Google Chrome will soon have a 'Read Later' function for desktop and laptop users, finally catching up to other browsers like Safari, Firefox and Edge, as well as its own mobile version.
This upcoming feature was found by XDA Developers within the Chromium Gerrit, the site where upcoming changes for Chrome's base code are registered.
- Chromebook vs. Windows 10: Which Is Best for You?
- The best laptops you can buy now
There is already a reading list function in the iOS, iPadOS and Android versions of Chrome, so it's strange that the version for Windows and MacOS is behind in this regard. Google's help page on the subject currently advises PC or Mac users to save webpages offline as an alternative, which is far more clunky than an in-browser option.
The feature is not live yet, not even in the pre-release versions of Chrome like Chrome Canary or Chrome Beta. While there is a flag to enable the Read Later feature, nothing happens currently if you do this. However when the feature does go live, a new button for Read Later will appear, which then lets you see all the tabs that the user has saved.
There appear to be a large number of exciting changes coming to Chrome in the next few months, likely inspired by some increasingly competent competition from Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla. Updates such as reduced RAM usage on background tabs, a new tab navigation method on mobile, MacBook-specific refinements and tab grouping are all on the way, with some available now if you enable them yourself in the Chrome Flags menu.
