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Google Chrome 88 now available on Google Play: screenshots in incognito mode and more news

Google Chrome 88 is now available for download on Google Play and, as usual, it comes loaded with news. Some activated, others accessible via a chrome flag and others that in theory should be, but no. We tell you the main news that you will find when updating Google Chrome to version 88.

Google Chrome 88 breaks with Flash and FTP, allows web applications to use the Google Play payment system, and optionally allows you to take screenshots in incognito mode and avoid being disturbed by web pages by asking your permission to show notifications, among other news.

Screenshots in incognito mode

The incognito mode of Google Chrome includes a series of protections so that, as far as possible, what happens in incognito mode stays in incognito mode. One of these protections is prevent you from taking screenshots, although now you can deactivate it if you wish.

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The first time we saw talk about this possibility, capturing the screen in incognito mode was Chrome Canary exclusive option, but now it comes to the official version. Still a Chrome flag, so that not active from factory. You need to activate #incognito-screenshot, in chrome: // flags.

Video tutorials

Another novelty that is not active yet, but must be activated from the browser’s chrome flags are the video tutorials on using Google Chrome. After activating it, tutorials in the form of short videos on how to use some basic functions of Google Chrome will be displayed on the home page.

The video tutorials are recycled from those present in Google Go, and are shown among the shortcuts to favorite pages and Discover articles. To activate them you must turn on the flag #video-tutorials in chrome: // flags.

Search for weak passwords

Since a couple versions, Google Chrome includes a section to check your passwords in its settings and alerts you every time it detects that one of your passwords has been previously filtered. In Google Chrome 88, in addition to warning you of insecure passwords, password checking will warn you of weak passwords.

The feature starts with the desktop versions of Google Chrome and will come to Android “later”, so for the moment, if you want to check which passwords Google has saved are insecure, you will need a PC.

Integrated payments in web-apps

In a new step to equate web applications to native applications, Google Chrome 88 adds support for the Payment Request API, by which you have access to the system’s payment service, which on an Android mobile is generally synonymous with the Google Play integrated payments.

Goodbye Flash and FTP

Google Chrome 88 says goodbye to two technologies, albeit irregularly. On the one hand, support for Adobe Flash ends, although this does not affect Android as it was not included anyway. On the other hand, and after multiple extensions, it should end FTP supportAlthough, to tell the truth, it still works for the moment on both Android and Desktop versions.

More restrictions on websites that ask for permissions

One last Chrome Flag should help web pages they bother you less asking for permissions. Is named #permission-predictions, is not activated from the factory and is a system to use silent notifications when the browser determines that the probability that you are going to activate said permission is low. For example, if it is the first time you visit that web page.

As always, the update also comes with a lot of bug fixes and security issues and miscellaneous changes for developers. You can download it both from Google Play and from its APK, at APKMirror.