1 yr. ago • 94%

Chrome finally lets you move the address bar to the bottom, but not on Android

www.androidcentral.com Chrome finally lets you move the address bar to the bottom, but not on Android

The feature is only available on iOS for now.

58 comments

Just wanted to mention that Firefox and Mull for Android allow you to do that. They are also much better than Chrome or any Chromium based browser, as they allow proper adblockers and they don't support Google's monopoly on the browser rendering engines which is just bad for the open internet in general. Mull also significantly improves your privacy by using many patches from the Tor Browser.

71
- The only downside to using Firefox on Android is that Google search results can take forever to load unless you clear site cookies. And Google Image search is awful.
  
  However that's all fixed if you use Duck Duck Go instead.
  
  12
  
  You shouldn't use Google anyway. Honestly, fuck Google and their surveillance ecosystem. If you want Google search results, try Startpage, it's a meta search engine for Google. Whoogle is also an option, it's essentially a proxy for Google searches. But for me, DuckDuckGo's results are totally fine, I'm able to find anything I need.
  
  16
  
  +1 for duckduckgo. Google is mostly ads nowadays
  
  12
  
  i believe that's all fixed if you install the Google Search Fixer, or at least ive never had problems using google search on firefox android after installing that
  
  9
  
  Or Kagi. I couldn't do DDG but Kagi was good enough for me to finally switch off of Google.
  
  6
  
  or use bing, I've switched to bing recently and it's be come an overall. more enjoyable experience. Of course, using something like Duck Duck go instead of using a big company alternative is better in any case.
  
  1
- And also fennec
  
  5
  
  Fennec is just Firefox Nightly without the Firefox branding. Mull is superior as it uses patches from the Tor Browser and settings from Arkenfox user.js, it greatly improves your privacy.
  
  5
Wow how horrible... continues to use firefox

43
- Anyways.
  
  13
Why would Google code for its opponent's OS first? Not that I use Chrome, anyway. Firefox has had that feature for ages.

34
- Google constantly does this. Never makes any sense.
  
  8
- Does it matter? The iOS app and Android app are almost certainly made by two different teams that operate independently.
  
  6
- The reason is probably really mundane, like the iOS Chrome team and Android Chrome team not working in lockstep or something of the sort. Like the iOS team planned it for 2023 Q4 and the Android team for 2024 Q1
  
  5
- Probably because safari has it that way by default.
  
  5
The technology just isn't there yet

14
- It used to be able to do it via an experimental feature, then they took that feature away. https://www.dignited.com/114084/how-to-relocate-the-chrome-address-bar-on-your-android-device/
  
  It smacks of some VP of product development hating on the concept, despite it being optional, and wont back down over the decision. Most likely they used the navigation buttons on the bottom and this caused their great big sausage fingers a problem.
  
  5
  
  It was a joke
  
  1
- Somehow Chromium based Vivaldi pulled it off.
  
  2
Swore there was a flag that allowed you to do this years ago.

12
- There was. It was removed a few years ago (https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/05/29/chromes-duet-bottom-bar-interface-is-probably-gone-for-good/).
  
  19
  
  Google removing features, and bringing them back pretending they are new. A tale as old as time.
  
  10
Chromium Forks like Cromite and Brave have this feature already.

9
- Fuck Chromium. Don't support Google's monopoly on web rendering engines and use Firefox or Mull for Android as well as LibreWolf on desktop.
  
  13
  
  I use both. Firefox for most of my work and Chromium for sites that usually don't work well on FF.
  
  2
  
  I would recommend arkenfox over librewolf, that way you can use an up to date browser, with the same privacy and greater flexibility to enable features you may want (e.g. no letterbox etc).
  
  1
- Vivaldi also.
  
  2
- I've been using cromite for months! how did I not know about this??
  
  1
  
  how did I not know about this??
  
  The first thing I do whenever I install anything is to go through the settings. To turn off trackers, analytics and explore the accessibility features.
  
  4
Being at the bottom makes more sense on today's larger phones. I'm just so used to it being at the top it's hard to get used to it being at the bottom of the screen.

7
It never made sense to me, UX wise, to be up on handheld devices (one handed ones especially).

5
lol, if chrome isn't going to allow it on android then what's the point? Safari offers it (if it's the only feature you care about), and is a lot better then chrome.

5
My old windows phone did this and I loved it. I'm surprised its taking Google this long to do this. Not that I use chrome but still

5
- Firefox on Android has had this for quite a long time
  
  2
Omg, why not for Android too? It's way easier to reach bottom than the top.

4
- It actually exists in the codebase, but is disabled. 'The feature is not yet available for Android but was previously tested on the platform.'
  
  Cromite browser let's you do this.
  
  5
- Use Firefox. And also switch away from Google as your search engine. DuckDuckGo is great but if you want Google search results, try Startpage, it’s a meta search engine for Google. Whoogle is also an option, it’s essentially a proxy for Google searches. But for me, DuckDuckGo’s results are totally fine, I’m able to find anything I need.
  
  1
  
  Thank you for letting me know about Startpage!
  
  1
funny enough.. it was a feature flag to move it to the bottom on android for a while before but they removed that too

2
am I missing something? I just took this screenshot. (although tbf this is cromite, not chrome exactly, but should be the same right?)

1
Eww

1
Why would I want to? I like the search bar to stay on the top, and it will stay up top, forever. Any other spot to put it in fucking dumb

-1
- Like closer to your hand?
  
  1
I didn't know bottom-address-bar was a thing, but I hate it

-2
- It's amazing, and there's a reason Firefox has had it as the default for years.
  
  4
- I hate having to reach to the top of my 7" phone to type in an address.
  
  3
- Why?
  
  1
  
  My initial gut reaction is that it's ugly 🤷‍♂️ apparently it has its admirers, but I'm definitely not one of them
  
  5

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