Google Chrome cuts background activity for longer battery life

Gelo Gonzales

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Google Chrome cuts background activity for longer battery life
The latest update for the Google Chrome browser reduces background tab activity by 25%

MANILA, Philippines – The world’s most popular browser, Google Chrome, will now consume less energy and less processing power with an update that limits the activity of unused tabs. 

Opening multiple tabs is a common habit among computer users today. However, the habit can take its toll on battery life and the computer’s performance. Chrome, for all its benefits, can be resource-intensive and simultaneously opened tabs can add to the problem. 

To address this, the latest version of Google Chrome, Chrome 57, now monitors how much processing power a background tab takes from the CPU. If the background tab consumes more than 1% of the CPU’s power, the tab’s activities are throttled back until it hits the 1% limit. 

Through this method, Google said it is able to achieve “25% fewer busy background tabs,” meaning less strain on the processor and in turn, less strain on the battery. 

Gizmodo reports, however, that there are a few exceptions to the new throttling policy. Chrome will not stop background music from playing as well as video chat apps and messaging apps such as Slack. 

Chrome’s previous throttling policy monitored how often processes run from a background tab instead of measuring processor consumption. In the future, Google said the ideal solution is for background tab activity to be suspended completely, and to develop new ways for the processing of these background tasks – all in the aim of prolonging battery life.

Software-side improvements go hand in hand with the search for higher-capacity batteries as tech and mobile devices march toward an untethered existence. You can get the latest version of Chrome here. – Rappler.com

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Gelo Gonzales

Gelo Gonzales is Rappler’s technology editor. He covers consumer electronics, social media, emerging tech, and video games.