What’s new in Chrome 101, available today

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Chrome hit the grand 100 in March 2022, but the celebration is over. We are back with another release in April. Chrome 101 includes further improvements to the new download UI, saving tab groups, and the password manager. We’ll see.

The new download UI keeps getting better

Chrome download bubble.
Reddit

Chrome 99 started work on a new download UI that is similar to the look and feel of Microsoft Edge. Downloads are located in a small shortcut on the top toolbar instead of the big row at the bottom of the screen.

Chrome 101 continues to make improvements to this user interface. Now shows progress bars when downloading multiple items, and you can right-click to see a context menu for “Show in Folder” and other shortcuts.

You can test this right now by enabling the “Download Bubble” feature flag: chrome://flags/#download-bubble

RELATED: How to enable Google Chrome flags to test beta features

Save tab groups is coming

Save tab groups.

Google has been working on the ability to save tab groups for a while now with a flag showing up in Chrome 95. It looks like the feature is very close to being ready as it finally works in Chrome 101 Beta. Using the “Save Group” option now adds it to the bookmarks bar.

You still have to enable this feature with the feature flag: chrome://flags/#tab-groups-save

Password manager improvements

Password manager notes.
Reddit

Chrome has a surprisingly strong password manager, but it still lacks some features you’d find in dedicated password managers. Soon you’ll be able to do one of those things: add notes to saved passwords.

This is simply a new “Note” field that appears when you edit a saved password. You can use this to add any context you want, such as an answer to a security question. Also, Google is working on the ability to manually add saved passwords without the automatic popup.

The notes function is hidden behind a flag ( chrome://flags/#password-notes ) along with the ability to manually add passwords (chrome://flags/#add-passwords-in-settings).

RELATED: How to manage saved passwords in Chrome

What else is new?

Google now releases all versions of Chrome every four weeks, which means big, flashy features aren’t as frequent. However, there is still a lot going on below the surface. You can read about many of these changes on Google’s developer site, as well as on the Chromium blog. We will highlight a few changes here:

  • AudioContext.outputLatency The property estimates the time between the time the user agent requests a host system to play a buffer and the time the audio output device processes the first sample in the buffer.
  • The font-palette The CSS property allows you to select a palette of a color source.
  • The MediaCapabilities API has been extended to support WebRTC streams.
  • Developers may voluntarily revoke a permission for a USB Device that has been granted by a user with the USBDevice forget() method.
  • WebSQL in third-party contexts is now removed.

How to update Google Chrome

Chrome will automatically install the update on your device when it’s available. To immediately check for and install available updates, click the three-dot menu icon and click Help > About Google Chrome.

RELATED: How to update Google Chrome

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