Google Reader lives on in Chrome's latest feature, available now on Android

Chrome Android Follow Web (Image credit: Chromium Blog)

What you need to know

Google Chrome's new RSS feature is arriving on the stable version of the app.
The new "Follow" button has been in the works since May and was available to users on the Canary channel.
Users can easily follow websites using the three-dot menu, with content appearing on the Chrome new tab page.

Google Reader is finally back from the dead, sort of. Google Chrome is rolling out with a new "Follow" button that allows users to add a website to a new RSS feed in the browser.

The feature was announced on Friday by Google's director of engineering, Adrienne Porter Felt, who says that the feature is available on stable versions of Chrome. The RSS feed will appear next to the Discover feed on Chrome's new tab page.

Starting today, we're experimenting on Chrome stable with a Following feature. You can choose websites to follow, and their RSS updates will appear on Chrome's new tab page. We've been working on this for a while & I'm super excited to hear what people think 👇 pic.twitter.com/GUcdSQTv3EStarting today, we're experimenting on Chrome stable with a Following feature. You can choose websites to follow, and their RSS updates will appear on Chrome's new tab page. We've been working on this for a while & I'm super excited to hear what people think 👇 pic.twitter.com/GUcdSQTv3E— Adrienne P🎃rter Felt (@__apf__) October 8, 2021 October 8, 2021

The feature is reminiscent of Google Reader, a popular RSS service that was killed in 2013, leaving users to seek other ways to keep up with the latest news and updates from particular websites.

The new "Follow" button has been in the works on the Chrome Canary developer channel since May, but apparently, it's ready for prime time, and anyone can try it out.

The feature should be available automatically for some users, but if you don't see it turned on, you can enable the Chrome flag under "web feed." Once it's enabled, you can start following sites by navigating to the three-dot menu and selecting "Follow" at the bottom.

So far, the feature is only available on the best Android phones with Chrome 94+. iOS and desktop versions are planned.

Derrek is a long-time Nokia and LG fanboy who loves astronomy, videography, and sci-fi movies. When he's not working, he's most likely working out or smoldering at the camera.