Google Chrome Update Improves Browser Battery Life

Google’s Chrome browser isn’t known for being the most efficient when it comes to your laptop’s resources, but thanks to a new update, the web browser’s performance should improve soon. Chrome’s new version 57 update will change how the browser’s background tabs handle power consumption to improve battery life.

Via Google’s Chromium blog, Google explained how the update works. As Gizmodo notes, Chrome previously managed background tabs by throttling performance based on how often functions ran on each page. Now, Chrome will throttle performance on background tabs to use one percent of a CPU’s processing overhead. However, tabs that need remain active like chat apps or audio won’t be affected by the new change.

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“We've found that this throttling mechanism leads to 25% fewer busy background tabs,” Google said. “In the long-term, the ideal is for background tabs to be fully suspended and instead rely on new APIs for service workers to do work in the background. Chrome will continue to take steps in this direction to prolong users' battery life, while still enabling all the same experiences developers can build today.”

In the past, Chrome infamously struggled to manage background tab processes. With the habits of most web users today, where you’re often juggling emails, news sites and music among multiple tabs, Chrome’s background power struggles often resulted in quick battery drainage from laptops.

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In order to apply the new update, you simply need to go Chrome’s About page through Settings. Install the update and relaunch your browser to receive the new applied updates.