address and search bar for finding pages. Its saved form details, password tools and customizable new-tab page also handle recurring parts of browsing, such as signing in and returning to frequently used sites.
Omnibox
Chrome calls its combined address and search field the Omnibox. Enter a website address to navigate to it, or type a query to search. Some queries return an answer within the suggestions themselves, including weather information and word translations. Those results can answer a short question while the current page stays open.
The Omnibox also helps retrieve a page that is already open. When a website appears in another tab, the matching suggestion can offer “Switch to tab,” taking you to that tab instead of opening another copy. This works across browser windows, so returning to a site does not depend on remembering which window contains it. Rounded tab shapes leave the website icons more visible when many tabs are open.
Chrome autofill and password generation
Google Chrome can fill passwords, addresses and credit card details into website forms. Saved information is accessible from the toolbar. Information saved to a Google account can be available across devices.
When creating a website account, Chrome can generate a password and save it for the next sign-in. Account storage also makes the saved password available when moving between a laptop and phone.
New-tab shortcuts and backgrounds
The new-tab page provides editable shortcuts to chosen websites. “Add shortcut” creates an entry directly on that page, and the shortcuts can be managed there as the set of frequently visited sites changes.
Chrome also lets you choose a background photo for the new-tab page.
Site isolation
Google Chrome separates website content through renderer processes. Site Isolation restricts a renderer to content from a single site; an embedded frame from another site runs in a separate process from its parent page. Operating-system process boundaries then help separate the data belonging to those sites. The extra processes carry a memory cost.
Connection indicators
Plain HTTP pages receive a “Not secure” label in the address bar because the connection is unencrypted. HTTPS encrypts the connection between the browser and website.
Developer features for web pages
Chrome supports page behavior that a website’s developer controls. CSS Scroll Snap lets a page define positions where scrolling should stop, such as centering the next image in a horizontal gallery.
For a web application open in several tabs, the Web Locks API can coordinate access to a shared task. A tab acquires a named lock, performs its work and releases it; another request for that lock waits its turn. An application can use this to have one tab synchronize data at a time.
OffscreenCanvas gives developers another way to divide work, allowing canvas rendering to run in a worker rather than occupying the page’s main thread.
