Google's Chrome 61 Beta Adds Support For Android Pay And Other Cutting-Edge APIs
Arguably, the most notable addition to Chrome 61 is support for the Payment Request API, which will let websites send a payment request to the browser (securely), allowing people to pay via Android Pay on the desktop. Ultimately, when a wide rollout happens, it means that buying things online - as long as you're setup for Android Pay - will be easier than ever. Perhaps a little too easy?
One of the biggest perks of Android Pay support in desktop versions of Chrome is that you won't have to jump through as many hoops to complete a purchase. Whether you need to put in credit card details or sign into a PayPal account, paying for a purchase is simply tedious. But replace all of that with a dialog box and a couple of clicks? That sounds much better.
For website owners, a bit of good news comes by way of support for a new "navigator.share" API that ties a website's share feature in with Android's native dialog box. A nice thing about this implementation is that users won't have to look through a large collection of irrelevant share icons, and instead look through a culled list of only what's installed on their phones. In time, Google plans to add the ability to share to web apps. If you're a site owner wanting this new functionality, you'll want to make sure you have https operational first.
Another great feature added to Chrome 61 is support for the WebUSB API. While the vast majority of USB peripherals out there are going to work with Chrome without issue, there are exotic peripherals that some have simply been unable to use inside of a web app. That problem should be solved here. When you plug in a device supported through this feature, you'll get a prompt to give permission to access it in Chrome, and when you need it, a USB device chooser will let you enable it.
As is the case with all Chrome releases, the full update list is large, even aside from the three major enhancements mentioned above. If you want to read more on the nuances of this release, you can hit up the URL below, and to snag the latest beta, head right here.
