Facing new competition from startups like Arc and Google Announce Google announced Wednesday that it will bring five new features to the Chrome browser on mobile devices, each designed to improve the search experience. This includes new shortcuts for local search results, an updated address bar for easier navigation, trending search suggestions, live sports cards for fans, and more personalized search recommendations to meet users’ browsing habits. Features will be rolled out soon for both Android and iOS devices.
Among the new features is Chrome Actions, which helps users perform certain tasks more easily without going to settings. The feature is now coming to local search results, meaning users will be able to search for a local business and quickly access shortcut buttons like “Contact,” “Directions,” and “Reviews.”
This is currently available in Chrome on Android devices, and Google will release a version for iOS later this fall.
Google has also improved the Chrome address bar for iPad and Android tablets. The new design ensures that users can open the Chrome address bar and still view the web page they are currently on, taking full advantage of larger tablet screens for a better browsing experience.
Additionally, Chrome on iOS and Android devices will include new shortcut suggestions based on previous searches. The company explained that if someone types “schedules” in Chrome and frequently clicks on the City Metro website, that site will now appear higher in search suggestions whenever a user searches for “schedules.”
Another useful feature is trending searches, which were previously only available on Android devices. Google is finally bringing popular search suggestions to the Chrome address bar on iOS, giving users the ability to see popular searches occurring via Google Search.
Google has also launched live sports cards on its mobile version of Discover Feed in Chrome to let users see when their favorite sports team is playing and to provide automatic updates with the latest scores and features from recent games. Users can customize the feature by selecting the three-dot menu in the Chrome mobile app.