For administrators who manage Chrome browser or Chrome OS devices for a business or school.
Chrome 102 release summary
Chrome browser updates
- Chrome sends Private Network Access preflights for subresources
In Chrome 102, Chrome sends a CORS preflight request ahead of any private network requests for subresources, asking for explicit permission from the target server. This request carries a new`Access-Control-Request-Private-Network: true`
header. In this initial phase, this request is sent, but no response is required from network devices. If no response is received, or it does not carry a matching `Access-Control-Allow-Private-Network: true
` header, a warning is shown in DevTools (more details here).
In Chrome 105 at the earliest, the warnings will turn into errors and affected requests will fail. You can disable Private Network Access checks using the InsecurePrivateNetworkRequestsAllowed and InsecurePrivateNetworkRequestsAllowedForUrls enterprise policies.
If you want to test this feature prior to Chrome 106, the Chrome team has created the `--enable-features=PrivateNetworkAccessRespectPreflightResults` command-line flag (also available as chrome://flags/#private-network-access-respect-preflight-results).
To learn more about mitigating this change proactively, see details on what to do if your site is affected. Read the whole blog post for a more general discussion about Private Network Access preflights.
- Virtual card numbers in Autofill
To make checking out with autofill more secure, virtual cards for participating US banks are available in Chrome 102. Virtual cards let users pay with unique virtual card numbers so they don’t need to share their real card numbers with merchants. When autofill is enabled, virtual card numbers are automatically generated at checkout for opted-in users. You can control Chrome's credit card autofill behavior with the AutofillCreditCardEnabled enterprise policy.
- Changes to URL parameters
Chrome 102 might remove some URL parameters when a user selects Open link in incognito window from the context menu. You can control this behavior with the UrlParamFilterEnabled enterprise policy.
- A redesign for browser downloads
With Chrome 102, some users see a redesigned user experience for browser downloads. We are replacing the existing downloads shelf with a dedicated downloads bubble in Chrome browser’s top bar. You can control this with the DownloadBubbleEnabled enterprise policy.
- Chrome releases on Windows and Android include multiple versions
To better compare the behavior of a new release of Chrome against the existing one, Chrome now makes multiple new versions available during a rollout. This is an internal change to our update strategy, which has no effect on enterprises. Admins do not need to adjust their update policies and strategy. However, in the interest of transparency, we're sharing this update so that those responsible for Chrome releases understand why they're seeing extra versions of Chrome available during rollouts.
- New and updated policies in Chrome browser
Policy
Description
When enabled or not set, the URL parameter filter might remove some parameters when a user selects Open link in incognito window from the context menu. When disabled, no filtering is performed.
This policy allows an admin to specify settings for installed web apps.
This policy controls whether a user will be presented with an option, within the Google Cast menu, which allows them to cast to devices that do not appear in the Google Cast menu. If enabled, users can cast to the device using either the access code or QR code displayed on the cast device's screen.
Controls Warn Before Quitting (⌘Q) dialog when the user is attempting to quit the browser (Mac only).
This policy allows adding restrictions on managed accounts. Two new options are available in Chrome 102: primary_account_keep_existing_data and
primary_account_strict_keep_existing_data.
Chrome OS updates
- Long-term support (LTS)
With the release of Chrome 102, devices that are on the Long-term support candidate (LTC) channel automatically upgrade from version LTC-96 to version LTC-102. This is our first major LTC update.
Devices that are on the LTS channel will remain on LTS-96 until LTS-102 releases in September.
Note: This is a good time to check your organization’s release configuration and verify if your devices are on the LTS or the LTC channel.
As a best practice, most of your devices should be on the LTS channel. We recommend that you keep some devices on the LTC channel in order to preview features in the upcoming LTS release in advance, and have time to plan and execute any necessary change management before the new LTS is released.
Admins can switch between LTS and other channels if desired. For more details about LTS, see this article in the Help Center.
- Camera settings improvements
Chrome 102 adds improvements for the Chrome OS Camera app, to make it simpler and easier to use. On the left-side tool, it is easier to access the different options and users can now clearly see what feature is currently turned on or off. Under the Settings tab, we’ve made all Camera options more readable and easier to find.
- Launcher redesign includes Open Tab search
Chrome 102 adds Open Tab search integration into the redesigned Launcher. This updated version allows users to open the Launcher, and search for a browser tab that is currently open.
As a category, open tabs are ranked just like any other category; the order is based on how often the user tends to click on that type of result.
- A match is done on both the URL and the tab name.
- A user can select the tab and go to it within the browser.
Tabs playing active audio are returned as top search values, as well as tabs that have been recently used or other tabs with the same name.
- Built-in IKEv2 VPN support on Chrome OS
Chrome OS now supports IKEv2 VPN as a built-in VPN client. It is configurable through system settings and policies, similar to L2TP/IPsec VPN, and OpenVPN.
IKEv2 VPN is one of the modern and most widely used VPN protocols. This feature allows users to connect to IKEv2 VPNs directly through Chrome OS system settings, without the need to install third-party apps.
Admin console updates
- New security events for the Chrome Audit Log
The Chrome Audit Log now has three new categories of security events, which include events for when users login and logout of devices, for when user accounts are added or removed from a device, and for when a managed device changes boot mode to developer or verified mode. For more information, go to the Chrome Workspace Admin Help Center.
- New policies in the Admin console
Policy Name
Pages
Supported on
Category/Field
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User Experience > Fullscreen after unlock
User & Browser Settings
Chrome
Chrome OS
User Experience > Middle slot announcement on the New Tab Page
Device Settings
Chrome OS
Other settings > Android apps for unaffiliated users
Coming soon
Note: The items listed below are experimental or planned updates. They might change, be delayed, or canceled before launching to the Stable channel.
Upcoming Chrome browser changes
- Privacy Sandbox updates
The Privacy Sandbox release in Chrome 103 will provide controls for the new Topics & Interest Group APIs. It will also introduce a one-time dialog that explains Privacy Sandbox to users and allows them to manage their preferences. This dialog is not shown for Guest users or managed EDU users.
Admins can prevent the dialog from appearing for their managed users by controlling third party cookies explicitly via policy:- To allow third-party cookies and Privacy Sandbox features, set BlockThirdPartyCookies to disabled
- To disallow third-party cookies and Privacy Sandbox features, set BlockThirdPartyCookies to enabled. This might cause some sites to stop working.
- Case-matching on CORS preflight requests
Chrome 102 and below uppercase request methods when matching withAccess-Control-Allow-Methods
response headers in CORS preflight. Chrome 103 will not uppercase request methods, except for DELETE, GET, HEAD, OPTIONS, POST, and PUT (all case-insensitive). So, Chrome 103 will require exact case-sensitive matching.
Previously accepted, but rejected in Chrome 103:- Request:
fetch(url, {method: 'Foo'})
- Response Header:
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: FOO
Previously rejected, but accepted in Chrome 103:- Request:
fetch(url, {method: 'Foo'})
- Response Header:
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: Foo
Note:post
andput
are not affected because they are in https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#concept-method-normalize, whilepatch
is affected. - Request:
- Local Fonts Access API
Users of design applications often want to use fonts present on their local device. The Local Fonts Access API will give web applications the ability to enumerate local fonts and some metadata about each. This API will also give web applications access to the font data as a binary blob, allowing those fonts to be rendered within their applications using custom text stacks. The enterprise policies applicable to this feature are DefaultLocalFontsSetting, LocalFontsAllowedForUrls and LocalFontsBlockedForUrls. The API will be available as early as Chrome 103.
- Chrome Actions on iOS
Chrome Actions help users get things done fast, directly from the address bar. We first released Chrome Actions on desktop a couple of years ago, with Actions like Clear browsing data. In Chrome 103, we’ll be bringing some of them to Chrome on iOS, like:
- Manage passwords
- Open Incognito tab
- Clear browsing data
- And more!
Chrome on iOS allows users to take actions directly from the address bar, like clearing browsing data, using a button that appears among auto-complete suggestions. This feature is already available on desktop platforms.
- Improved credit and debit card Autofill
Over the course of Chrome 103, credit and debit card Autofill will start supporting cloud-based upload via Google Pay, enabling Autofill for your cards across all your Chrome devices. You can control credit card autofill with the AutofillCreditCardEnabled enterprise policy.
- Removing LockIconInAddressBarEnabled policy
Chrome 94 launched an experiment to replace the lock icon as the connection security indicator. The LockIconInAddressBarEnabled policy was added to allow organizations to continue to show the lock icon during the experiment. The experiment is no longer active, so the policy will no longer be available starting with Chrome 103.
- Improved first run experience on iOS
In Chrome 103, some users might see a new onboarding experience with fewer steps and a more intuitive way to sign into Chrome. Enterprise policies, like BrowserSignin, SyncDisabled, SyncTypesListDisabled and MetricsReportingEnabled, to control whether the user can sign into Chrome and other aspects of the onboarding experience will continue to be available as before.
- Chrome on Windows will use Chrome's built-in DNS client by default
The built-in DNS client is enabled by default on macOS, Android and Chrome OS. Chrome on Windows will also use the built-in DNS client by default as early as Chrome 103. Enterprises can opt out by setting BuiltInDnsClientEnabled policy to Disabled.
- Release of Speculation Rules API for prerender in Android
Expanding our prerender efforts released on Chrome 101, we will ship the Speculations Rules API for Android in Chrome 103. This API will allow web authors to suggest to Chrome which pages that the user is very likely to navigate to next. This will influence Chrome during the decision to prerender a particular URL before the user navigates to it, aiming to offer an instant navigation. An enterprise policy, NetworkPredictionOptions, is available to block the usage of all prerendering activities which will result in Chrome ignoring the hints provided using this API. See our article on speculative prerendering for more information.
- Enhanced Safe Browsing on iOS
To match Safe Browsing functionality from other platforms, we will add functionality so that a user on iOS can choose what type of Safe Browsing protection they would like. Where an enterprise controls this setting, the enterprise will be allowed to set the level of Safe Browsing protection, and users under the enterprise will not be allowed to change the preference. An enterprise policy SafeBrowsingProtectionLevel is available to control Safe Browsing and the mode it operates in.
- MetricsReportingEnabled policy will be available on Android in Chrome 103
Chrome-on-Android will slightly modify the first run experience to support the MetricsReportingEnabled policy. If the admin disables metrics reporting, there will be no change. If the admin enables metrics, users will still be able to change the setting in Chrome settings. When enabled, the MetricsReportingEnabled policy allows anonymous reporting of usage and crash-related data about Chrome to Google.
- Chrome 104 will no longer support OS X 10.11 and macOS 10.12
Chrome 104 will no longer support macOS versions 10.11 and 10.12, which are already outside of their support window with Apple. Users will have to update their operating systems in order to continue running Chrome browser. Running on a supported operating system is essential to maintaining security.
- Changes in cookie expiration date limit
Beginning with Chrome 104, any newly set or refreshed cookies will have their expiration date limited to no more than 400 days in the future. Cookies which request expiration dates after 400 days in the future will still be set, but their expiration will be adjusted down to 400 days. Existing cookies will retain their prior expiration date (even if it was more than 400 days in the future), but refreshing them will cause the cap to be enforced.
- Chrome will show Journeys on the History page on Android
Chrome 96 started clustering local browsing activity on the History page into Journeys to make it easier to find prior activity and continue it with related search suggestions. These Journeys will become available on Android in Chrome 104. For keywords typed into the Omnibox that match a cluster, an action chip displays for seamless access to the Journeys view. Users can delete clusters and disable Journeys, if desired. Additionally, admins will have the option to disable this feature using the HistoryClustersVisible policy.
- Network Service on Windows will be sandboxed
As early as Chrome 104, to improve security and reliability, the network service, already running in its own process, will be sandboxed on Windows. As part of this, third-party code that is currently able to tamper with the network service may be prevented from doing so. This might cause interoperability issues with software that injects code into Chrome's process space, such as Data Loss Prevention software. The NetworkServiceSandboxEnabled policy allows you to disable the sandbox if incompatibilities are discovered. You can test the sandbox in your environment using these instructions and report any issues you encounter.
- Chrome 104 will remove U2F API
The U2F API for interacting with USB security keys has been disabled by default since Chrome 98. Chrome is currently running an Origin Trial that lets websites temporarily re-enable the U2F API. This Origin Trial will end on July 26, 2022 and the U2F API will be fully removed in Chrome 104.
If you run a website that still uses this API, please refer to the deprecation announcement and blog post for more details.
- Private extensions using Manifest V2 no longer accepted in the Chrome Web Store in June 2022
As part of the gradual deprecation of Manifest V2, the Chrome Web Store stopped accepting submissions of new Public or Unlisted Manifest V2 extensions after January 17, 2022. In June 2022, Chrome expands this restriction to new extensions with Private visibility, which may have a more significant impact on Enterprise extension workflows. Extensions which are already submitted may continue to be updated until January 2023.
For more details, refer to the Manifest V2 support timeline.
- Chrome apps no longer supported on Windows, Mac, and Linux as early as Chrome 106
As previously announced, Chrome apps are being phased out in favor of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and web-standard technologies. The deprecation schedule was adjusted to provide enterprises who used Chrome apps additional time to transition to other technologies, and Chrome apps will now stop functioning in Chrome 106 or later on Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you need additional time to adjust, a policy ChromeAppsEnabled will be available to extend the lifetime of Chrome Apps an additional 2 milestones.
If you're force-installing any Chrome apps, starting Chrome 104, users will be shown a message stating that the app is no longer supported. The installed Chrome Apps will still be launchable.
Starting with Chrome 106, Chrome Apps on WIndows, Mac and Linux will no longer work. To fix this, remove the extension ID from the force-install extension list, and if necessary they can add the corresponding install_url to the web app force install list. For common Google apps, the install_urls are listed below:
Property Extension ID (Chrome App) install_url (PWA / Web App) Gmail pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia https://mail.google.com/mail/
installwebapp?usp=adminDocs aohghmighlieiainnegkcijnfilokake https://docs.google.com/document/
installwebapp?usp=adminDrive apdfllckaahabafndbhieahigkjlhalf https://drive.google.com/drive/
installwebapp?usp=adminSheets felcaaldnbdncclmgdcncolpebgiejap https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/
installwebapp?usp=adminSlides aapocclcgogkmnckokdopfmhonfmgoek https://docs.google.com/presentation/
installwebapp?usp=adminYouTube blpcfgokakmgnkcojhhkbfbldkacnbeo https://www.youtube.com/s/notifications/
manifest/cr_install.html
- Default to origin-keyed agent clustering in Chrome 106
As early as Chrome 106, websites will be unable to setdocument.domain
. Websites will need to use alternative approaches such aspostMessage()
or Channel Messaging API to communicate cross-origin. If a website relies on same-origin policy relaxation viadocument.domain
to function correctly, it will need to send anOrigin-Agent-Cluster: ?0
header along with all documents that require that behavior.
Note:document.domain
has no effect if only one document sets it.
An enterprise policy will be available to extend the current behavior.
Upcoming Chrome OS changes
- Fast Pair on Chrome OS
Starting in Chrome 103, Fast Pair will make Bluetooth pairing easier on Chrome OS devices and Android phones. When you turn on your Fast Pair-enabled accessory (like Pixel Buds), it will automatically detect and pair with your Chrome OS device in a single tap. Fast Pair will also associate your Bluetooth accessory with your Google account, making it incredibly simple to move between your Chrome OS and Android devices.
- Smart Lock UX update
Starting in Chrome 104, Smart Lock, which allows users to unlock their Chromebook using their connected Android phone, will be faster than ever, with greater performance, reliability, and an overhauled design.
Upcoming Admin console changes
Previous release notes
Chrome version & targeted Stable channel release date |
|
---|---|
Chrome 101: April 26, 2022 | |
Chrome 100: March 29, 2022 | |
Chrome 99: March 01, 2022 | |
Chrome 98: February 01, 2022 | |
Archived release notes → |
Open all | Close allChrome 101
Chrome browser updates
- Removing setTimeout(,0) clamping to 1ms
Chrome 101 removes a web intervention for some users that clamped setTimeout(,0) timers to 1ms. In Chrome 101, those users see timers fire immediately. Note that nested timer calls clamp to 4ms after repeated nested calls. This change brings Chrome in line with web specifications and might improve performance on some pages.
It's possible that this change will introduce bugs in web applications that rely on the current clamped behavior. If you have any apps affected by this change, you can use the SetTimeoutWithout1MsClampEnabled policy to revert to the Chrome 100 behavior.
- Deprecation Origin Trial for UA reduction
As previously announced, Chrome 101 protects user privacy by reducing the granularity of information in the User-Agent string. In this phase, the MINOR.BUILD.PATCH version info is reduced to 0.0.0. If a site needs this information, it should migrate to the User Agent Client Hints API. Sites that need more time to test or migrate can take advantage of a Deprecation Trial, which started in Chrome 100.
You can also control this using the UserAgentReduction enterprise policy. You can test the new reduced-granularity User-Agent string by setting the policy to 2, or you can delay the change while you update your apps by setting it to 1.
- Chrome Browser Cloud Management maintains compatibility with the most recent 12 versions of Chrome
Starting with Chrome 101, Chrome Browser Cloud Management maintains compatibility with the most recent 12 versions of Chrome. Older versions may lose some Chrome Browser Cloud Management features without notice, or behave unexpectedly. For your security, you should keep Chrome auto-update enabled, which keeps your fleet on the most recent version of Chrome. If you manage Chrome updates manually, staying close to the most recent version both keeps your users safer, and ensures you stay within the compatibility window.
- Chrome 101 supports notification permission changes in Android 13 and above
Android 13 is changing the way push notification permissions behave by default. All Android apps require users to explicitly allow OS notification permissions, as opposed to Android 12 and earlier where it was granted by default. Chrome running on Android 13 now prompts the user for permission at app launch up to two times.
- Chrome removes support for WebSQL in a third-party context
The WebSQLInThirdPartyContextEnabled policy was introduced to give admins additional time to react to the removal of WebSQL in a third-party context. As planned, this policy is removed in Chrome 101.
- Compare search results with new Side Search feature
Side Search allows users to compare search results via a side panel UI to get the right answer faster. This means users can view a page and the search results at the same time, without needing to navigate back and forth or losing their search results. This is helpful for users who are actively searching for something and need more than one site, for example, planning an employee dinner, putting together presentations, and so on. You can control this feature using the SideSearchEnabled policy.
- Control camera and microphone permissions on iOS
In Chrome 101, after granting Chrome both app level and site level permission to use the camera or microphone, users can now control camera or microphone usage. Users can tap the icon on the left of the location bar to trigger a popup that shows switches to control the camera or microphone. Alternatively, users can go to Site Information in the context menu and do the same.
- Chrome runs prerendering autocomplete suggestions from the Omnibox
Chrome 101 enables Omnibox, or URL bar, prerendering. With this feature, Chrome starts prerendering the high-confidence Omnibox autocomplete suggestions. Chrome is currently prefetching resources for high-confidence suggestions using No-state Prefetch, but with this feature we can further process the webpage, including DOM tree construction and script execution. Enterprises can opt-out of this feature using the NetworkPredictionOptions policy.
- Chrome removes legacy policies with non-inclusive names
Chrome 86 through Chrome 90 introduced new policies to replace policies with less inclusive names (for example, whitelist, blacklist). In order to minimize disruption for existing managed users, both the old and the new policies currently work.
This transition period was originally planned for Chrome 95, but was extended to Chrome 101 to give admins more time to transition their policies. In Chrome 101, the policies in the left column of the following table no longer function. Please ensure you're using the corresponding policy from the right column instead:
Legacy Policy Name
New Policy Name
NativeMessagingBlacklist
NativeMessagingBlocklist
NativeMessagingWhitelist
NativeMessagingAllowlist
AuthNegotiateDelegateWhitelist
AuthNegotiateDelegateAllowlist
AuthServerWhitelist
AuthServerAllowlist
SpellcheckLanguageBlacklist
SpellcheckLanguageBlocklist
AutoplayWhitelist
AutoplayAllowlist
SafeBrowsingWhitelistDomains
SafeBrowsingAllowlistDomains
ExternalPrintServersWhitelist
ExternalPrintServersAllowlist
NoteTakingAppsLockScreenWhitelist
NoteTakingAppsLockScreenAllowlist
PerAppTimeLimitsWhitelist
PerAppTimeLimitsAllowlist
URLWhitelist
URLAllowlist
URLBlacklist
URLBlocklist
ExtensionInstallWhitelist
ExtensionInstallAllowlist
ExtensionInstallBlacklist
ExtensionInstallBlocklist
UserNativePrintersAllowed
UserPrintersAllowed
DeviceNativePrintersBlacklist
DevicePrintersBlocklist
DeviceNativePrintersWhitelist
DevicePrintersAllowlist
DeviceNativePrintersAccessMode
DevicePrintersAccessMode
DeviceNativePrinters
DevicePrinters
NativePrinters
Printers
NativePrintersBulkConfiguration
PrintersBulkConfiguration
NativePrintersBulkAccessMode
PrintersBulkAccessMode
NativePrintersBulkBlacklist
PrintersBulkBlocklist
NativePrintersBulkWhitelist
PrintersBulkAllowlist
UsbDetachableWhitelist
UsbDetachableAllowlist
QuickUnlockModeWhitelist
QuickUnlockModeAllowlist
AttestationExtensionWhitelist
AttestationExtensionAllowlist
PrintingAPIExtensionsWhitelist
PrintingAPIExtensionsAllowlist
AllowNativeNotifications
AllowSystemNotifications
DeviceUserWhitelist
DeviceUserAllowlist
NativeWindowOcclusionEnabled
WindowOcclusionEnabled
If both the legacy policy and the new policy are set for any row in the table above, the new policy overrides the legacy policy.
If you're managing Chrome via the Admin console (for example, Chrome Browser Cloud Management), no action is required; the Admin console manages the transition automatically.
- New and updated policies in Chrome browser
Policy
Description
Allow showing the most recent default search engine results page in a browser side panel.
Frequency of cloud reporting in hours.
Enable Optimization Guide Fetching.
Force WebSQL to be enabled.
Control Javascript
setTimeout()
function minimum timeout.
Chrome OS updates
- Network-based recovery for Chrome OS
Network-based recovery provides a built-in recovery mechanism for Chrome OS that doesn’t need external tools such as a USB stick, an Android device, a second computer, a USB cable, and so on. It is available on most of the new Chrome OS devices launching after April 20, 2022.
- UI-based firmware updates for peripherals
Chrome OS now performs firmware updates for peripherals using fwupd, an open source firmware update framework. The previous automatic firmware update approach has its limits as major market players introduce significant changes requiring long update sessions, which can sometimes cause devices to malfunction.
Using fwupd, Chrome OS provides a UI for firmware updates for peripheral devices, allowing users to perform the update when needed.
- Crostini upgrades to Debian 11 (Bullseye)
When users signed up for Crostini, they received a container with Debian 10 (Buster). Debian 11 (Bullseye) is now stable and used for new Crostini installs. We recommend that existing Crostini users upgrade to Bullseye to access new features and simplify support.
Chrome allows users to trigger an upgrade, both via a prompt that occurs at certain times, as well as through Settings. The upgrade displays progress to the user and explains any errors that might occur.
In addition, Chrome 101 now stores an upgrade log, in Downloads, and notifies the user about it, so it's easier to troubleshoot upgrade issues.
- UI improvements for the Camera app
Chrome 101 includes improvements for the Chrome OS Camera app, to make it simpler and easier to use. On the left-side tool, it is easier to access the different options and users can now clearly see what feature is currently turned on or off. Under the Settings tab, we’ve made all Camera options more readable and easier to find.
- Cursive canvas lock
A new canvas lock toggle in Cursive allows you to quickly enable or disable pan and zoom for the canvas. This helps avoid any accidental movements of the canvas while you write. You can turn on canvas lock from the 3-dot menu, and then quickly toggle it using a button on top of the canvas.
- Forced reboot across managed devices
Admins can now automate the reboot process across managed devices. To help reduce operational overhead and improve certain application flows, you can schedule recurring device reboots across kiosks, managed guest and standard user sessions. This essentially forces the device to reboot, even during an active session.
Admin console updates
- Identification variables for Android managed configuration policy
Managed configuration files can now include placeholders that Chrome OS substitutes for the indicated value(s) before providing the configuration file to the Android app. Admins can work with the Android app developer to determine what values to use in a custom policy. All values are optional. See the help center for more details on specific identification variables.
- New policies in the Admin console
Policy Name
Pages
Supported on
Category/Field
User & Browser Settings
Chrome
Chrome OS
Android
Network > CORS non-wildcard request headers support
User & Browser Settings
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
Accessibility > On-screen keyboard in tablet mode
Device Settings
Chrome OS
Imprivata > Shared Kiosk mode
Device Settings
Chrome OS
Imprivata > Shared apps & extensions
User & Browser Settings
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
Other settings > Fast Pair (fast Bluetooth pairing)
Coming soon
Note: The items listed below are experimental or planned updates. They might change, be delayed, or canceled before launching to the Stable channel.
Upcoming Chrome browser changes
- Chrome apps no longer supported on Windows, Mac, and Linux as early as Chrome 102
As previously announced, Chrome apps will be phased out in favor of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and web-standard technologies. The deprecation schedule was adjusted to provide enterprises who used Chrome apps additional time to transition to other technologies, and Chrome apps will now stop functioning in Chrome 102 or later on Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you need additional time to adjust, a policy called ChromeAppsEnabled will be available to extend the lifetime of Chrome Apps an additional 2 releases.
If you're force-installing any Chrome apps, users will be shown a message stating that the app is no longer supported. To fix this, remove the extension ID from the force-install extension list, and if necessary they can add the corresponding install_url to the Web App force install list. For common Google apps, the install_urls are listed below:
Property
Extension ID (Chrome App)
install_url (PWA / Web App)
Gmail
pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia
https://mail.google.com/mail/
installwebapp?usp=adminDocs
aohghmighlieiainnegkcijnfilokake
https://docs.google.com/document/
installwebapp?usp=adminDrive
apdfllckaahabafndbhieahigkjlhalf
https://drive.google.com/drive/
installwebapp?usp=adminSheets
felcaaldnbdncclmgdcncolpebgiejap
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/
installwebapp?usp=adminSlides
aapocclcgogkmnckokdopfmhonfmgoek
https://docs.google.com/presentation/
installwebapp?usp=adminYoutube
blpcfgokakmgnkcojhhkbfbldkacnbeo
https://www.youtube.com/s/notifications/
manifest/cr_install.html
- Privacy Sandbox updates in Chrome 102
The Privacy Sandbox release in Chrome 102 will provide controls for the new Topics & Interest Group APIs. It will also introduce a one-time dialog that explains Privacy Sandbox to users and will allow them to manage their preferences. This dialog will not be shown for Guest users or managed EDU users.
Admins will be able to prevent the dialog from appearing for their managed users by controlling third party cookies explicitly via policy:
- To allow third party cookies and Privacy Sandbox features, set BlockThirdPartyCookies to disabled
- To disallow third party cookies and Privacy Sandbox features, set BlockThirdPartyCookies to enabled. This may cause some sites to stop working.
- Private extensions using Manifest V2 no longer accepted in the Chrome Web Store in June 2022
As part of the gradual deprecation of Manifest V2, the Chrome Web Store stopped accepting submissions of new Public or Unlisted Manifest V2 extensions after January 17, 2022. In June 2022, Chrome expands this restriction to new extensions with Private visibility, which may have a more significant impact on Enterprise extension workflows. Extensions that are already submitted can continue to be updated until January 2023.
For more details, refer to the Manifest V2 support timeline.
- Chrome will send Private Network Access preflights for subresources as early as Chrome 102
As early as Chrome 102, Chrome plans to send a CORS preflight request ahead of any private network requests for subresources, asking for explicit permission from the target server. This request carries a newAccess-Control-Request-Private-Network: true
header. In this initial phase, this request is sent, but no response is required from network devices.
In a future milestone of Chrome, the response must carry a matchingAccess-Control-Allow-Private-Network: true
header.
A private network request is any request from a public website to a private IP address or localhost, or from a private website, for example, an intranet, to localhost. Sending a preflight request mitigates the risk of cross-site request forgery attacks against private network devices such as routers, which are often not prepared to defend against this threat.
- MetricsReportingEnabled policy available on Android in Chrome 102
Chrome-on-Android will slightly modify the first run experience to support the MetricsReportingEnabled policy. If the admin has disabled metrics reporting, there will be no change. If the admin has enabled metrics, users will still be able to disable it.
- Chrome 103 will use case-matching on CORS preflight requests
Chrome 101 and below uppercases request methods when matching with Access-Control-Allow-Methods response headers in CORS preflight. Chrome 101 doesn't uppercase request methods, except for those normalized in the spec https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#concept-method-normalize, and so requires exact case-sensitive matching.
Previously accepted, but now rejected:
Request:fetch(url, {method: 'Foo'})
Response Header:Access-Control-Allow-Methods: FOO
Previously rejected, but now accepted:
Request:fetch(url, {method: 'Foo'})
Response Header:Access-Control-Allow-Methods: Foo
Note:post
andput
are not affected because they are in https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#concept-method-normalize, whilepatch
is affected.
- Chrome Actions on iOS in Chrome 103
Chrome Actions help users get things done fast, directly from the address bar. We first released Chrome Actions on desktop a couple of years ago, with Actions like Clear browsing data. In Chrome 103, we will bring some of them to Chrome on iOS, like:
- Manage passwords
- Open Incognito tab
- Clear browsing data
- And more!
Chrome on iOS will allow users to take actions directly from the address bar, like clearing browsing data, using a button that will appear among auto-complete suggestions. This feature is already available on desktop platforms.
- Chrome 104 will no longer support OS X 10.11 and macOS 10.12
Chrome 104 will no longer support macOS versions 10.11 and 10.12, which are already outside of their support window with Apple. Users will have to update their operating systems in order to continue running Chrome browser. Running on a supported operating system is essential to maintaining security.
- Network Service on Windows will be sandboxed in Chrome 104
As early as Chrome 104, to improve security and reliability, the network service, already running in its own process, will be sandboxed on Windows. As part of this, third-party code that is currently able to tamper with the network service might be prevented from doing so. This might cause interoperability issues with software that injects code into Chrome's process space, such as Data Loss Prevention software. The NetworkServiceSandboxEnabled policy will allow you to disable the sandbox if incompatibilities are discovered. You can test the sandbox in your environment using these instructions and report any issues you encounter.
- Default to origin-keyed agent clustering in Chrome 106
As early as Chrome 106, websites will be unable to set document.domain. Websites will need to use alternative approaches such as postMessage() or Channel Messaging API to communicate cross-origin. If a website relies on same-origin policy relaxation via document.domain to function correctly, it will need to send anOrigin-Agent-Cluster: ?0
header along with all documents that require that behavior.
Note: document.domain has no effect if only one document sets it.
An enterprise policy will be available to extend the current behavior.
- Chrome 107 will replace master_preferences with initial_preferences
Initial preferences allow you to deploy default preferences when users first open Chrome browser. Theinitial_preferences
file will replace themaster_preferences
file, which accomplished the same thing before Chrome 91. To minimize disruption, Chrome currently accepts bothmaster_preferences
andinitial_preferences
. In Chrome 107, Chrome will stop accepting the oldmaster_preferences
file name, and only accept the file if it is namedinitial_preferences
.
Please ensure that if you're using initial preferences, that the file is namedinitial_preferences
and notmaster_preferences
. You do not need to change the contents of the file in any way.
Upcoming Admin console changes
Chrome browser updates
- Screen sharing fix for macOS
If your users are having trouble sharing their screens on macOS, please see this guide for instructions on how to fix it.
- Chrome major version number reaches 100
Chrome is now on a 3-digit version number. When browsers went from version 9 to 10, the increase in the number of digits uncovered many issues in User-Agent string parsing libraries.
An Enterprise policy ForceMajorVersionToMinorPositionInUserAgent is available to control whether the User-Agent string major version should be frozen at 99. If you have an app that is broken in version 100 due to a User-Agent parsing error, you can set the policy to 2 and the User-Agent string freezes the major version at 99 and includes the browser's major version in the minor position.
- Updates for Legacy Browser Support <open-in> rules
When the BrowserSwitcherParsingMode policy is set to IE-compatible, Chrome updates the Legacy Browser Support rules:
- For v2 sitelists,
<open-in>
behavior is changed in the following ways:<open-in>None</open-in>
entries are treated as a greylist, and will open in any browser, rather than as inverted sitelist entries.<open-in>MSEdge</open-in>
entries will open in Chrome, as Windows treats this to mean the default, modern browser.- Anything unspecified opens in any browser, the same as greylist entries
- For v1 sitelists,
doNotTransition="true"
entries are treated as a greylist, and will open in any browser, rather than as inverted sitelist entries.
To mitigate disruption, this change only applies if you set BrowserSwitcherParsingMode policy is set to 1.
The documentation for Legacy Browser Support can be found here. - For v2 sitelists,
- Chrome 100 removes the AllowSyncXHRInPageDismissal policy
The AllowSyncXHRInPageDismissal policy was introduced in Chrome 78 to give enterprises more time to adapt to the removal of synchronous XHR requests during page dismissal. Though this policy was originally planned to be removed in Chrome 93, the transition period was extended to allow developers more time to adapt. This transition period is now closed and Chrome 100 removes this policy.
- New WebHID enterprise policies
As early as Chrome 100, Chrome adds new policies to manage the WebHID API. DefaultWebHidGuardSetting configures the default API behavior for all URLs and can be configured to allow origins to Ask for new device permissions or Block all permission requests. The WebHidAskForUrls and WebHidBlockedForUrls policies override the default policy for specific URLs.
Three new policies are added for automatically granting device permissions. URLs contained in the WebHidAllowAllDevicesForUrls policy will be automatically granted permissions for any connected device. The WebHidAllowDevicesForUrls and WebHidAllowDevicesWithHidUsagesForUrls policies can be used to grant narrower permissions by matching against vendor and product IDs or application collection usages in the HID report descriptor.
- Chrome 100 removes Lite Mode on Android
Lite Mode was a way to reduce data usage on Android devices. Since its introduction, the cost of data has been reduced in many countries, and Chrome has invested in other ways to save data. As a result, Lite Mode is no longer available, including the DataCompressionProxyEnabled policy used to control it.
- Chrome Actions introduced on Android
Chrome Actions help users get things done fast, directly from the address bar. We first released Chrome Actions on desktop a couple of years ago, with Actions like Clear browsing data. Now, we’re bringing some of them to Chrome on Android, like:
- Manage passwords
- Open Incognito tab
- Clear browsing data
- And more!
Chrome on Android allows users to take actions directly from the address bar, like clearing browsing data, using a button that appears among auto-complete suggestions. This feature is already available on desktop platforms.
- Updates to the Certificate Transparency policy
In Chrome 100, the Certificate Transparency requirements in Chrome change; certificates are no longer required to include signed certificate timestamps (SCTs) from one Google operated and one non-Google operated log, and instead are required to include SCTs from at least two logs from different operators. Additionally, the amount of SCTs required for certificates with a lifetime between 180 days and 15 months increase, from 2 to 3. The existing policies that allow selectively disabling CT enforcement (CertificateTransparencyEnforcementDisabledForCas, CertificateTransparencyEnforcementDisabledForLegacyCas, and CertificateTransparencyEnforcementDisabledForUrls) continue to work.
- Multi-Screen Window Placement API stable launch
Multi-Screen Window Placement API adds new screen information APIs and makes incremental improvements to existing window placement APIs, allowing web applications to offer compelling multi-screen experiences. The existing singularwindow.screen
offers a limited view of available screen space, and window placement functions generally clamp bounds to the current screen. This feature unlocks modern multi-screen workspaces for web applications.
A new set of policies, DefaultWindowPlacementSetting, WindowPlacementAllowedForUrls, and WindowPlacementBlockedForUrls, lets admins force their fleet to employ a default setting and automatically accept or deny the Window Placement permission without prompting the user, per origin.
- Chrome adds Google Account-tied tokens to Enhanced Safe Browsing pings
For users who consented to Enhanced Safe Browsing and are signed in to their Google accounts, Chrome adds Google Account-tied tokens to various incident reporting pings, except when in Incognito mode. This enables better tailored protection after encountering Safe Browsing warnings.
You control this feature on your environment using the SafeBrowsingProtectionLevel enterprise policy.
- Dismiss password alerts on Desktop
To reduce noise from unnecessary alerts, Chrome Desktop users can now dismiss password alerts for compromised passwords. You can prevent end users from dismissing password alerts with the PasswordDismissCompromisedAlertEnabled policy.
- Chrome expands SCT auditing to more users
As part of Chrome's Certificate Transparency protections, Chrome expands the existing signed certificate timestamp (SCT) auditing to all users that have Safe Browsing enabled. With this change, Chrome makes rare — less than one in 10,000 TLS connections — privacy-preserving queries to Google to ensure that Certificate Transparency logs are operating correctly. If a query detects a misbehaving log, the client will provide evidence of that misbehavior (the certificate chain and all SCTs) to Google. Chrome does not share certificates that are not issued by publicly trusted root certificates. CT ensures that all certificates or SCTs from publicly trusted roots are already public information, and no additional data is collected.
- Chrome no longer supports TLS 1.0/1.1 on Android WebView
In Chrome 98, TLS 1.0/1.1 support was fully removed from Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. Starting in Chrome 100, TLS 1.0/1.1 is no longer supported on Android WebView. This might affect Android Apps using WebView which rely on connecting to a server that does not support TLS 1.2 or higher. Please update any servers to support modern TLS versions.
- New and updated policies in Chrome browser
Policy
Description
Enable dismissing compromised password alerts for entered credentials.
List of origins allowing all HTTP authentication.
Control use of the WebHID API.
Allow the WebHID API on these sites.
Block the WebHID API on these sites.
Automatically grant permission to sites to connect to any HID device.
Automatically grant permission to these sites to connect to HID devices with the given vendor and product IDs.
Automatically grant permission to these sites to connect to HID devices containing top-level collections with the given HID usage.
Allows origin-keyed agent clustering by default.
Default Window Placement permission setting.
Allow Window Placement permission on these sites.
Block Window Placement permission on these sites.
Disable download file type extension-based warnings for specified file types on domains.
Chrome OS updates
- Chrome OS Dictation text editing
Dictation lets you use your voice to dictate text anywhere you would usually type on your Chromebook. Now, you can also edit text with your voice using commands like delete, undo, or select all. This feature is particularly useful for those who have motor impairments or anyone who prefers to use their voice to type.
We’re initially launching with a small number of commands; we plan to add more in the future. Try it out by turning on dictation under Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard and text input. Whenever you are in a text area, you can select Search + d to activate dictation.
- Chrome OS Flex
We announced early access to a new version of Chrome OS bringing the benefits of Chrome OS to PCs and Macs. Chrome OS Flex is the cloud-first, fast, easy-to manage, and secure operating system for PCs and Macs. Chrome OS Flex is now on the beta channel and since launch, 100+ more devices have been verified to work with Chrome OS Flex. Try it out and share your feedback to help us shape this product.
Admin console updates
- Chrome Browser Cloud Management (CBCM) supports Chrome on Android
CBCM now supports enrolling Chrome on Android and sends reporting information back to the Admin console. Admins can get reporting information on policies that have been enabled, the OS version, model name, and other important data. More details are in our help center.
- Remotely connect to any device from the Admin console
Admins can now establish a remote Chrome Remote Desktop (CRD) connection using a remote command under Device details for any device with an affiliated user or managed guest session. Previously, this feature was only available for devices in kiosk mode. More details are in our help center.
- New policies in the Admin console
Policy Name
Pages
Supported on
Category/Field
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome
Chrome OS
Content > iframe navigation
User & Browser Settings
Browser
Network > Network service sandbox
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome
Chrome OS
Android
Network > User-Agent Reduction
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome
Chrome OS
Android
Network > User-Agent client hints
Device Settings
Chrome OS
Other settings > International keyboard shortcuts mapping
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User experience > Quick Answers > Enable Quick Answers
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User experience > Quick Answers > Enable Quick Answers definition
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User experience > Quick Answers > Enable Quick Answers translation
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User experience > Quick Answers > Enable Quick Answers unit conversion
Coming soon
Note: The items listed below are experimental or planned updates. They might change, be delayed, or canceled before launching to the Stable channel.
Upcoming Chrome browser changes
- Chrome 101 will remove setTimeout clamping to 1ms
Chrome 101 removes a web intervention for some users that clampedsetTimeout(function,0)
timers to 1ms. In Chrome 101, those users will see timers fire immediately. Note that nested timer calls will clamp to 4ms after repeated nested calls. This change brings Chrome in line with web specifications and may improve performance on some pages.
It's possible that this change will introduce bugs in web applications that rely on the current clamped behavior. If you have any apps affected by this change, you can use the SetTimeoutWithout1MsClampEnabled policy to revert to the Chrome 100 behavior.
- Deprecation Origin Trial for UA Reduction in Chrome 101
As previously announced, Chrome 101 protects user privacy by reducing the granularity of information in the User-Agent string. In this phase, the MINOR.BUILD.PATCH version info is reduced to "0.0.0". If a site needs this information, it should migrate to the User Agent Client Hints API. Sites that need more time to test or migrate can take advantage of a Deprecation Trial, starting in Chrome 100.
You can also control this using the UserAgentReduction Enterprise policy. You can test the new reduced-granularity User-Agent string by setting the policy to 2, or you can delay the change while you update your apps by setting it to 1.
- Chrome Browser Cloud Management will maintain compatibility with the most recent 12 versions of Chrome
Starting with Chrome 101, Chrome Browser Cloud Management will maintain compatibility with the most recent 12 versions of Chrome. Older versions may lose some CBCM features without notice, or behave unexpectedly. For your security, you should keep Chrome auto-update enabled, which will keep your fleet on the most recent version of Chrome. If you manage Chrome updates manually, staying close to the most recent version will both keep your users safer, and ensure you stay within the CBCM compatibility window.
- Chrome 101 will support Android 13 and above notification permission changes
Android 13 is changing the way push notification permissions behave by default. All Android apps will require users to explicitly allow OS notification permissions (as opposed to Android 12 and earlier where it was granted by default). Chrome running on this version of Android will prompt the user for permission at app launch up to two times.
- MetricsReportingEnabled policy available in Chrome 101 on Android
Chrome-on-Android will be slightly modifying the First Run Experience to support the MetricsReportingEnabled policy. If the admin has disabled metrics reporting, there will be no change. If the admin has enabled metrics, users will still be able to disable it.
- Privacy Sandbox updates in Chrome 101
The Privacy Sandbox release in Chrome 101 provides controls for the new Topics & Interest Group APIs. It also introduces a one-time dialog that explains Privacy Sandbox to users and allows them to manage their preferences. This dialog is not shown for Guest users or managed EDU users.
Admins can prevent the dialog from appearing for their managed users by controlling third party cookies explicitly via policy:
- To allow third party cookies and Privacy Sandbox features, set BlockThirdPartyCookies to disabled
- To disallow third party cookies and Privacy Sandbox features, set BlockThirdPartyCookies to enabled. This may cause some sites to stop working.
Privacy Sandbox features will also be disabled (and no dialog shown) if DefaultCookiesSetting is set to Do not allow any site to set local data.
- WebSQLInThirdPartyContextEnabled will be removed in Chrome 101
WebSQLInThirdPartyContextEnabled was introduced to give admins additional time to react to the removal of WebSQL in a third-party context. As planned, it is removed in Chrome 101.
- Compare search results with new Side Search feature in Chrome 101
Side Search allows users to compare search results via a side panel UI to get the right answer faster. This means users can view a page and the search results at the same time, without needing to navigate back and forth or losing their search results. This is helpful for users who are actively searching for something and need more than one site, for example, planning an employee dinner, putting together presentations, and so on. This feature can be controlled using the SideSearchEnabled policy.
- Legacy policies with non-inclusive names will be removed in Chrome 101
Chrome 86 through Chrome 90 introduced new policies to replace policies with less inclusive names (for example, whitelist, blacklist). In order to minimize disruption for existing managed users, both the old and the new policies currently work.
This transition period was originally planned for Chrome 95, but was extended to Chrome 101 to give admins more time to transition their policies. In Chrome 101, the policies in the left column of the following table will no longer function. Please ensure you're using the corresponding policy from the right column instead:
Legacy Policy Name
New Policy Name
NativeMessagingBlacklist
NativeMessagingBlocklist
NativeMessagingWhitelist
NativeMessagingAllowlist
AuthNegotiateDelegateWhitelist
AuthNegotiateDelegateAllowlist
AuthServerWhitelist
AuthServerAllowlist
SpellcheckLanguageBlacklist
SpellcheckLanguageBlocklist
AutoplayWhitelist
AutoplayAllowlist
SafeBrowsingWhitelistDomains
SafeBrowsingAllowlistDomains
ExternalPrintServersWhitelist
ExternalPrintServersAllowlist
NoteTakingAppsLockScreenWhitelist
NoteTakingAppsLockScreenAllowlist
PerAppTimeLimitsWhitelist
PerAppTimeLimitsAllowlist
URLWhitelist
URLAllowlist
URLBlacklist
URLBlocklist
ExtensionInstallWhitelist
ExtensionInstallAllowlist
ExtensionInstallBlacklist
ExtensionInstallBlocklist
UserNativePrintersAllowed
UserPrintersAllowed
DeviceNativePrintersBlacklist
DevicePrintersBlocklist
DeviceNativePrintersWhitelist
DevicePrintersAllowlist
DeviceNativePrintersAccessMode
DevicePrintersAccessMode
DeviceNativePrinters
DevicePrinters
NativePrinters
Printers
NativePrintersBulkConfiguration
PrintersBulkConfiguration
NativePrintersBulkAccessMode
PrintersBulkAccessMode
NativePrintersBulkBlacklist
PrintersBulkBlocklist
NativePrintersBulkWhitelist
PrintersBulkAllowlist
UsbDetachableWhitelist
UsbDetachableAllowlist
QuickUnlockModeWhitelist
QuickUnlockModeAllowlist
AttestationExtensionWhitelist
AttestationExtensionAllowlist
PrintingAPIExtensionsWhitelist
PrintingAPIExtensionsAllowlist
AllowNativeNotifications
AllowSystemNotifications
DeviceUserWhitelist
DeviceUserAllowlist
NativeWindowOcclusionEnabled
WindowOcclusionEnabled
If both the legacy policy and the new policy are set for any row in the table below, the new policy will override the legacy policy.
If you're managing Chrome via the Google Admin console (for example, Chrome Browser Cloud Management), no action is required; the Google Admin console will manage the transition automatically.
- Chrome apps will no longer work in Chrome 102 on Windows, Mac, and Linux
As previously announced, Chrome apps are being phased out in favor of Progressive Web Apps and web-standard technologies. The deprecation schedule was adjusted to provide enterprises who used Chrome apps additional time to transition to other technologies, and Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux will now stop functioning in Chrome 102. If you need additional time to adjust, a policy ChromeAppsEnabled will be available to extend the lifetime of Chrome Apps for an additional 2 releases.
- Chrome 102 to use case-matching on CORS preflight requests
Chrome 101 and previous releases uppercase request methods when matching with Access-Control-Allow-Methods response headers in CORS preflight. Chrome 102 no longer uppercases request methods, except for those normalized in the spec. So, Chrome 102 and later will require exact case-sensitive matching.
Previously accepted, but now rejected:
Request:
fetch(url, {method: 'Foo'})
Response Header:Access-Control-Allow-Methods: FOO
Previously rejected, but now accepted:
Request:
fetch(url, {method: 'Foo'})
Response Header:Access-Control-Allow-Methods: Foo
Note:post
andput
methods are not affected because they are in in the spec, whilepatch
is affected.
- Chrome to send Private Network Access preflights for subresources
As early as Chrome 102, Chrome plans to send a CORS preflight request ahead of any private network requests for subresources, asking for explicit permission from the target server. This request carries a new Access-Control-Request-Private-Network: true header. In this initial phase, this request is sent, but no response is required from network devices.
In a future release of Chrome, the response must carry a matchingAccess-Control-Allow-Private-Network: true
header.
A private network request is any request from a public website to a private IP address or localhost, or from a private website, for example, an intranet, to localhost. Sending a preflight request mitigates the risk of cross-site request forgery attacks against private network devices such as routers, which are often not prepared to defend against this threat.
- Network Service on Windows will be sandboxed in Chrome 102
As early as Chrome 102, to improve security and reliability, the network service, already running in its own process, will be sandboxed on Windows. As part of this, third-party code that is currently able to tamper with the network service may be prevented from doing so. This might cause interoperability issues with software that injects code into Chrome's process space, such as Data Loss Prevention software. The NetworkServiceSandboxEnabled policy allows you to disable the sandbox if incompatibilities are discovered. You can test the sandbox in your environment using these instructions and report any issues you encounter.
- Default to origin-keyed agent clustering in Chrome 106
As early as Chrome 106, websites will be unable to set document.domain. Websites will need to use alternative approaches such aspostMessage()
or Channel Messaging API to communicate cross-origin. If a website relies on same-origin policy relaxation via document.domain to function correctly, it will need to send anOrigin-Agent-Cluster: ?0
header along with all documents that require that behavior.
Note: document.domain has no effect if only one document sets it.
An enterprise policy will be available to extend the current behavior.
Chrome browser updates
- Rollback on private network access pre-flights
Chrome 98 introduced Private Network Access pre-flights to improve user security. Due to bug reports, Chrome 99 rolls back this feature to better address interactions with developer and enterprise environments. We will announce plans to re-introduce this feature in future release notes.
- Chrome 99 adds the NTPMiddleSlotAnnouncementVisible policy
Enterprise administrators are able to control the visibility of the middle slot announcement on the Desktop New tab page using the NTPMiddleSlotAnnouncementVisible enterprise policy.
- Chrome 99 updates the code signing certificate for Chrome on macOS
The code signing certificate for Chrome on macOS is changing. If you are managing Chrome with Parental Controls Application Restrictions, you need to update the designated requirement in the configuration profile, under theappID
key. An example profile with the updated designated requirements can be found here: https://crbug.com/1295049#c3.
Similarly, managing Chrome's Privacy Preferences Policy Control with theCodeRequirement
key might also require an update. If you have been using the designated requirement from a previous version of Chrome, you need to update theCodeRequirement
key. You can view the updated requirement with the following command:
> codesign -d -r- /Path/to/Chome99.app
- Chrome 99 removes the CrossOriginWebAssemblyModuleSharingEnabled policy
Chrome 95 prevented WebAssembly module sharing between cross-origin but same-site environments, but included a temporary policy, CrossOriginWebAssemblyModuleSharingEnabled, to bypass the feature. Chrome 99 removes this temporary policy.
- New and updated policies in Chrome browser
Policy Description NTPMiddleSlotAnnouncementVisible Show the middle slot announcement on the New Tab Page ForceMajorVersionToMinorPositionInUserAgent Test the 3-digit Major Version number in UA strings NewTabPageLocation
New on iOSConfigure the New Tab page URL
Chrome OS updates
- Nearby Share background scanning
Nearby Share is Google’s solution to enable seamless sharing from device to device. To provide a better user experience, Chrome OS adds support for background scanning, which allows a Chrome OS device to detect and proactively notify a user when someone nearby is sharing which makes it easier to share without having to temporarily enter high visibility mode. This functionality has been present on Android since the launch of Nearby Share in 2019, and now behaves the same way on Chrome OS, to ensure consistency and predictability.
- Keep full-screen mode after unlock
Chrome 99 improves support for full screen VDI use cases. Until now, full screen virtualized desktops returned to a maximized window after unlocking a device. The new KeepFullscreenWithoutNotificationUrlAllowList policy allows admins to exempt certain URLs and apps from exiting full screen after unlock. This unblocks the use of virtualized desktops in user sessions and in Imprivata-based managed guest sessions.
- GIF animation mode on Camera
With GIF mode, you can now record up to five-second videos of product demos, and it will automatically turn into a shareable GIF.
Admin console updates
- New policies in the Admin console
Policy Name
Pages
Supported on
Category/Field
User & Browser Settings
Chrome OS
Omnibox search provider > Side panel search history
User & Browser Settings
Chrome
Network > Network service sandbox
Additional Apps Settings
Chrome OS
Additional application settings > Full restore
Additional Apps Settings
Chrome OS
Additional application settings > Android ghost windows
User & Browser Settings
Chrome
Chrome OS
Content > Custom Protocol Handlers
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome
Chrome OS
Android
Security > WebSQL in third-party context
User & Browser Settings
Chrome
Legacy Browser Support > Sitelist parsing mode
Device settings
Chrome OS
Power and shutdown > Scheduled reboot
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User Experience > Quick Answers > Enable Quick Answers
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User Experience > Quick Answers > Enable Quick Answers definition
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User Experience > Quick Answers > Enable Quick Answers translation
User & Browser Settings;
Managed Guest Session
Chrome OS
User Experience > Quick Answers > Enable Quick Answers unit conversion
Coming soon
Note: The items listed below are experimental or planned updates. They might change, be delayed, or canceled before launching to the Stable channel.
Upcoming Chrome browser changes
- Chrome 100 will remove the AllowSyncXHRInPageDismissal policy
The AllowSyncXHRInPageDismissal policy was introduced in Chrome 78 to give enterprises more time to adapt to the removal of synchronous XHR requests during page dismissal. Though this policy was originally planned to be removed in Chrome 93, the transition period was extended to allow developers more time to adapt. This transition period is now closed and the policy will be removed in Chrome 100.
- Chrome 100 will update Legacy Browser Support <open-in> rules
In Chrome 100, when the BrowserSwitcherParsingMode policy is set to IE-compatible, Legacy Browser Support rules are updated:
- For v2 sitelists, <open-in> behavior is changed in the following ways:
- <open-in>None</open-in> entries are treated as a greylist, and will open in any browser, rather than as inverted sitelist entries.
- <open-in>MSEdge</open-in> entries will open in Chrome, as Windows treats this to mean the default, modern browser.
- Anything unspecified opens in any browser, the same as greylist entries
- For v1 sitelists:
- doNotTransition="true" entries are treated as a greylist, and will open in any browser, rather than as inverted sitelist entries.
To mitigate disruption, this change only applies if you set BrowserSwitcherParsingMode policy is set to 1.
For more details on Legacy Browser Support, see here. - For v2 sitelists, <open-in> behavior is changed in the following ways:
- Chrome Major Version number will reach 100
Chrome will reach a 3-digit major version number in March, 2022. When browsers went from version 9 to 10, the increase in the number of digits uncovered many issues in User-Agent string parsing libraries. In order to avoid the same issue again, developers and IT admins should test their services in advance.
To help, the Chrome team created the ForceMajorVersion100InUserAgent flag (chrome://flags/#force-major-version-to-100). This forces the browser to send 100 as the major version number; see blog for details. You should use this flag to uncover and address any issues before Chrome 100 rolls out. We encourage admins to submit any issues encountered here.
An enterprise policy ForceMajorVersionToMinorPositionInUserAgent is also available to control whether the User-Agent string major version should be frozen at 99. If you have an app that is broken in version 100 (due to a User-Agent parsing error), you can set the policy to 2 and the User-Agent string will freeze the major version as 99 and include the browser's major version in the minor position.
- Chrome 100 will remove Lite Mode on Android
Lite Mode was a way to reduce data usage on Android devices. Since its introduction, the cost of data has been reduced in many countries, and Chrome has invested in other ways to save data. As a result, Lite Mode will no longer be available, including the DataCompressionProxyEnabled policy used to control it.
- Updates to Certificate Transparency policy
In Chrome 100, the Certificate Transparency requirements in Chrome will change, certificates will no longer be required to include signed certificate timestamps (SCTs) from one Google operated and one non Google operated log, and instead will be required to include SCTs from at least two logs from different operators. Additionally, the amount of SCTs required for certificates with a lifetime between 180 days and 15 months will increase, from 2 to 3. The existing policies that allow selectively disabling CT enforcement (CertificateTransparencyEnforcementDisabledForCas, CertificateTransparencyEnforcementDisabledForLegacyCas, and CertificateTransparencyEnforcementDisabledForUrls) will continue to work.
- Network Service on Windows will be sandboxed
As early as Chrome 100, to improve security and reliability, the network service, already running in its own process, will be sandboxed on Windows. As part of this, third-party code that is currently able to tamper with the network service may be prevented from doing so. This might cause interoperability issues with software that injects code into Chrome's process space, such as Data Loss Prevention software. The NetworkServiceSandboxEnabled policy allows you to disable the sandbox if incompatibilities are discovered. You can test the sandbox in your environment using these instructions and report any issues you encounter.
- New WebHID enterprise policies
As early as Chrome 100, Chrome will add policies to manage the WebHID API. DefaultWebHidGuardSetting configures the default API behavior for all URLs and can be configured to allow origins to Ask for new device permissions or Block all permission requests. The WebHidAskForUrls and WebHidBlockedForUrls policies override the default policy for specific URLs.
Three new policies are added for automatically granting device permissions. URLs contained in the WebHidAllowAllDevicesForUrls policy will be automatically granted permissions for any connected device. The WebHidAllowDevicesForUrls and WebHidAllowDevicesWithHidUsagesForUrls policies can be used to grant narrower permissions by matching against vendor and product IDs or application collection usages in the HID report descriptor.
- Support for Encrypted Client Hello (ECH)
As early as Chrome 100, Chrome will start supporting ECH as a continuation of our network related efforts to improve our users’ privacy and safety on the web, for example, Secure DNS. Many organizations’ infrastructure relies on the ability to inspect Server Name Indication (SNI), for example, with filtering, logging, and so on. You might want to explore a DNS-based approach and the associated group policies from the OS, or Chrome browser for DNS-over-HTTPS.
- Deprecation Origin Trial for UA reduction
As previously announced, Chrome 101 protects user privacy by reducing the granularity of information in the User-Agent (UA) string. In this phase, the MINOR.BUILD.PATCH version info is reduced to "0.0.0". If a site needs this information, it should migrate to the User Agent Client Hints API. Sites that need more time to test or migrate can take advantage of a Deprecation Trial, starting in Chrome 100.
You can also control this using the UserAgentReduction enterprise policy. You can test the new reduced-granularity UA string by setting the policy to 2. Alternatively, you can delay the change while you update your apps by setting it to 1.
- Multi-Screen Window Placement API stable launch
Multi-Screen Window Placement API will add new screen information APIs and will make incremental improvements to existing window placement APIs. This will allow web applications to offer compelling multi-screen experiences. The existing singular window.screen offers a limited view of available screen space, and window placement functions generally restrict the current screen. This feature will unlock modern multi-screen workspaces for web applications.
A new set of policies, DefaultWindowPlacementSetting, WindowPlacementAllowedForUrls, and WindowPlacementBlockedForUrls, will let admins force their fleet to employ a default setting and automatically accept or deny the Window Placement permission without prompting the user, on a per-origin basis.
- Chrome Browser Cloud Management will extend Chrome compatibility
As early as with Chrome 101, Chrome Browser Cloud Management will maintain compatibility with the most recent 12 versions of Chrome. Older versions may lose some CBCM features without notice, or behave unexpectedly. For your security, you should keep Chrome auto-update enabled, which will keep your fleet on the most recent version of Chrome. If you manage Chrome updates manually, staying close to the most recent version will both keep your users safer, and ensure you stay within the CBCM compatibility window.
- Legacy policies with non-inclusive names will be removed in Chrome 101
Chrome 86 through Chrome 90 introduced new policies to replace policies with less inclusive names (for example, whitelist, blacklist). In order to minimize disruption for existing managed users, both the old and the new policies currently work.
This transition period was originally planned for Chrome 95, but was extended to Chrome 101 to give admins more time to transition their policies. In Chrome 101, the policies in the left column of the following table will no longer function. Please ensure you're using the corresponding policy from the right column instead:
Legacy Policy Name
New Policy Name
NativeMessagingBlacklist
NativeMessagingBlocklist
NativeMessagingWhitelist
NativeMessagingAllowlist
AuthNegotiateDelegateWhitelist
AuthNegotiateDelegateAllowlist
AuthServerWhitelist
AuthServerAllowlist
SpellcheckLanguageBlacklist
SpellcheckLanguageBlocklist
AutoplayWhitelist
AutoplayAllowlist
SafeBrowsingWhitelistDomains
SafeBrowsingAllowlistDomains
ExternalPrintServersWhitelist
ExternalPrintServersAllowlist
NoteTakingAppsLockScreenWhitelist
NoteTakingAppsLockScreenAllowlist<
PerAppTimeLimitsWhitelist
PerAppTimeLimitsAllowlist
URLWhitelist
URLAllowlist
URLBlacklist
URLBlocklist
ExtensionInstallWhitelist
ExtensionInstallAllowlist
ExtensionInstallBlacklist
ExtensionInstallBlocklist
UserNativePrintersAllowed
UserPrintersAllowed
DeviceNativePrintersBlacklist
DevicePrintersBlocklist
DeviceNativePrintersWhitelist
DevicePrintersAllowlist
DeviceNativePrintersAccessMode
DevicePrintersAccessMode
DeviceNativePrinters
DevicePrinters
NativePrinters
Printers
NativePrintersBulkConfiguration
PrintersBulkConfiguration
NativePrintersBulkAccessMode
PrintersBulkAccessMode
NativePrintersBulkBlacklist
PrintersBulkBlocklist
NativePrintersBulkWhitelist
PrintersBulkAllowlist
UsbDetachableWhitelist
UsbDetachableAllowlist
QuickUnlockModeWhitelist
QuickUnlockModeAllowlist
AttestationExtensionWhitelist
AttestationExtensionAllowlist
PrintingAPIExtensionsWhitelist
PrintingAPIExtensionsAllowlist
AllowNativeNotifications
AllowSystemNotifications
DeviceUserWhitelist
DeviceUserAllowlist
NativeWindowOcclusionEnabled
WindowOcclusionEnabled
If both the legacy policy and the new policy are set for any row in the table below, the new policy will override the legacy policy.
If you're managing Chrome via the Google Admin Console (for example, Chrome Browser Cloud Management), no action is required; the Google Admin Console will manage the transition automatically.
- Default to origin-keyed agent clustering
As early as Chrome 103, websites will be unable to set document.domain. Websites will need to use alternative approaches such as postMessage() or Channel Messaging API to communicate cross-origin. If a website relies on same-origin policy relaxation via document.domain to function correctly, it will need to send an Origin-Agent-Cluster: ?0 header along with all documents that require that behavior.
Note: document.domain has no effect if only one document sets it.
An enterprise policy will be available when this change ships to extend the current behavior.
Chrome browser updates
- Use Chrome passwords in other apps on iOS
Chrome 98 informs iOS users that they can use any passwords saved in Chrome in other apps on their device.
The Chrome > Settings > Passwords screen shows a new option for Passwords in Other Apps, which guides users to turn on this feature in iOS autofill settings.
You can control if users can save passwords using Chrome with the PasswordManagerEnabled policy.
- Update GREASE brand list generation
User-Agent Client Hints GREASE aims to prevent bad or exclusionary assumptions from being built on top of the proposed replacement for User-Agent strings. This means that users of less well-tested browsers will not be rejected for not matching the precise format of a more-well tested browsers UA string.
This change aligns our implementation of GREASE in User-Agent Client Hints with the current spec, which includes additional GREASE characters beyond the current semicolon and space, and which recommends varying the arbitrary version. While we are rolling out this change gradually and continue to watch for negative impacts, such as WAF software flagging headers as invalid traffic, admins can opt out using the UserAgentClientHintsGREASEUpdateEnabled enterprise policy.
- Chrome disables the U2F API by default
The U2F API is Chrome's legacy API for interacting with USB security keys. It has been superseded by the W3C Web Authentication API (WebAuthn). Chrome 98 disables the U2F API by default. With Chrome 104, the U2F API will be removed from Chrome.
Sites can continue to use the U2F API beyond Chrome 98 if they enroll in an Origin Trial. Using the Origin Trial also suppresses the deprecation prompt on the enrolled pages. The Origin Trial will end on July 26, 2022, shortly before the release of Chrome 104.
Enterprises can suppress deprecation related changes, and keep the U2F enabled, by using the U2fSecurityKeyApiEnabled enterprise policy. This enterprise policy will be removed from Chrome, together with the U2F API, in Chrome 104.
If you run a website that still uses this API, please refer to the deprecation announcement and blog post for more details.
- Chrome no longer allows TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1
The SSLVersionMin policy no longer allows setting a minimum version of TLS 1.0 or 1.1. This means the policy can no longer be used to suppress Chrome's interstitial warnings for TLS 1.0 and 1.1. Administrators must upgrade any remaining TLS 1.0 and 1.1 servers to TLS 1.2.
In Chrome 91, we announced that the policy no longer works, but users could still bypass the interstitial. In Chrome 98, it is not possible to bypass the interstitial.
- Private network access preflights for subresources
Chrome sends a CORS preflight request ahead of any private network requests for subresources, asking for explicit permission from the target server. This request carries a newAccess-Control-Request-Private-Network: true
header, and the response must carry a matchingAccess-Control-Allow-Private-Network: true
header.
A private network request is any request from a public website to a private IP address or localhost, or from a private website, for example, an Intranet, to a localhost. Sending a preflight request mitigates the risk of cross-site request forgery attacks against private network devices such as routers, which are often not prepared to defend against this threat.
Chrome 98 sends these preflight requests but does not yet require them to succeed. Failed preflights only display warnings in DevTools, which you can use to detect problematic fetches in your web apps. In Chrome 101 at the earliest, failed preflights will cause the entire request to fail depending on compatibility data. See the blog post for more information.
You can control this behavior using enterprise policies InsecurePrivateNetworkRequestsAllowed and InsecurePrivateNetworkRequestsAllowedForUrls.
- Integrate Enhanced Safe Browsing preference with account settings
Chrome now prompts users who opt in to Account Enhanced Safe Browsing to enable Enhanced Safe Browsing in Chrome. Their Safe Browsing setting is still controlled by the SafeBrowsingProtectionLevel policy.
- TFLite model for client-side phishing detection
Chrome uses an on-device Machine Learning (ML) model to better detect phishing attempts, and better protect users. As in earlier versions, Chrome displays a full-page interstitial warning if Chrome detects a possible phishing attempt. This was previously launched for Android in Chrome 92, and is now on desktop platforms as well.
With this change, Chrome sends the following to the Safe Browsing service:- the version of the model that was executed
- the scores the model gave for each category
- a boolean describing whether the new model was used to generate the scores
You can control Safe Browsing using the SafeBrowsingProtectionLevel policy. This feature applies to users with the protection level set at 1 or greater.
- Chrome deprecates the installed_browser_version field in the Directory API
TheinstalledBrowserVersion
property inChromebrowser
resources in Directory API: Chrome Browsers has been deprecated and replaced by thependingBrowserVersion
property. ThependingBrowserVersion
represents the version of Chrome browser that is installed on browser restart.
- New extensions must be submitted with Manifest v3
As part of the gradual deprecation of Manifest V2, the Chrome Web Store has stopped accepting submissions of new Manifest V2 extensions as of January 17, 2022. This applies to all new extension submissions with visibility set to Public or Unlisted.
This change does not affect updates to already published extensions. Also, it does not impact extensions with visibility set to Private. The change is not expected to affect the operation of any existing extensions already deployed in Chrome. Note that the next phase of deprecation, in June of 2022, is expected to expand this restriction to extensions with Private visibility, which may have a more significant impact on Enterprise extension workflows. For more details, refer to the Manifest V2 support timeline.
- New and updated policies in Chrome browser
Policy Description URLBlocklist (new on iOS) Block access to a list of URLs URLAllowlist (new on iOS) Allow access to a list of URLs UserAgentClientHintsGREASEUpdateEnabled Control the User-Agent Client Hints GREASE Update feature UserAgentReduction Enable or disable the User-Agent Reduction
Chrome OS updates
- Support for Network Based Recovery (NBR)
In Chrome 98, some users can re-flash their devices with a fresh copy of the OS and firmware, letting them recover if the message: Chrome OS is missing or damaged appears. NBR requires a network connection. This feature will roll out to more devices in later releases.
Admin console updates
- New policies in the Admin console
Policy Name Pages Supported on Category/Field ScreenBrightnessPercent User & Browser Settings; Managed Guest Session Chrome OS Security > Screen brightness PrintPostScriptMode User & Browser Settings Chrome Printing > PostScript printer mode SandboxExternalProtocolBlocked User & Browser Settings; Managed Guest Session Chrome Chrome OS Content > iframe navigation U2fSecurityKeyApiEnabled User & Browser Settings Chrome Security > U2F Security Key API DeviceRebootOnUserSignout Device Settings Chrome OS Power and shutdown > Reboot on sign-out
Coming soon
Note: The items listed below are experimental or planned updates. They might change, be delayed, or canceled before launching to the Stable channel.
Upcoming Chrome browser changes
- Chrome Major Version number will reach 100
Chrome will reach a 3-digit major version number in March, 2022. When browsers went from version 9 to 10, the increase in the number of digits uncovered many issues in User-Agent string parsing libraries. In order to avoid the same issue again, developers and IT admins should test their services in advance.
To help, the Chrome team created the ForceMajorVersion100InUserAgent flag (chrome://flags/#force-major-version-to-100). This forces the browser to send 100 as the major version number (blog). You should use this flag to uncover and address any issues before Chrome 100 rolls out. We encourage admins to submit any issues encountered here.
- Network Service on Windows will be sandboxed
As early as Chrome 100, to improve security and reliability, the network service, already running in its own process, will be sandboxed on Windows. As part of this, third-party code that is currently able to tamper with the network service may be prevented from doing so. This might cause interoperability issues with software that injects code into Chrome's process space, such as Data Loss Prevention software. The NetworkServiceSandboxEnabled policy allows you to disable the sandbox if incompatibilities are discovered. You can test the sandbox in your environment using these instructions and report any issues you encounter.
- WebHID enterprise policies
As early as Chrome 100, Chrome will add policies to manage the WebHID API. DefaultWebHidGuardSetting configures the default API behavior for all URLs and can be configured to allow origins to Ask for new device permissions or Block all permission requests. The WebHidAskForUrls and WebHidBlockedForUrls policies override the default policy for specific URLs.
Three new policies are added for automatically granting device permissions. URLs contained in the WebHidAllowAllDevicesForUrls policy will be automatically granted permissions for any connected device. The WebHidAllowDevicesForUrls and WebHidAllowDevicesWithHidUsagesForUrls policies can be used to grant narrower permissions by matching against vendor and product IDs or application collection usages in the HID report descriptor.
- Default to origin-keyed agent clustering
As early as Chrome 103, websites will be unable to set document.domain. Websites will need to use alternative approaches such aspostMessage()
or Channel Messaging API to communicate cross-origin. If a website relies on same-origin policy relaxation via document.domain to function correctly, it will need to send anOrigin-Agent-Cluster: ?0
header along with all documents that require that behavior.
Note: document.domain has no effect if only one document sets it.
An enterprise policy will be available when this change ships to extend the current behavior.
- Change tab-sharing blue border behavior
When a user chooses to share their tab from a site participating in the region capture origin trial, the blue border used to signify that a tab is being shared will no longer be shown.
Additional resources
- For emails about future releases, sign up here.
- To try out new features before they're released, sign up for the trusted tester program.
- Connect with other Chrome Enterprise IT admins through the Chrome Enterprise Customer Forum.
- How Chrome releases work—Chrome Release Cycle
- Chrome Browser downloads and Chrome Enterprise product overviews—Chrome Browser for enterprise
- Chrome version status and timelines—Chrome Platform Status | Google Update Server Viewer
- Announcements: Chrome Releases Blog | Chromium Blog
- Developers: Learn about changes to the web platform and features planned for upcoming releases.
Still need help?
- Google Workspace, Cloud Identity customers (authorized access only)—Contact support
- Chrome Browser Enterprise Support—Sign up to contact a specialist
- Chrome Administrators Forum
- Chrome Enterprise Help Center