If you still have dozens or even hundreds of tabs open on your Android phone’s Chrome browser, Google might soon offer a new way to get rid of that clutter.
Good news for Google Chrome users on Android, code changes spotted in the Chromium repositories reveal that the American giant is working on a “Tab Declutter” feature for the mobile browser. The principle is simple: Chrome will be able to automatically archive and even delete tabs that you haven’t interacted with for a long time.
This should allow you to maintain a better overview of the tabs on your phone’s small screen, without being overwhelmed by too much English. According to the description of the Chrome flags entry, Tab Declutter “allows automatic archiving and deletion of inactive tabs“. So the old inactive tabs will be archived first, which will allow you to easily restore them later if necessary. But presumably tabs that have been inactive for an extended period of time could also be deleted entirely.
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Google Chrome goes to war against inactive tabs
Google has previously attempted to tackle the problem of tab accumulation on Android, with limited success. In 2020, Chrome began suggesting users close tabs they hadn’t visited in months. But it was always abouta friendly recommendation that could easily be ignored.
The new Tab Declutter approach seems more aggressive, since it offers to do something about neglected tabs, without closing them outright. The text in the dialog box suggests that you will be able to “review all archived tabs” to decide whether to permanently delete them or restore them.
Done right, this could be a seamless way to regain control of your tabs without much hassle. But poorly implemented, it also risks being incredibly boring if Chrome is being overzealous in archiving tabs that you actually wanted to keep easily accessible.
As always with these Chrome features currently in development, details could change drastically before the actual launch to users. Google may also decide to remove the entire feature before it sees the light of day, based on additional testing and feedback.
Given its current state, it’s likely that the Tab Declutter feature won’t be enabled for most Chrome for Android users until future base releases, at the earliest. Chrome 125 in May is probably the earliest it could roll out if development continues without problems.