There are three ways to try Chrome features before they reach everyone. The easiest is Chrome Beta’s Experiments button, which Google built for exactly this. The others are the Dev and Canary test versions of Chrome, and the chrome://flags page. Google’s guide What are Chrome flags? is clear that most Chrome users never need any of them.
1. The Experiments button in Chrome Beta
Google’s help page Test experimental features in Chrome says that to use experimental features you need Chrome Beta. Then:
- Open Chrome Beta.
- Next to the address bar, select Experiments.
- Next to a feature’s name and description, open the menu and choose Enabled.
- Restart the browser.
The same panel has a Send Feedback button next to each feature, so you can tell Google what worked and what did not. Our guide to Chrome Beta, Dev and Canary has the official download links.
2. Chrome Dev and Canary
Google’s guide to release channels describes four versions of Chrome. Beta gets new features more than a month before regular Chrome, “with a level of reliability close to Chrome Stable.” Dev is released once or twice a week and shows “what the Chrome team is working on right now.” Canary is released daily, gets new features “with minimal testing,” and Google says it “can (and does) break.” Some features tested in Canary never reach regular Chrome.
3. Chrome flags
Flags switch individual experiments on or off in any version of Chrome, including the one you already use. Open this address to see them:
chrome://flags
Chrome’s own warning at the top of that page reads: “By enabling these features, you could lose browser data or compromise your security or privacy.” Google adds that flagged features “may stop working or be removed without notice.” Our guide to chrome://flags covers turning flags on, resetting them and why they disappear, and our list of Chrome flags worth knowing about names flags that exist today.
For web developers
- One flag for many small features. Google’s flags guide says
chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-featuresturns on many smaller web platform features that do not get a flag of their own. - Origin trials. A website can register for an origin trial to switch on an experimental feature for all of its visitors for a limited time, without anyone changing a flag. Google explains how in its origin trials guide.
- Test without flags too. Google’s advice is to test your site in regular Chrome with no flags set, because that is what most of your visitors use.
How to undo an experiment
- Experiments button: open Experiments again, change the feature’s setting back, and restart the browser.
- Flags: open
chrome://flags, click Reset all, then Relaunch. Every flag goes back to Default. This is not the same as resetting Chrome’s settings.
Looking for features that are already finished but easy to miss, such as vertical tabs or reading mode? See our list of Chrome hidden features.