Google Chromehas offered a fullscreen mode on desktops for ages, but it’s never been particularly standardized how to access and exit it across platforms. That may be changing, as Google introduced a flag that gives you an easy-to-use keyboard shortcut to exit full screen. It’s far more intuitive than the disparate options currently available.
The new shortcut may become available for testing soon. Google added a pretty self-explanatorychrome://flags/#press-and-hold-esc-to-exit-browser-fullscreenflag in Chrome Canary 124, asspotted by @Leopeva64 on X. Its accompanying description reads, “Allows users to press and hold Esc key to exit browser fullscreen.” While the flag currently isn’t functional in our testing, it will presumably become available on all desktop platforms at some stage.
Currently, accessing and exiting fullscreen mode works differently across platforms. On Windows, you have to press F11, which you may need to couple with the Fn button or another combination depending on your keyboard, which may make exiting and entering more difficult. On macOS, you need to use the system-default Cmd+Ctrl+F shortcut, which some people who just quickly want to exit fullscreen may not be fully aware of.
Long-press keyboard shortcuts aren’t new to Chrome
Chrome for Mac requires holding a keyboard combo to fully close it
Making it possible to press and hold Esc makes the shortcut consistent across platforms and offers a single-button option instead of a multi-key combination that may be less intuitive. A press-and-hold option for Chrome wouldn’t be something entirely new, either. To fully shut down Chrome on macOS, you already need to press and hold Cmd+Q by default (though you can also double tap the combo).
With the flag not functional, we don’t exactly know how mandatory the new keyboard shortcut will be. It’s possible that it will live alongside the existing way to open and close fullscreen mode, but it could also replace the existing shortcuts on Mac and Windows. Only time will tell how this situation will pan out.
