The three new widgets that Chrome users on Android can now enable are Chrome Shortcuts 5×1, Chrome Shortcuts 5×2, and Chromium Dino. The first widget is the most compact of the lot. It’s a horizontal bar that offers quick access to Google Search and features incognito mode, voice search, and Google Lens buttons. However, not all buttons may show up for everyone. Some server-side tests will likely determine which buttons will show up for you. Perhaps depending on how frequently you use these Chrome features. The second Chrome Shortcuts widget grows in height and adds a button for Chrome’s Dino game. The same server-side button settings apply here as well. Lastly, the Chromium Dino is a square widget dedicated to the Dino game. These widgets can be enabled on Chrome for Android using the “Quick action search widget” and “Quick action search widget – dino variant” flags. You can copy-paste the links below into the address bar, hit enter, and enable the flags to activate the new widgets (via Android Police). You’ll need to relaunch your browser to use them.
- chrome:flags/#enable-quick-action-search-widget-android
- chrome:flags/#enable-quick-action-search-widget-android-dino-variant Note that these widgets are on top of the existing two widgets that Chrome for Android offers: a basic search widget and a bookmark widget. So you now have five of them to choose from. But the latest additions reportedly aren’t functioning perfectly yet. Perhaps they need some refinement.
Google is giving homescreen widgets much-needed attention
With Android 12, Google is giving much-needed attention to homescreen widgets. Several first-party apps are getting new widgets as well as improvements to the existing ones. The company first showed off the new widgets at Google I/O in May. Most of them have gone live in Android 12 over the past few months. At the same time, Google is also bringing the new widgets to devices running older versions of Android. Chrome is now picking up three new widgets. Many other Google apps will likely join the fun in the coming months. Going forward, you can expect Google to give more attention to widgets than before. Meanwhile, you might want to update Chrome to the latest version to access the new widgets. You can click the button below to update the app from the Google Play Store. DOWNLOAD GOOGLE CHROME
