14 DAY TRIAL // Google has officially announced version 64 of its Chrome browser for Android, with downloads to go live on the Google Play Store in the coming days and weeks.
With this release, Google Chrome’s stable branch is being updated to version 64.0.3282.116, bringing a series of welcome changes to Android devices, including new features to improve user security when browsing the web.
First and foremost, Google Chrome 64, which officially introduces Meltdown and Spectre patches on PCs (Google has until now advised users to enable Site Isolation in Chrome 63), boasts protection against malicious auto-redirects embedded into websites.
This means that if you accidentally end up loading a website that has one of those annoying redirects embedded into an iframe, Google Chrome for Android can automatically block the redirect from the very beginning, letting you know about it using a notification bar that shows up at the top of the browser. The redirect block can be bypassed only by users specifically interacting with it.
More advanced ad blocker, visual tweaks
Additionally, Chrome 64 also introduces the overly-discussed ad blocker that’s supposed to make browsing a more enjoyable experience by automatically preventing abusive ads from being displayed. Basically, this feature should mostly impact ads that are specifically disguised into buttons (like download buttons) and transparent overlays, and we all know there are tons of file-sharing websites out there using them.
With this release, even if you accidentally tap these ads, new tabs and windows would no longer be opened, so you can continue browsing in the same tab.
And last but not least, with this new versions users are allowed to configure sites to have audio muted by default from Settings > Site settings.
There are also small UI refinements, including the relocation of some visual elements, but overall the interface remains very familiar and easy to use.
Download links of Google Chrome 64 should become available shortly, and in the meantime you can check out the photo gallery below to see the new version in action.
