One of the newest features to ship with Android Lollipop, whether hated or liked, is the merged tabs view of the Google Chrome web browser. When merged tabs are enabled, every tab open in Google Chrome is essentially its own app. You can close one tab at a time, by swiping it away in your recent app menu.
This seems like a good idea at first, but over time the recent apps tab gets filled with old Google Chrome tabs that went un-closed. In addition to that, switching tabs isn’t as easy as swiping the address bar right or left. Tab switching is done by pressing the recent app button, then sifting through old tabs and apps.
This tutorial will show you how to disable the merged tabs and apps feature on Android Lollipop.
On Google Chrome’s first start-up, you will see the screen above. If you are opening Chrome for the first time, all you have to do is go to settings on this screen. Once settings is pressed, it will take you directly to the toggle to disable the merged tabs view.
Once you un-toggle the “tabs live together with recent apps” option, your Google Chrome browser will go back to normal. That means you will be able to see all open tabs within one browser window.
Now, if you have had Google Chrome with this option enabled from the start, it is pretty simple to disable. Find your way to the Google Chrome browser settings in the top right corner.
Once you are in settings, there will be an option where it says ” Merge tabs and apps.” This is what you want to click on. It will bring you to the image above, then you just need to disable the option. You will get a prompt like the one seen below.
There you have it! Now you can disable the merged Google Chrome tabs and recent applications on Android Lollipop. If these tips helped you out, be sure to share it and follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
