After skipping v82 and returning to normal in next version, Google has launched Chrome 84. New features were included in the May release, but not as many or as important as those that have come along with a final landing that is also paving the way for future releases. To be faithful to the truth, it is not that what has been available since yesterday includes many visible improvements, but that it integrates many tools for developers and web APIs.
Among the most outstanding news that users will see, there is one that we will all appreciate: blocking pop-up windows of web pages that are abusing this function to let us know that they can send us notifications when there is something new. In any case, it is something that was already available in Firefox since 2019. Below you have the most outstanding news that have arrived alongside Chrome 84.
Chrome 84 highlights
- OTP WEB API. This is something that Apple came up with and launched. Google has decided to implement it and what it does is that mobile web browsers (or those with access to something similar) can detect incoming SMS that contain one-time codes (OTP) sent as part of a two-step authentication. Once these SMS are received, the code field is filled in automatically.
- Web animations API. These are new JavaScript functions that developers can use to better control the animation sequences in a browser.
- Screen Wake Lock API. At the moment it has been added as experimental and it is not known if it will continue to be available in the future. This API can prevent mobile devices from dimming or locking the screen when Chrome needs to keep running. The websites will ask for permission so that this API can be used.
- Idle detection API. Also as experimental, this API has arrived that will detect when a certain time passes without using any component, such as the keyboard, mouse or the screen of the mobile / tablet. If there is inactivity, more demanding operations may be paused or turned off to save battery life.
- Content indexing API. Another experiment. It is a list of resources that Chrome has already saved on a web page or a web app. Developers can use this feature to enhance offline experiences.
- No more notification spam. Chrome 84 will be the first version of Google's browser where notifications from some disreputable websites are hidden by default. These notifications are now hidden under the bell icon. More information on how it works at this link.
- Support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 has been removed. Like other browsers, Google has removed them for being insecure. This restriction was planned for Chrome 81, but decided to delay it due to the coronavirus pandemic, to give developers more time (and I think not to limit the information in such difficult times).
- Blocking downloads hosted on HTTP addresses. From this release, Chrome will block downloads from HTTP sites via HTTPS by default. Google calls this "mixed content" and considers it dangerous, because we can believe that we are downloading from an HTTPS site because it is what appears in the URL bar, but in reality they are downloading via HTTP. The novelty is that an alert will now appear, one that was also delayed by the coronavirus, and that we can ignore from the advanced options.
- Security improvements have been added detailed in this link.
- Obsolete developer APIs removed detailed in this link.
Now available for all supported systems
The official launch date for Chrome 84 was yesterday, July 14. From the first moment, can now be downloaded from their website official, which we can access from here. Although Google usually delivers its updates gradually, existing users should already have their update waiting for us in the software center of our Linux distribution.