Android’s custom tabs have tremendously improved the in-app browsing experience by allowing you to open web pages without leaving the app you were using, but they take up the entire screen and can often steal focus from what you’re doing. This can be a bit annoying, especially if you want to keep your current app in view, so Google is addressing it with a new feature that allows apps to control the tab height.
Custom tabs were originally introduced as a feature ofGoogle Chrome, but have since been expanded to work with any supported browser. This comes courtesy of theandroidx.browserlibrary, which connects apps with the user’s default browser to render web pages without leaving the original app — handy for maintaining login info, add-ons, and other browser-specific settings when viewing web content in non-browser apps.
The new partial custom tabs feature now allows apps to open a split-screen tab when you tap on an article link, for example. Developers can choose the size of the overlay, with the goal of letting you interact with the app and in-app browser at the same time. Of course, you’re able to expand the custom tab to a full-screen view by dragging the toolbar up. If you wish to return to the original launch height, simply drag the toolbar down. But if the feature is not supported by your favorite browser, links will still open in a full-screen custom tab.
According to Google’sblog post, for the time being, partial custom tabs are supported by a few in-app browsers, such as Chrome. Nonetheless, Google has promised that support for some of thebest web browsersis on the horizon.
Interestingly,this capability has been in placesinceChrome 107, which was released last October, and version 1.5.0-alpha01 of androidx.browser, as spotted by Mishaal Rahman. Nonetheless, version 1.5.0 of androidx.browser was only recently released to the stable channel, so it’s not surprising that Google is only now making this feature official.
In addition, custom tabs will now indicate when a webpage is “running in Chrome,” which will give you an idea that Chrome’s handy features, including autofill and saved passwords, are readily accessible. Custom tabs already do an excellent job of helping developers keep user engagement with their app uninterrupted, and the latest feature is a step forward for in-app browsing.
