Good news for Chrome users on both iOS and desktop, as some useful new features have arrived with the browser’s latest ‘57’ update.
For users of the desktop browser, the update introduces background tab throttling which will 'limit average CPU load to 1% of a core if an application uses too much CPU in background'.
Fortunately, the feature is clever enough to detect background tabs that are playing music or maintaining a real-time connection, and leave them running as per usual.
The overall impact of this throttling will mean 25% fewer busy background tabs, resulting in an improvement in power efficiency and ideally, longer battery life for laptops or other mobile devices.
Shiny Apple
The 57 update also brings some welcome convenience to users on iOS, with Safari-esque ‘reading list’ functionality coming to Chrome. Under the ‘Share’ menu, you'll now find the option to 'read later', which will download the page in order to view it offline. A similar 'download' feature is already available to Android users.
This addition means one less unique feature that Safari holds over Chrome on iOS, although Safari still has the advantage of a reading list that will carry across to both desktop and mobile apps, whereas Chrome’s list will not.
