Chrome is testing a bookmarks bar feature nobody asked for

Google is testing a new Chrome feature that automatically hides the bookmarks bar when it detects recent inactivity, according to a Chromium commit spotted by Windows Report. The feature, which will notify users and allow them to undo the action, also changes the Bookmarks bar setting from a toggle to three options: Always show, Only show on New Tab page, and Always hide, with the latter as default. It is not enabled by default and requires activating the 'NTP Simplification Bookmark Bar' flag in chrome://flags.

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more. https://www.androidauthority.com/external-links/ Chrome is testing a bookmarks bar feature nobody asked for Aug 14, 2026 — 12:09 PM ET - Google is testing a new Chrome feature. - The feature allows the browser to auto-hide your bookmarks bar if it detects that you haven’t used it recently. - When it happens, the browser will notify you and give you an opportunity to undo the action. Google is working on a Chrome feature that could auto-fix your bad passwords https://www.androidauthority.com/chrome-canary-gemini-change-bad-passwords-3698237/ . It appears that’s not the only automatic tool the Chrome team is working on. For those who use the bookmarks bar infrequently but still keep it visible, Chrome could soon decide to hide it for you. Spotted by Windows Report https://windowsreport.com/chrome-may-hide-bookmarks-bar-due-to-inactivity/ , Google is testing a new feature for the Chrome browser. The Chromium commit https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/7962764 describes the feature as a tool that can automatically hide the bookmarks bar. In practice, the browser will automatically hide the bookmarks bar if it detects that you haven’t used it recently. If the browser decides to hide your bookmarks bar, you’ll see a notification, like the one in the image above. That notification will explain why your bookmarks bar was hidden. It will also give you the opportunity to undo the action and make the bar visible again. This change also affects the Bookmarks bar option in Chrome’s settings. Currently, the option exists as a toggle, letting you turn the bar on or off. Meanwhile, this feature would turn the toggle into a list of three options: Always show, Only show on New Tab page, and Always hide. It appears that “Only show on New Tab page” would be the default option. The Only show on New Tab page option is fairly self-explanatory. You’ll only see the bookmarks bar when you open a New Tab page. So the bar will disappear once you visit a website. This feature is not enabled by default on the stable version of Chrome. You’ll have to activate it by enabling a flag if you want to try it out. To do so, you’ll need to go to chrome://flags and find the NTP Simplification Bookmark Bar flag. Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy https://www.androidauthority.com/android-authority-comment-policy/ before posting.