Google wants Chrome to run faster on low-end devices, now lets you jump start Omnibox

Google has been trying to make the Chrome browser a one-stop option for all devices, whether you’re on high-end, expensive devices or ancient, low-end ones. The words “Chrome” and “fast” have always been associated—and that’s how they want the browser to be advertised as or remembered.

And now, a recent update on Chrome Canary, the browser’s experimental channel, on Android hints at a way for Google to make Chrome run faster and smoother on low-end devices. A spot by a trusted browser enthusiast @Leopeva64 on X gives us a look at how it appears.

As seen above, there’s now a new toggle in the Settings for Accessibility features that lets you “jump-start Omnibox,” reducing the time it takes to load the combined address and search bar (the Omnibox). It may not be fully functional for the time being, though, as the insider mentions.

“Launch Chrome with Omnibox focused, reducing start-up time on low-end devices,” the toggle reads.

In the same update, Google also gets a bit more aggressive in killing unsupported browser extensions as the transition from Manifest v2 to v3 is progressing. With this update, these unsupported extensions can only be removed or replaced as you can’t re-enable them.

The toggle to re-enable it is now off, with a warning message that reads, “This extension was turned off because it is no longer supported.”