There is always something new in the Google Chrome browser, the most widely used browser in the world today with a market share of over 65%. With each new update, a feature is added to enhance the internet browsing experience using it, whether on the mobile app or on the computer. However, due to the rapid updates, some important features may go unnoticed, such as the site follow feature, which we will highlight in this article. If you want to stay informed or read the news and follow your favorite sites quickly and smoothly, you will greatly appreciate this feature. Let’s clarify what it does and how to activate it in the following lines.
The site follow feature in Google Chrome, or “Web Feed,” is very simple. Instead of visiting each of your favorite sites separately to see the latest articles and news published, the feature adds a “Follow” button like the one on Twitter and Facebook to any site you visit. After following a number of sites, the latest news and articles they publish will be displayed in a designated place on the browser’s homepage. In the end, you will be able to stay constantly updated on the latest news from your favorite sites from one place instead of browsing each site individually–just like Feedly and other services that rely on collecting RSS links.
This feature is currently limited to the Chrome version for smartphones and is an experimental feature that must be activated through the Experiments page in order to use it. In fact, Google has been testing this feature since Chrome 92 was released in June 2021, and so far it has not been officially launched. However, during this period, the feature has undergone several improvements that make it safe to activate and test before Google thoroughly tests it to make it available as a basic feature in the browser.
To activate the site follow feature, simply open the Chrome app on your phone, then type in the address bar [chrome://flags/#web-feed] if you are using an Android phone or [chrome://flags/#web-feed-ios] if you are using an iPhone, and then press Enter. You will be directed straight to the option to enable the “Web Feed” feature, click on the drop-down menu and replace the “Default” option with “Enabled.” Then, Chrome will ask you to restart to enable the new feature, so click on the “Relaunch” button below and wait for the app to restart.
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Now visit any site in the Chrome app and click on the menu button at the top right of the toolbar ( ⁝ ) if you are using an Android phone, or the one at the bottom right corner ( … ) if you are using an iPhone, and among the options that appear in this menu, there is a new option at the bottom with the name of the site and a follow button. Click on this button and a message will confirm that the site has been followed, and new posts will appear on the homepage. You can then easily open all the other sites you frequently visit and follow them.
Note: As of writing these lines, the feature is still not compatible with all sites, so you may notice that after following a site, its posts do not appear on the homepage.
To view the new articles from the sites you follow, open a new tab to show the homepage, and there you will find at the bottom an option “Following” next to “For You.” Click on it and you will see a list of all the recent posts from all the blogs you follow, displaying the title of each post, its publication date, and the main image. With one click on any post, you will be directed to a page where you can read the content.
If you want to make changes to this section, click on the gear icon (⚙) and select “Manage” from the menu, then you can unsubscribe from sites you do not want to see or hide specific topics. If you want to temporarily disable the feature, select “Turn Off” from the menu.
That’s all there is to it; simply put, the Web Feed feature is a simplified version of the RSS link collection service within the Google Chrome browser. And as mentioned, this feature is still in the testing phase, so expect it to improve over time and become compatible with all sites.
