Tech Desk 
Feb 15, 2025
Google rolled out the ability to search your open tabs, along with Tab Group sync, to Chrome for Android users.
In the tab switcher, you’ll view a new search bar above the grid of open sites. This pill-shaped field stays docked to the top of your screen.
Tapping takes you to a search screen, with Chrome first listing “Last open tabs.” Entering a term shows any open site, along with results from “Bookmarks,” “History,” and “Search the Web.” A click simply loads that tab.
This is also available with Incognito mode, while desktop Chrome has offered this basic functionality for quite some time.
How to navigate tab search and Tab Group sync?
Under Settings > Advanced > Tabs, you’ll view an “Automatically open tab groups from other devices” preference that you can toggle off. It’s enabled by default, but not ideal if you just want device-specific Tab Groups.
On the other hand, you might have pages that have not been used for 21 days (default increment) moved into an “Inactive tabs” section/card above the grid. You can disable this ("Never") or set it to After 7 or 14 days.
There’s also:
- Archive duplicate tabs: All duplicate tabs will now also be archived, except the most recently used copy.
- Close after 60 days: Inactive tabs will automatically be closed. You can always find them in history.
