Google Chrome 96 released to the stable channel today for Windows, Mac, and Linux. With the release comes some improvements and security fixes. The update rolls out over the next several days and weeks. For desktop users who wish to implement the update immediately, please visit How to Update Google Chrome for more information. This month’s update includes 25 security fixes, 6 of which have a High priority. If it seems like you just updated from Chrome 95, you would not be wrong. Back in March, Google announced they would begin to speed up Chrome’s release cycle from every six weeks to every four weeks starting with Chrome 94.
Out of 15 newly-added features, below is a list of the key features included in Chrome 96 drawn from chromestatus.com:
- Back-forward cache for desktop: Creates a cache for pages that allows for instant navigations to previously-visited pages.
- HTTP->HTTPS redirect for HTTPS DNS records: Query DNS for HTTPS records (alongside traditional A and AAAA queries). When a website has deployed an HTTPS DNS record and Chrome receives it, Chrome will always connect to the website via HTTPS.
- Progressive Web App manifest unique id – desktop: Define an optional id field in the app manifest that’s used to globally identify the web app. If the id is not specified, the default id will be start_url.
- URL Protocol Handler Registration for PWAs: Enable web applications to register themselves as handlers of custom URL protocols/schemes using their installation manifest.
- Clipboard: Preserve PNG metadata: Read unsanitized PNGs from the system clipboard. This will apply to both DataTransfer and the Async Clipboard API (navigator.clipboard.read()).
- WebAssembly Reference Types: Allow WebAssembly modules to hold references to JS/DOM objects, passing them as arguments, storing them in locals and globals, and storing them in WebAssembly.Table objects.
References for November 15, 2021, release of Google Chrome 96
Release Updates from the Chrome Team: Stable Channel Update for Desktop
What’s New? What’s new in Chrome
US-CERT Alert: Google Releases Security Update for Chrome
Download: Google Chrome 96
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Henry Irvine, Contributing Technology Writer, translates more than a decade of internet technology experience in product and customer relationship management into practical help and how-to content. Look for him on Bay Area trails, music venues, or sausage shacks when he’s not writing. Don’t call him Hank if you see him. Seriously. Hank on Twitter
