The New Tab page in Google Chrome for Android has been upgraded with a new feature that allows users to easily access previous search queries. Along with regularly visited and pinned site shortcuts, relevant search terms from prior searches now show up automatically with a magnifying glass symbol. The industry leader in search engine optimization apparently tested the feature in the past, and it now appears that the capability has been broadly made available to Android cellphones.
The most recent stable version of Google Chrome for Android now has a feature that shows previous search searches as shortcuts with magnifying glass icons and the text of the query underneath them (via 9to5Google). The user can access the Google Search results page for the specific query by tapping on the appropriate icon. The feature was confirmed to be active in the most recent Chrome for Android release from the Play Store by Gadgets 360.
By holding down on the icon for a long time and selecting to remove the specific search query, users may also choose to remove these search query icons from their New Tab page. A regularly visited website’s favicon will be used to replace the icon after it has been removed.
However, there is currently no obvious setting for Chrome users to block the new feature that shows previous search queries as icons on their New Tab page, so they will need to implement a manual workaround. Users can search for and turn off the Organic repeating queries in Most Visited tiles feature by typing chrome://flags into the address bar.
However, now that the rollout has been fully implemented, Google might eventually add a user-facing option that would make it simple for users to turn off the function. After all, not all users may want their searches to be displayed on the New Tab page.
As part of a rapid erase option, which is probably going to be added to the three-dot menu, Google is apparently also working on a feature that would let Android users to wipe their browser history for the previous 15 minutes. Google Chrome is also working on releasing a mouse input shortcut that will let users double-click to close tabs.