In July, Google finally launched a bottom address bar for Chrome on Android. Are you using it?
It’s a “finally” moment, but Google took so long that the fanfare is a bit dampened. Additionally, how Chrome implemented the bottom Omnibox is just okay.
I continue to like how minimal (and chrome-less) the Android browser is. To me, it’s a better implementation than Safari’s two-line bottom address bar or iOS 26’s new one-line “Compact” option (that annoyingly hides the tab grid in an overflow menu. For Google, there’s an immense value in keeping around a design that people are now innately familiar with. It’s a classic interface that’s possibly Android’s most consistent layout in the past decade.
Anyways, Google just updated the main browsing interface and nothing else. A bar that was at the top of the screen is now at the bottom, with seamless switching (by long-pressing) seemingly a priority. Some credit is deserved for the gesture navigation pill not impacting how you can swipe left/right on the bar to switch tabs. It’s fine, but more could have been done to update other parts of the UI accordingly.
A “good” implementation would have re-ordered the overflow menu to place key actions near your thumb, though I can appreciate the desire to keep things consistent. One workaround is long-pressing the tab switcher button to open a new regular or Incognito tab. Google also introduced another long-press on the address bar to quickly copy a link, but that’s currently broken and looks to be fixed in the next release (139).
Beyond the three-dot menu, what I most want optimized is the menu when you enter a URL or search query. Re-ordering that list to place the most likely hit at the bottom would have been great for one-handed usage.
“Great” would be updating the tab switcher and New Tab Page (just like how Incognito was tweaked).
That said, the core change of letting you access the address bar with one hand saves me from having to use my other hand or move my grip (pinky at the USB-C port). The tab switcher being right there is also nice.
I’ve gone all-in with the bottom address bar on my primary devices. The main browsing that I primarily interact with getting updated is enough to improve how I use my phone daily.
The bottom address bar should have been introduced years ago, but now that it’s here I am noticing and benefiting from every time I use Chrome for Android.
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