Google is testing a new sneak peek feature in Chrome for Android
Google added an experimental sneak peek feature to preview versions of the Chrome web browser for Android.
Sneak Peek, the name of the feature, adds an option to the mobile version of Google Chrome to open any link on the same page as an overlay that you can expand to read the content in its entirety or close it again.
First discovered by Android Police, Sneak Peek is only available in Chrome Developer and Chrome Canary for Google's Android operating system.
The experimental feature is disabled by default and hidden behind a flag. Users interested in giving it a try need to set the flag to enabled first to do so.
Sneak Peek in Chrome for Android
Here is how you enable the feature. Make sure you are running the most recent version of Chrome Dev or Canary on the Android device.
- Load chrome://flags in the mobile browser's address bar.
- Type Ephemeral in the search field at the top. Chrome should return a single entry named "An Ephemeral Tab in an Overlay Panel".
- Set the status of the experimental flag to enabled.
- Tap on the restart button to restar Chrome.
Sneak Peek is enabled once the restart completes. To activate the feature, long-tap on any link displayed in the browser; doing so opens the "link" context menu that displays options to open the link in a new tab, copy the link address, or use the share functionality.
Sneak Peek is listed as one of the options. Google Chrome displays a "New" in front of the listing. Activate Sneak Peek to load the link target in an overlay in the same tab.
It is displayed at the very bottom of the screen by default in a tiny area. Use drag operations to change the size of the preview overlay.
Google Chrome displays the title of the page but not its URL in the overlay.
Use the close icon in the header to remove the overlay again to return to the originating site.
How useful is it?
It takes two actions to open a link as a sneak peek preview in the same browser tab in Chrome for Android. The main advantage of the new feature is that that you may follow resources without leaving the originating site or tab in Chrome.
The current functionality is a bit clunky to work with on the other hand. You have to resize the overlay manually each time and you don't see the URL either.
Now You: Would you use sneak peek if it landed in Chrome stable or other browsers?
I guess Softonic is also getting money from Google.
Wait till Shaun discovers chrome://flags/ and then the real how-to chrome article flooding will start…
I don’t think so. The real summary. If you need to use Chrome use it in Incognito Mode because it keeps track of your browsing history. Use Edge for your normal browsing. Edge keeps track of your browsing history for saving puppies:) Typical tricks, badmouthing the main competitor.
Really Shaun your writing “The Dark Web Awaits!” is the dark mode the same as the dark web?
Maybe dark mode was a better title?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_web
Or Brave shortcut with “-tor” parameter at the end.
The problem, is that I’m not sure which is less dangerous – Chrome or Tor?
Question marks after a declarative sentence is bad Grammer. See the headline. To use a question mark simply change the wording to a sentence, such as “How do you……”
@Shaun thanks for the articles!
“One of the best things about using Google Chrome is it keeps track of your browsing history.”
Considering the article topic I assume you mean browsing history in a broader sense, including things like tracking storage. Well even if that comment was restricted to browsing history only, not only it’s not Chrome specific but rather universal among browsers, but Chrome would instead be specific in making keeping history the worst possible feature among browsers. Because while most of the browsers (Chrome and Firefox for instance) misuse browsing history by exploiting it commercially for things like personalized advertising, so the more is kept the better for them, Chrome excels at it by uploading it unencrypted to Google servers often without the user even knowing.
“This mode disables local storage of site data, cookies, and browsing history.”
This is false. You are still being tracked by web sites (by local storage, cookies…) during your private browsing session, it just ends at the end of the session by a wiping of the tracking storage. Firefox has the same issue, and both by design. From:
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/7440301
“Cookies and site data are remembered while you’re browsing, but deleted when you exit Incognito mode.”
In fact, if it works like in Firefox, the tracking storage is even hidden to the user in the UI during private browsing but still here, creating the illusion that it is actually disabled, and even technical users often fall for this. The ability to limit, clean, auto-clean tracking storage, for instance with extensions, may also be limited in this mode. Personally I do not use it because it’s not private enough for this reason, giving up control on cookies ; I use normal mode with privacy tweaks.
A consequence is that browsers like Tor Browser that use mandatory permanent private browsing mode suffer from the same problem. In fact some update went further and totally removed the ability to block cookies and other tracking storage in the UI, while it’s still possible in Firefox in private browsing.
In private browsing modes a bit like in Tor Browser it seems that there is an underlying philosophy that it doesn’t matter that you every tiniest action is being scrutinized, analyzed, and used back against you by evil actors as long as there isn’t your real life name attached to the process. Personally, I disagree. This “loophole” is being heavily abused by surveillance capitalists in many other ways currently.
“One misconception people have is their data is kept private when using incognito mode. You should know that you can still be tracked and attacked by third parties. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) can track your browsing history and block local websites according to your geography.”
I don’t think that the most common misconception about private browsing is that it would act like an antivirus and block attacks that target vulnerabilities.
What’s often misunderstood is rather that a lot of this mode aims at protecting from other users of the same computer, being a sort of “porn mode” for example. From the same Google reference:
“When you browse privately, other people who use the device won’t see your history.”
A typical example being the browsing history wipe, while such history is not accessible to web sites anyway, but could be to other local users. (well as discussed above it’s also accessible to browser companies while it shouldn’t be, and additionally for anti-user purposes, but that’s another issue). Or the cookies being stored in memory instead of on disk, which may address yet other privacy issues due to local attacks.
However it is also useful to partly limit web tracking (I would not call this “third party” as the author writes because this obviously also includes first party ie the browsed site) in addition to protecting from other local users, by wiping tracking storage at the end of the session. With the caveat above that during the session itself, tracking storage is not disabled. There are also typically other measures that are directed against tracking by web sites exclusively, that are enforced in private browsing mode.
And finally there is all the tracking by sites that happens without using the tracking storage itself, such as through fingerprinting or the IP address ; wiping storage at the end of the session won’t help with that, unless using Tor Browser.
Why use an incognito mode when you can use browsers with a pre-installed web proxy. The UtopiaP2P ecosystem browser is the best way for me to surf the web anonymously. If, like me, you value your anonymity and privacy, then I recommend using this browser.