Chrome 91 Brings Freeze Tab Groups to Google’s Browser

The latest update for Google Chrome brings new features like progressive web apps, collapsible tab groups that freeze automatically, and more.

Google announced the push of Chrome version 91 to its stable branch on Tuesday, noting several security fixes and updates. According to 9To5Google, version 91 also brings the much-anticipated release of Tab Groups and the ability to freeze them to save on computer resources.

Basically, when you’ve grouped several tabs together and collapsed them, Chrome 91 automatically will freeze the pages contained within those tabs to keep them from pulling resources from your computer. This should help cut down on the extreme memory usage rates that users have seen from Chrome in the past. There are a few exceptions to the rule, though, as tabs with playing audio, IndexedDB locks, or those that are capturing audio, video, or displays will not be frozen.

Chrome 91 also brings the ability to launch progressive web apps (PWAs) whenever you log into your computer’s account. You can configure the PWAs that launch from the chrome://apps page, though 9To5Google notes that you may need to enable a flag in Chrome before you can use it. You can find the necessary flag by typing "chrome://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas-run-on-os-login" into Chrome's URL bar.

Other notable features coming with the update include the option to have Android tablets request the desktop version of websites, rather than the mobile version, if the screen is large enough. Version 91 also brings the refreshed appearance of checkboxes, text fields, buttons, and more from Chrome 83 to Android, so mobile users can take advantage of those changes now.

Finally, Chrome 91 contains the official launch of Linux support for Google's top browser. Chrome 91 is available to download now, and your browser should automatically update when you launch it.