What you need to know
- Google announced that it's allowing iOS users to move the address bar to the bottom of the app.
- The feature should make the bar easier to access as opposed to placing it at the top, and it's similar to a move Apple made with Safari.
- The feature is not yet available for Android but was previously tested on the platform.
Oftentimes, new features will hit Google apps on iOS before they come to Android. This is one of those times, as Google has just announced that the Chrome browser on iOS will now allow users to move the address bar from the top to the bottom of the display.
To do so, open the Chrome browser on your iOS device and long-press the address bar. You'll see a menu open with an option to "Move address bar to bottom." Alternatively, if you find you prefer it on the top, you can always move it back by following the same steps.
You can also enter the Chrome settings menu and select the "address bar" option.
This move mirrors one Apple made a couple of years ago with Safari on iPhones, and for some, it's a welcome change that makes the address bar more reachable than before, especially as smartphones continue to grow in size. Some of the best Android browsers already let you do this, such as Firefox, and it was my favorite thing about using the Edge browser on Windows 10 Mobile (RIP).
"We know people prefer different address bar positions depending on the size of their hands and devices, and we took those preferences into account when building this highly requested feature," says Chrome product manager Nick Kim Sexton. Interestingly, the feature has only been announced for iOS and not for Android phones.
Google previously tested letting Android users move the address bar to the bottom, but the option never stuck around for some reason, nor did it see a wide rollout. Earlier this year, signs indicated that the feature would make it to iOS as the option showed up in the beta channel. However, its presence on iOS suggests that Google may finally bring the option to Android users.
