Google Chrome 93 Brings Revamped Recently Closed Tabs Menu, WebOTP API Support for Desktop, More

Chrome 93 is now being rolled out by Google to Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows platforms. It brings changes to the Recently Closed tabs feature, replaces the lock icon for HTTPS Web addresses, and several more features and updates. Additionally, Chrome 93 for Android is getting an altered dark theme, with the dark background now becoming even darker. Another new feature that Chrome 93 will get is the ability to verify a phone number using the WebOTP API.

The update for Google Chrome was announced through a blog post on August 31. Google will now let users see what sites are in their Recently Closed tabs collection and open individual pages. Earlier, Chrome only let users reopen a whole cluster of recently closed tabs.

Chrome is also experimenting by changing the icon that appeared on secure websites with the HTTPS protocols. Earlier, the secure websites were represented with a lock icon but that will now be changed to a downwards facing chevron. Additionally, Google will now only show warnings for an unsecure webpage as and when a threat arises.

Users will now be shown important or recently edited — by the user or collaborators — documents from Google Drive on their New Tab page. This feature started rolling out with the previous update and will become more prominent with the Chrome 93 update.

Google has also introduced a new method to verify a phone number on desktops. It will employ WebOTP API to automatically detect one-time passwords (OTPs) and automatically fill them in. For this to work, users would have to ensure that Chrome on their Android device and desktop are signed in from the same Google account. Notably, services would need to add support for this function to work.

Chrome 93 on iOS will get a new, compact context menu that appears when users press and hold on links and images. Users will now be able to sign in quicker to Chrome and other Google services on the web if they have already signed in to their device using their Google Account. Once signed in, users can use and store payment methods from their Google Account without syncing.

Ubuntu 16.04 has been dropped by Chrome 93 as its standard support has ended.

On Android, Google has enhanced the dark theme for the browser with Chrome 93 update. 9to5Google reports that Google will now use a darker shade of Grey (#1F1F1F), that is closer to Black than the shade it replaces (35363A). Google will also not use white borders on certain elements but will differentiate these elements using a different shade. The enhanced dark theme is visible for devices running Android 11 and Android 12 devices. Gadgets 360 was independently able to verify the new dark theme.