Visually, Chrome for iOS is very different from the Android version. Today, that disparity continues to grow with the new ability to move Chrome's address bar on iPhone to the bottom of the screen.
Chrome already has a Split Bar Design on iPhone. The URL appears at the top, and the toolbar at the bottom contains Back/Forward buttons, New Tab (which you can long press for various search options (Lens, Incognito, and Voice), a tab switcher, and a 3D dot menu. (This is the secondary menu opens as a full bottom sheet, and the tab grid is also very different from Android.)
When you move the address bar down, it merges with the toolbar, just like Safari after iOS 15. Although at the top There is no UI on the screen, you can still pull to refresh it.
To change, simply long-press on the URL to bring up “Move address bar down/up.” You can also go to Settings > Address bar in Chrome 119. The iOS browser also recently introduced a 1×1 home screen widget that acts as a shortcut to Google's password manager.
Best comment from berto1014
How is this not a feature in Chrome for Android already ? I can't believe how anti-user friendly Chrome on Android compares to literally every other browser. I've been using Samsung's browser for years and haven't looked back for reasons like these.
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Google says it's a “highly requested feature” and recognizes that “people prefer a different address bar.” positions depending on the size of their hands and devices.”
Of course, the question now is whether this will ever come to Android. In 2016, Google began testing a design that simply moved the address bar (with tab switcher and secondary menu) to the bottom of the screen. In 2018, Google completed this “experiment” (Chrome Home) to split the toolbar (Chrome Duplex). It was later renamed Chrome Duet, but by mid-2020 it was still unlaunched and abandoned.
In 2021, we learned that Chrome Home had been abandoned as “core users” said the redesign was “disorienting.”
This bottom address bar can easily be explained as Chrome's answer to Safari for the iPhone. Hopefully, feedback from iOS owners will lead to this change coming to Android as it will make one-handed use much easier and increase accessibility.
