Google Chrome released the 87th version of its browser today. In this post, we summarize the most important new features as well as other improvements and fixes. Also, we have just added this version to our browser cloud and you can already start testing in Chrome 87.

Chrome 87 Version

As stated by Google, its browser Chrome has undergone a lot of improvements and the new release provides major performance gains.

What's new in Chrome 87

Chrome In General

  • Quick Startup: Google Chrome 87 is now 25% faster on startup. It loads pages up to 7 per cent faster and does all of this using less power and RAM than before.
  • Reduced CPU Usage: Google Chrome 87 prioritizes your active tabs vs. everything that is open. This helps in reducing the CPU usage by up to 5x and extending battery life by up to 1.25 hours.
  • Perform Action Through Omnibox: Google has expanded the set of things you could do through the Omnibox. Now you can perform actions like deleting the cookies by typing in Omnibox with a couple of clicks.
  • Webcams Functionalities Extended: Users can now control pan, tilt, and zoom on webcams that support it.

For Android Specifically

  • Faster Loading Speed: Chrome on Android now loads pages near instantaneously when you navigate backwards and forward, making these common tasks super fast.
  • Stability and Performance: The stability and performance have been improved for Android operating system.

For iOS Specifically

  • Multiple Windows: Users can now have multiple windows of Chrome at the same time on their iPad.
  • Safety Check: A new feature called safety check has been introduced with this version of Chrome.
  • Auto-fill: Auto-fill security has been improved.

For Chromebooks

  • Tab Search Facility: You'll now be able to see a list of your open tabs - regardless of the window they're in - then quickly type to find the one you need. This way you perform a search for your tabs! The feature is coming first to Chromebooks, then to other desktop platforms soon.

New Omnibox Preview

Here's how the new omnibox looks like. You can now quickly find settings and access them through the address bar by entering the action that you want to complete:

Chrome 87 Omnibox

Chrome 87 Developer's Corner

The following section demonstrates the changes that affect web developer's work.

  • Font Access API: The trial to font access API has been introduced with the stable release of Google Chrome 87.
  • Streams Objects: Transferable Streams - ReadableStream, WritableStream, and TransformStream objects can now be passed as arguments to postMessage().
  • CSS Logical Properties: Implemented most granular flow-relative features of the CSS Logical Properties and Values spec, including shorthands and offsets to make these logical properties and values a bit easier to write.
  • CSS Quotes Properties: The quotes property of CSS supports auto value now.
  • Font-Face Descriptors: New @font-face descriptors have been added to ascent-override, descent-override, and line-gap-override to override metrics of the font.
  • Atomics.waitAsync: The asynchronous version of Atomics.wait has been introduced called Atomics.wait.Async. Atomics.waitAsync allows programmers to wait on a SharedArrayBuffer location in the same fashion as Atomics.wait but returns a Promise instead.
  • Blocked Ports: Connections to port 5060 and 5061 has been blocked due to security.
  • CORS: Restrictions has been placed on internet-to-intranet connections.
  • Cookie Store API: The Cookie Store API exposes HTTP cookies to service workers and offers an asynchronous alternative to document.cookie.
  • Intl.Segmenter Support: Intl.Segmenter implements methods for finding the location of boundaries in text, including grapheme, line, word and sentence boundary analysis.
  • Is-Input-Pending API: The Is-Input-Pending API enables developers to complete their work as fast as possible if the user isn't interacting, but respond to user input as fast as possible if input occurs.
  • Local Font Access: The local font access gives web applications the ability to enumerate local fonts and some metadata about each. Today, no API exists to provide a list of local fonts to web applications.
  • Range Request Header: Range request header can be passed through a service worker if it's not modified. This enables service workers can work with requests made by media elements such as video and audio.
  • WakeLockSentinel Attribute: The WakeLockSentinel object has a new attribute called released that indicates whether a sentinel has already been released. Its value is initially false, and it changes to true once a release event is dispatched.
  • WebXR Depth API: The Depth API allows applications access to depth buffer information that conveys information about the user's environment in Augmented Reality scenarios.
  • In addition, text-decoration-thickness, text-underline-offset and text-underline-position has also been implemented.

Removals In Chrome 87 Release

  • IFrame Comma Separator: The comma separator in iframe allow attribute has been removed.
  • Webkit-Font-Size: Support of -webkit-font-size-delta has been stopped.
  • FTP Support: FTP support has been deprecated.

Security Fixes in Chrome 87 Release

  • High CVE-2020-16037: Use after free in the clipboard. Reported by Ryoya Tsukasaki on 2020-10-26.
  • High CVE-2020-16038: Use after free in media. Reported by Khalil Zhani on 2020-10-14.
  • High CVE-2020-16039: Use after free in extensions. Reported by Anonymous on 2020-11-15.
  • High CVE-2020-16040: Insufficient data validation in V8. Reported by Lucas Pinheiro, Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research on 2020-11-19.
  • Medium CVE-2020-16041: Out of bounds read in networking. Reported by Sergei Glazunov and Mark Brand of Google Project Zero on 2020-11-23.
  • Medium CVE-2020-16042: Uninitialized Use in V8. Reported by Andre Bargull on 2020-11-23.
  • High CVE-2020-16037: Use after free in the clipboard. Reported by Ryoya Tsukasaki on 2020-10-26.
  • High CVE-2020-16038: Use after free in media. Reported by Khalil Zhani on 2020-10-14.
  • High CVE-2020-16039: Use after free in extensions. Reported by Anonymous on 2020-11-15.
  • High CVE-2020-16040: Insufficient data validation in V8. Reported by Lucas Pinheiro, Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research on 2020-11-19.
  • Medium CVE-2020-16041: Out of bounds read in networking. Reported by Sergei Glazunov and Mark Brand of Google Project Zero on 2020-11-23.
  • Medium CVE-2020-16042: Uninitialized Use in V8. Reported by Andre Bargull on 2020-11-23.

Have fun cross-browser testing in Chrome 87!