Chrome beta with redirect blocker and autoplay video mute is available

Google released Chrome 63 and so 64 is going to the beta channel. That means users can now try this version with better pop-up blocker, redirect blocker and autoplay video mute without sacrificing too much stability.

Version 63 will be released for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, so Chrome 64 beta versions are on the way. For example, this version is already available for Windows, but the Android Beta in the Play Store has yet to receive its update, although this is not expected to be long. Version 64 was previously only accessible through the less stable Developer and Canary channels. Those two channels are on different versions of 65 at the time of writing. Google explains in a blog post what is in the changelog of Beta 64.

The beta now no longer allows videos that start playing on their own with sound. These simply won’t play again unless they have no sound or the user has specified that the website has permission to play video. Presumably, YouTube is whitelisted by default.

In addition, Chrome tackles unwanted redirects. These are iframes that initiate a redirect after loading without the user’s permission, or elements that are invisible, or disguise themselves as website parts like playback buttons. Chrome no longer allows this and notifies the user when elements on a web page try to do this. This is now also prevented when these elements want to use pop-ups. In Chrome 65, this function is expanded even further to also prevent redirects that load a tab in the background.