During I/O 2021, Google announced that Chrome for Android would be testing a built-in RSS reader. It’s considered an experiment that might not ever launch, but you can test the RSS-powered “Web Feed” in Chrome today.
The “Web Feed” — as it’s called — only works on Chrome 92 (currently in the Beta channel) and newer. The flag might appear in earlier versions, but a key part of the experience is broken. Enter chrome://flags/#web-feed into the address bar and select “Enabled” from the dropdown menu. Relaunch the browser as instructed.
After enabling, visiting most sites will reveal a “Follow” button at the very bottom of the overflow menu. If a site doesn’t use RSS, Google will use its existing content index to keep you up-to-date. Tapping generates a snackbar that confirms the subscription with a “Go to feed” link.
On the New Tab Page, you get a new “Following” feed that joins the existing Discover-driven “For you.” They are visually very similar, but the new one makes use of fullwidth cards that feature large cover images followed by the headline, site name, publish time, share, and overflow.
The latter menu lets you open in a new or Incognito tab, download link, hide this story — useful for hiding things you’ve already read elsewhere, report content, or send feedback. The main settings gear icon opens a Manage page with a new “Following” item to quickly unfollow sites you’ve added.
The Chrome for Android Web Feed makes for a very basic RSS reader and you can very easily find more full-featured ones, but this will do for casual users. Google will evaluate publisher and end user feedback in deciding whether to launch this experiment. The company has not yet said whether the Web Feed will come to iOS or desktop browsers.
It’s a vast departure from Discover’s algorithmic approach of serving up content that users might be interested in. The extent of customization there is defining what broad topics interest you. Instead, Google imagines this new offering as providing “deeper” and intentional — like a social media follow — connections between publishers and readers.
More about Google Chrome:
- Asus Chromebook Flip CM5 goes Ryzen with ‘gaming keyboard,’ now available for $499 [U]
- Chrome OS switching to 4-week update cycle in Q4, getting 6-month enterprise/edu channel
- Google Chrome no longer plans to hide full URLs because it doesn’t help security after all
Author: Abner Li
Source: 9TO5Google
