Chrome for Android adds ‘sneak peek’ feature for opening new tabs in overlay w/o leaving the page

Ben Schoon | Dec 19 2018 - 7:57 am PT

Opening a new tab from the current one is a pretty common way to browse the web, even on mobile devices. Now, Google is adding a new feature to Chrome for Android called Sneak Peek which opens those tabs in an overlay while keeping you on the current page.

As first noted by Android Police, Sneak Peek in Chrome for Android gives users the option to open up content in a new tab, but all without making them leave the current page to see that content. To me, this seems most useful for reading long-form content, as you can click a link for context or to buy something mentioned without losing your place in the content itself.

To get Sneak Peek working in Chrome, users first need to access the flag chrome://flags/#enable-ephemeral-tab and set it to “Enabled.” Once that’s done and Chrome has restarted, long-pressing a link will reveal a new option in the menu for opening with Sneak Peek. The feature hasn’t made its way to stable just yet, with it live in Chrome Canary and Chrome Dev.

Using the option opens and loads the page in a small window at the very bottom of the display. When you want to access it and read more of the new tab, you can simply swipe up to let it take over the majority of the screen. Once you’re done and close that overlay, you’ll be left with the article you were previously in. Hopefully, this is something that will graduate to stable versions of Chrome soon, as it seems like a very useful tool.