Disable new grid Chrome tabs on Android

[Ian]

Google Chrome updated on my Android phone last night, and I hate the new grid tab layout, especially the new tab bar at the bottom of the screen. It seems like such a retrograde step to force even less viewing space on a mobile browser.

I had a look on how to disable this, but the steps I found online didn't work. If you want to disable this, try these steps:

Browse to:

chrome://flags

Then search for "groups". Disable:

• Tab Groups
• Tab Groups Continuation
• Tab Groups UI Improvements

Once you've done this, reload the browser using the button at the bottom.

 

[V_R]

Yes, I hate this too. Hopefully Google don't remove the flag for it like the seem to have a habit of doing in the past...

 

[Ian]

I hate this tab change enough that I'd switch browsers, and I'm normally pretty indifferent to things like this. Interesting that it's not just me that dislikes this!

 

[V_R]

We're definitely not the only ones. I've seen it talked about on various forums and of course, Reddit.

 

[V_R]

Just coming back to this, I had this change on my Pixel 4XL today, so I had a look through the Chrome Flags and found 'Tab Grid Layout'

Gives you many options between the grid, stack etc. so its also worth a look.

 

[V_R]

I see Google have been buggering about again. I'm on the chrome beta app and they've changed it again.

 

[Ian]

Yup! Reverted back on my phone too. Going to give it a try for a little bit, as it looks like they're going to force this change!

 

[V_R]

https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/mz1p1w

Sadly its true, the flags will eventually disappear and you'll have no choice....

 

[V_R]

Sadly its true, the flags will eventually disappear and you'll have no choice....

.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it would seems that is what has just happened. FFS.

Star this issue.... https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1214806

 

[Ian]

Yep, noticed this too - I hate the new tabs system .