by Martin Brinkmann on January 30, 2019 in Google Chrome – 6 comments
Google released Google Chrome 72 to the public on January 30, 2019. The new version of the web browser patches 58 different security vulnerabilities and introduces other changes or fixes.
Most Chrome users should get the update automatically as the browser is configured by default to download and install new updates when they become available. You may run a manual check for updates in desktop versions of Google Chrome by loading chrome://settings/help in the browser’s address bar.
Downloads are also available on the official Chrome website; we suggest that you download Chrome offline installers to avoid Net installer issues.
The official release notes highlight only the security fixes but make no mention of other changes. The update patches a critical security issue and several issues rated as high.
The official changelog — it is huge and will take a while to load — lists other changes that went into Google Chrome 72. Since you may not want to speed hours or even days going through that monster of a changelog, here is a list of important changes found in it:
- Chrome fixes password manager logic that decides whether password manager is available. Basically, fixes this for proxy.
- AV1 decoder support is enabled by default. Google removed the flag that controlled it from Chrome 72.
- The flag chrome://flags/#omnibox-ui-one-click-unelide, if enabled, performs unelision whenever the omnibox is focused, via either keyboard, mouse, or gesture tap.
- Removed option to set the default polling rate using the GamepadPollingRate flag. Google set it to 250 Hz and states that the flag is no longer necessary because of that.
- Removed Site Per Process flag from desktop platforms because it is enabled by default and no longer needed.
- Added replay button to picture-in-picture mode.
- Android: gesture-nav flag on chrome://flags to enable gesture navigation to go back and forward.
- Several crash fixes.
Chrome developers may want to check out the What’s new in Chrome 72 video on the Google Chrome Developers YouTube channel to find out what is new
Now You: did you update to Chrome 72.0 already? Did you spot any major changes?