New version of the browser now up for grabs

Jul 15, 2020 17:03 GMT  ·  By

Google has recently released a new version of Chrome browser on all supported desktop platforms, and the changelog includes several security fixes, as well as improvements under the hood.

First and foremost, Google Chrome 84 packs no less than 38 security fixes, including for a critical heap buffer overflow bug in background fetch. The search giant says the issue was reported by Leecraso and Guang Gong of 360 Alpha Lab working with 360 BugCloud earlier this month.

There are no less than seven different security vulnerabilities with a high severity rating, and Google says it paid thousands of dollars in bounties to researchers who discovered them.

As for what’s new for the casual user, probably the biggest change happening in Chrome 84 is the new behavior that automatically mutes notifications from websites that are labeled as abusive. In other words, if you previously ended up on websites that bombarded you with notifications, this should no longer happen after installing Chrome 84.

New PWA capabilities

There are obviously plenty of improvements for developers as well, include new web animations API capabilities, with the browser also enabling the Wake Lock API beginning with this version.

Google Chrome 84 introduces new capabilities for Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs. In theory, PWAs are the next big thing for the WWW, as they allow websites to become apps that can be installed on user devices and launched separately from the browser. Google says that beginning with this version, devs can add app icon shortcuts to PWAs.

“Developers may add so-called App icon shortcuts to their PWA. On desktop, right-click on a shortcut to display the menu. Android users need to long-press the icon,” the company explains.

Google Chrome 84 is available today on Linux, Windows, and macOS, and given how many security issues have been resolved, you’re recommended to update as soon as possible.