Chrome Custom Tabs And Smooths The Transition Between Apps On The Web

Chrome Custom Tabs and Smooths the Transition Between Apps on the Web

BY GreenBot Staff

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Published 28 May 2015

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The line between apps and web content can be blurry. Keeping it blurry is a better experience. Tapping on something inside an app and suddenly moving over to a web browser can shock. Chrome Custom Tabs, a new feature coming to Android Marshmallow, aims to smooth the transition. Announced in 2015 at the I/O keynote, Chrome Custom Tabs allows developers to skin a Chrome tab with custom colors to make it look more like the native app. The tab runs right on top of the app; the app can pre-fetch web content. The tab loads more quickly when the user taps a link to launch. A back button takes you back to where you left off in the app.

custom 2 — Clicking Read this on Apartment Therapy in the Pinterest app results, in a Chrome Custom Tab appearing. With a handy back button to the Pinterest app.

The Pinterest app shown at the keynote is the perfect example. Every pin on Pinterest links to something on the broader web. We are tapping a link for an article on Apartment Therapy loaded. A Chrome Custom Tab with Pinterest’s pale green color scheme carried over. The theme appears quickly. The content is loaded in the background.
Standard Chrome features, like saved passwords, sign-in, autofill, and Chrome’s multi-process security model, are available. Chrome Custom Tabs are open to the SDK developers and rolled out to users in 2015.