14 DAY TRIAL // Google is working on adding support for the MacBook Pro Touch Bar, and version 58 of the browser is very likely to be the one bringing this feature to all users.
Currently in Canary channel, Google Chrome 58 already features Touch Bar support, though it’s an early implementation whose functionality is still limited and requires several essential improvements.
At this point, when running Google Chrome, the Touch Bar displays options such as new tab and favorite buttons, navigation controls for back, forward, and reload, an escape key and an address bar which when tapped puts the focus on the URL bar in the browser.
There are also volume buttons and a brightness controller, but on the other hand, all these options are static and do not change based on the content you open in the browser, as 9to5mac notes.
For example, it would be useful for Google Chrome to change Touch Bar icons to video playback control options when launching a video on YouTube, but given that this feature is still in its early days, there’s a chance more updates could follow before everyone gets it.
Still in its early days, more improvements likely to come
Since it’s currently part of the canary branch, Google Chrome 58 is not recommended for anyone else except those who want to experiment with new features, mostly because it’s likely to be impacted by other bugs and issues that you don’t normally discover in the stable builds.
If you want to try it out for yourselves, you can download Google Chrome 58 for Mac here, and you can always return to the stable version should you find it the better option for you.
Google hasn’t officially announced support for the Touch Bar, and the changelog for version 58 doesn’t say anything about Apple’s MacBook Pro, but given the fact that work has only now started on this new feature, more information should be provided in the coming weeks.