Following your favorite websites just got easier with this follow button.
Following websites, it’s not new. That’s what we have RSS for. And Google hasn’t completely given up on RSS yet. Earlier this year, it started testing a follow button in Chrome on Android, which will allow users to get updates from websites on the new tab page. As of today, the feature is available in a stable version of the browser for all Android users to try.
Easy to follow websites
Chrome’s RSS follow button is now available to all Android users. The feature should appear on iOS next year. A special desktop version is also coming, but that will take longer. It is therefore not rolled out all at once, but step-by-step.
If you’re using Chrome 94 or a pre-stable version, you may already see a Follow button in the menu. Otherwise, like Chrome director of engineering Adrienne Porter Felt on Twitter wrote, you can manually enable the feature.
You can do that by going to Chrome by typing chrom://flags. Then search for “web feed” and enable the setting. While the follow button is only available on Android for now, Felt suggested it come to iOS next year.
Usable
RSS is an ‘old’ function after all. The question is whether many people will still use it. Also, the feature will not have the same usability level as dedicated RSS readers. It can be a convenient and easy way to keep up to date with updates from your favorite websites.
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