[Tip] Restore Old Classic Long Press Context Menu in Chrome on Android

Recently I upgraded Google Chrome app in one of my Android smartphones and as soon as I started browsing websites in new version of Chrome, I got annoyed by the new redesigned context menus (the menus which appear on your mobile screen when you long press on a link).

In computers, we can right-click on a link on any website to open it in a new tab, new window, bookmark link, copy its URL, etc. But in mobile phones, we need to tap and hold on the link i.e. long press on the link to get these options in context menu.

In past, Google Chrome app used to show a plain and fast context menu on long press on a link without any animation effect. But newer versions of Chrome app come with an enhanced/revamped context menu which appears on screen using a pop-up or slide animation. The animation makes the context menu slow and if you use context menus frequently on websites, it’ll start irritating you quickly.

Following image shows the new long press context menu appearing in newer versions of Chrome using slide animation:

Following image shows the good old classic long press context menu in Chrome without using any animation:

Following image shows a side-by-side comparison of both new and old long press context menus in Chrome app:

You can see clearly in above images that the classic context menu appears faster than the new context menu and the animation effect in new context menu is useless and annoying. Also the new context menu displays an icon and label for the select hyperlink which may also cause some delay in showing the context menu options on screen.

Fortunately, Google Chrome team has provided a hidden preference/flag to disable or remove the new long press context menu and restore classic context menu in Chrome app.

If you also want to replace new long press context menu with old classic context menu in Chrome app in your Android mobile phone, following steps will help you:

1. Open Chrome and type chrome://flags in address bar and tap on Go. It’ll open Chrome Experiments page where you can turn on/off several features.

2. Now type context menu in Search flags box and it’ll show following result:

3. Tap on the “Default” drop-down box and select “Disabled” option from the list.

4. Chrome will ask you to restart the browser. Click on “Relaunch Now” button to relaunch Google Chrome.

That’s it. Now try to long press on a link present on any web page and you’ll get the classic context menu without any animation effect.

PS: In future, if you decide to restore the new revamped context menu in Chrome, set the above mentioned preference to Default again.

Also Check:

[Tip] Disable Website Icons Display in Address bar Suggestions Drop-Down List in Chrome on Android

[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret “Developer Options” Menu in Chrome Settings in Mobile Phones

[Tip] Activate Hidden Secret Tab Switcher UIs in Chrome on Android

[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret “Chrome Duet” Bottom Toolbar in Chrome on Android