Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Chrome for Android now has tab pinning in its Canary build.
- You can long-press tabs to pin them, moving them to the top of your list.
- Pinned tabs lose their “x” so you can’t accidentally close them.
Tabbed browsing drastically changed the way lots of us used the web, empowering us to instantly pivot between pages, working with tons of different information And, of course, we immediately started abusing this power, opening dozens of tabs at once. In the decades since, developers have been crafting all manner of software solutions for smarter tab management, bringing us new tools for navigate our tab mires. And blessedly, a great new one is now available for you to try out on Android.
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Chrome makes it so easy to pop into a new tab that it’s no wonder that many of us just keep on doing so with any new content we come across, until our tab counter hits that all-too-familiar “:)” overflow. Even having a ton of tabs open isn’t necessarily a problem, and some of us can quickly navigate that list by just recalling how recently we had a site open. But for those of us who need a little help, Chrome for Android is trying out a new pinning tool.
Just like you’ve already been able to do in Chrome on desktop, the Chrome browser on your Android phone is testing the ability to pin a tab. Pinned tabs live up at the top of your list, so you always know where to find them.
We’re seeing the option now in Chrome’s latest Canary release on Android, and not hidden behind any flags you need to manually toggle on. Instead, just long-press one of the tabs you have open in Chrome and you’ll find a new “Pin tab” option added to the list.
Selecting that pins the tab at the start of Chrome’s tab listing, just like we’d expect. Long-pressing on a previously pinned tab gives you the option to unpin it. And while they’re up there, Chrome removes the tab-closing “X” from its interface, so you can’t accidentally lose one.
Sure, it’s not like Chrome hasn’t offered Android users tab management options before — you could always get in the habit of using tab groups — but if you’ve got a handful of sites you regularly visit and this sounds like a superior option to bookmarking in your mind, go ahead and install Chrome Canary and start trying mobile tab pinning for yourself.
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