Google released Chrome 85 (M85) on August 25, 2020. Desktop stable build 85.0.4183.83 added collapsible tab groups, touch-oriented tabs for Chromebook tablet mode, Android’s “Switch to tab” suggestion, and form filling and saving in Chrome’s PDF viewer. Google also reported page loads up to 10% faster at the median in its own testing—not a promise that every site or device would be 10% faster. Chrome 85 is now an obsolete release, so its menus and feature availability should be read as historical.
Chrome 85 at a glance
Chrome 85 was the August 2020 browser release for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and Chrome OS. Chrome (the consumer browser), Chromium (the open-source project) and Chrome OS are related but distinct products; a browser feature could therefore arrive on different platforms or channels at different times. Google said its staged rollout meant that some capabilities would take time to reach every installation.
| Change | Chrome 85 availability or scope |
|---|---|
| Collapsible tab groups | Beginning to roll out in Chrome 85; tab groups themselves predated this release |
| Touch-friendly tablet-mode tabs | Chromebook-first |
| “Switch to tab” suggestion | Android rollout |
| Tab hover thumbnails | Coming to Chrome Beta rather than guaranteed in stable Chrome 85 |
| Fill and save PDF forms | Rolling out over the weeks after launch |
| Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) | Performance work focused on Mac and Windows |
| Background-tab throttling | Discussed as a Beta-channel improvement |
For the release announcement and rollout caveats, see Google’s Chrome 85 overview and the Chrome Releases stable-channel notice.
Tab groups became collapsible
Chrome had introduced tab groups earlier in 2020. Chrome 85 added the ability to collapse and expand an existing group, turning a row of related tabs into a compact label when you did not need to see every tab.
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How the Chrome 85 desktop workflow worked
- Open the tabs for a project, class, shopping task or other activity.
- Right-click a tab and choose Add tab to new group, or add it to an existing group.
- Assign the group a name and color.
- Click the group label to collapse the tabs, then click it again to expand them.
Collapsing reduced tab-strip clutter without closing pages. The control was a rollout feature, so it was not guaranteed to appear immediately for every Chrome 85 user. Current Chrome interfaces have changed since 2020; these labels describe the historical release, not a current support guide. The original tab-group introduction is documented by Google at Keep tabs on your tabs.
What “up to 10% faster” actually meant
Google attributed the performance work to Profile Guided Optimization (PGO). In simplified terms, PGO uses information about commonly used browser paths to optimize frequently executed code. For M85, Google described a Clang-based implementation rolling out on Mac and Windows.
Google’s headline statement was that pages could load up to 10% faster at the median in its testing, with larger gains when the processor was busy with many tabs or other programs. “Up to” is a maximum observed result, and “median” is the middle result in a distribution; neither means every page loads exactly 10% faster. Network conditions, hardware, operating system, extensions, cache state, CPU load and the measurement itself all affect what a user sees.
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| Platform | Browser responsiveness | First Contentful Paint | Speedometer 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| macOS | 3.9% faster | 2.3% faster | 7.7% faster |
| Windows | 7.3% faster | 3.5% faster | 11.4% faster |
These figures were Google’s reported benchmark results, not an independent comparison with every browser. Browser responsiveness, First Contentful Paint, Speedometer and complete page-load time measure different things. The underlying methodology and qualifications are in the Chromium PGO announcement.
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Background-tab throttling was not the same delivery
Chrome 85’s performance coverage also described throttling work for long-idle background tabs: taking resources from inactive pages and giving them to the page in use could reduce CPU and memory pressure and improve battery life. The announcement presented this as a Beta-channel effort, not as a universally delivered stable Chrome 85 feature.
PDF forms improved, but Chrome was not Acrobat
Chrome’s built-in PDF viewer gained support for filling interactive PDF form fields, saving the completed file, and reopening it with the entered information retained. Google said that capability would roll out over the following weeks, so it was not necessarily present for everyone on August 25.
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Where the feature worked—and where it did not
- The PDF needs actual interactive fields for ordinary browser filling to work reliably. A scanned, image-only document may require OCR or dedicated software.
- Forms that depend on JavaScript, XFA, unusual fonts or embedded content may not behave like they do in a specialized PDF application.
- Saving entered data is different from applying a legally binding digital signature.
- Before submitting a form, reopen the saved copy and verify that every field and attachment is still present.
- Confidential documents may be inappropriate for third-party online PDF services.
Chrome 85 did not provide the broader feature set associated with Acrobat or Foxit PDF Editor: arbitrary text and image editing, OCR and batch conversion, page reordering and merging, redaction, advanced certificate signatures, form creation, detailed security controls or enterprise document workflows. Use Chrome for reading and straightforward form completion; choose a dedicated editor when those tasks matter.
Chromebook, Android and sharing changes
Chromebook tablet mode
Chrome 85 introduced larger tab targets for laptop tablet mode, initially focusing on Chromebooks. Tabs could hide when not needed, making touch-based switching easier on convertible devices. This was not a universal redesign of the desktop tab strip.
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On Android, entering a page title in the address bar could suggest switching to an already-open tab instead of opening a duplicate. Google described this as the Android rollout of a capability already available on laptops.
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Sharing and QR codes
Chrome 85 also made URL sharing on Android easier, including copying, sending a link to another device and handing it to another app. Printing a page or generating a QR code was added, with QR-code support beginning to roll out on desktop as well. These were secondary convenience changes, not the release’s main tab or performance story.
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Contemporary coverage from VentureBeat identified AVIF image support among Chrome 85’s developer changes. AVIF can reduce bandwidth and supports HDR color workflows, although actual benefits depend on a site’s assets and delivery pipeline.
Chrome 85 also removed AppCache support by default, a compatibility issue for developers maintaining older web applications. That change required migration planning; it was not a consumer-facing speed feature.
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Who benefited most?
- Heavy tab users: Collapsible groups reduced visual clutter, while PGO and the proposed throttling work targeted responsiveness under load.
- Chromebook and convertible-laptop users: Larger tablet-mode targets made touch interaction easier.
- Android users: Switch-to-existing-tab suggestions and improved sharing reduced duplicate tabs and extra steps.
- Occasional users: The median performance improvement might be difficult to notice on a lightly used device, and tab groups have little value with only a few open tabs.
- Web developers: AVIF support and AppCache removal were more consequential than the consumer interface changes.
What Chrome 85 did—and did not—change
Chrome 85 was a meaningful quality-of-life release: it made tab groups compactable, improved touch use on Chromebook tablet mode, helped Android users return to an existing tab, and made basic PDF forms more practical. Its “10% faster” line was a conditional Google benchmark claim centered on Mac and Windows PGO results, not a universal guarantee. Its PDF viewer remained a form-filling tool rather than a replacement for a full PDF editor.
Because Chrome 85 is historical, later features should not be backdated to it. Google’s November 2020 announcement described separate changes such as active-tab prioritization, tab search, faster startup and additional page-loading work; those belong to later Chrome releases, as documented in Google’s later performance update.
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