Google Chrome, one of the world’s most popular web browsers, is about to get updates faster than ever before. There are a lot of bells and whistles that go into making Chrome, and between all-new features or fixing bugs that have popped up in existing ones, updates to the browser are always appreciated. They aren’t always the most obvious when they arrive, but they’re certainly appreciated in day-to-day use.
As it currently stands, Google updates Chrome every six weeks. This has been the company’s policy for some time now, and overall, it works fine. Bi-weekly security updates are also released in between these larger updates to fill in the gaps if there’s anything that needs to be addressed in a more timely manner, but as time has gone on, Google’s started to realize that there’s a better way to approach Chrome updates — hence today’s news.
On the official Chromium Blog, Google announced that it’s moving away from updates every six weeks and moving to every four weeks. This change takes effect with Chrome 94, which is set to launch In Q3 2021. Furthermore, Google plans to add a new “Extended Stable” version of Chrome where milestone updates will be released every eight weeks. Extended Stable is intended for users that need more time to manage updates as they’re released, such as enterprise admins.
Why This Is Great News For Chrome Users
For Chrome users that aren’t administrators or enterprise folks, Google says it plans to support “multiple release options” for them as well. It’s unclear right now what this means, but it could be something similar where users have the option of getting updates at a slower frequency if they prefer. As it currently stands, Chrome has the Stable, Beta, and Dev channels that people can use.
While Chrome updates aren’t typically talked about with the same excitement that’s seen with a new iOS or Android update, this is still really great news regardless. Chrome is a beast of an application, and as time goes on, things need to be fixed or patched. This move to a four-week update cycle means Google can address pesky bugs faster than ever before, in addition to adding brand new features just as quickly.
Having to wait until Q3 2021 for this change is a slight bummer, but there’s honestly not much else to complain about. Chrome is already jam-packed with features and tools, Google’s getting ready to make sure those are added much more rapidly, and it ends up being a win-win for everyone involved.
