Google is working on adding notifications to Chrome on Android to remind users to use the browser if they haven’t opened it for a while or if they use other browsers. Folks over at 9to5Google found Chromium commits that detail the notifications, which are termed “Reengagement notifications” and are currently hidden under an experimental flag.
The feature specifics are spread across three Chromium Gerrit pages and it is currently hidden behind the ‘#reengagement-notification’ flag for some users. When it does make it to the stable channel on mobile, it is expected to serve notifications when users indirectly open links on Chrome in Chrome Custom tabs via other apps and the app checks if users haven’t opened Chrome for a specific period. It can also be served if more than one browser installed on their phones.
The publication was able to spot the potential notifications that the search giant could serve when it does implement the engagement notifications. Those include:
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Considering that Chrome on Android enjoys close to 87% market share as of July 2020, the move to prompt users on Android to switch to Google’s browser might not be welcomed by many. Additionally, other browsers on Android such as Microsoft’s Edge browser have not seen meaningful adoption on mobile as per NeMarketshare’s stats.
It will be interesting to see how the firm implements the prompts or if it decides against the notifications. Microsoft too has been serving Edge ads across Windows 10, which have not been received well.
Source: Chromium Gerrit (1)(2)(3) via 9to5Google