Google Chrome on Android Begins its Work on a Transparent Navigation Bar

Google has already released the Android 14 beta update to various smartphones and now it has been revealed that Google Chrome on Android has begun to work on a transparent navigation bar.

Here’s what we know.

Google Chrome’s Transparent Navigation Bar

Google users in the past have always requested a transparent navigation bar and now in the latest Chrome Canary build from Google, a new “DrawEdgeToEdge” flag has been spotted and its description states, “Enables the Android feature Edge-to-Edge to draw below the Nav Bar”. On enabling the “DrawEdgeToEdge” flag, the Android navigation gesture bar becomes transparent, just like what its users always requested.

The navigation bar on Android has always been developing and it has been quite some time since the navigation bar received the ability to change color to match with that of the app or go completely transparent. However, a few apps still don’t support an edge-to-edge display, thereby leaving a black space on the navigation bar.

A recent 9to5Google article reported how the Android 14 Beta 1 had brought a developer option with which the device will be able to force a transparent navigation bar on all apps throughout the system. This allows the navigation bar to match up with the app color.

The current Google Chrome update is likely to be a part of this and as per what is now known the update might be only for the home and web pages, and the Settings, and Bookmarks pages will remain unchanged. The update will also be accompanied by an unintentional gesture pill overlap on sites with its bottom navigation bar, whereas the top bar will be overlapped with the status bar.