Chrome for Android beta enables website notifications

A new beta version of Chrome for Android makes it possible for websites that use the service workers API to show notifications on Android devices. The stable release includes the pull-to-refresh function to quickly refresh web pages with a swipe.

Chrome Beta for Android, which carries version number 42.0.2311.38, can show notifications, for example when new information has been added. Google does not reveal much about this functionality in the release notes, but Android Police reports that the notification service uses the service workers API, an api that Google recently introduced and that websites should also offer offline functionality, among other things. Showing notifications also appears to have become possible, although the user has to give explicit permission for each website. The functionality with the beta version can be tried via a test site.

Another feature in the new beta is that, according to Google, it has become easier to place favorite websites on the home screen. Furthermore, the beta version mainly contains bug fixes, while the performance of the browser would also have been improved.

In the stable Chrome release, the pull-to-refresh feature is available. Swiping down a web page can quickly reload the page. According to Google, this feature works with almost all websites. Furthermore, this release also contains the necessary bug fixes and performance improvements.