Chrome for Android testing new animation when switching tabs

One of the most common things we all do while using Chrome is switch from one tab to another. Google is testing an animation for the tab switcher that will make Chrome’s tab experience feel smoother and more seamless.

For the past year, Google has been working on a variety of changes to Chrome for Android’s tab experience, from subtle changes like the new grid design for the tab switcher to more vast ones like tab groups.

The latest change in testing aims to make switching Chrome tabs feel like a seamless experience. To try it yourself, you’ll need to enable a flag in chrome://flags.

Enable Tab-to-GTS Animation

Allows users to see an animation when entering or leaving the Grid Tab Switcher.

Once enabled, you’ll now be treated to a slick animation when moving to and from the Chrome for Android tab switcher.

The animation is great when it works, but unfortunately, it will run into trouble if your tab has been unloaded to save memory. Depending on your device usage, this could be a fairly common occurrence. In this case, the animation is essentially skipped.

The tab switcher animation’s Chrome flag is only a few weeks old and has so far only appeared in Chrome Dev. Most likely it will arrive in Beta (and eventually Stable) with Chrome 76.

So what do you think? Should this nifty little animation stick around? Let us know in the comments.