Have you ever wanted to strip an article down to the words and nothing else — but Chrome decided you didn’t deserve that convenience?
Google is rolling out a redesign to Chrome’s Reading mode on Android that fixes the feature’s most annoying habit: inconsistency. The change has started showing up for users on Chrome 143 and it’s small in scope but big in usability.
What’s changed
Reading mode used to be fickle — Chrome would surface a button near the address bar only when it thought a page qualified as an article. That shortcut sometimes disappeared mid-browse, and when it did appear it could take over the entire screen.
The new approach does three practical things:
- Reading mode now lives reliably in the three-dot menu as “Show Reading mode,” so the option appears on every page rather than only when Chrome deems it article-worthy.
- Activating the mode no longer hijacks the full screen. The omnibox (address bar) stays visible and the simplified view behaves like an overlay, making it easier to dip in and out without losing your place.
- Customization controls are gathered in a Material 3–style bottom sheet: choose Sans, Serif or Mono fonts; scale text from 100% up to 250%; pick Light, Sepia or Dark backgrounds. Your preferences carry over as you move between pages.
There’s still a clear exit option if you want to return to the original page view.
How to try it today
The redesigned Reading mode has been spotted on devices running Chrome 143 on the stable channel, but Google appears to be testing it gradually. If you don’t see it yet, you can try the experimental flag labeled "reader mode improvements" at chrome://flags (search for chrome://flags/#reader-mode-improvements) — enable it, relaunch Chrome and check the three-dot menu.
Keep in mind Google may tweak the visuals and behavior during the rollout.
Why this matters
This is one of those refinements that doesn’t make headlines but changes habits. Predictability matters: people are far more likely to use a feature if it’s in the same place and behaves the same way every time. By moving Reading mode into the overflow menu and turning it into an overlay, Chrome makes the feature feel like part of the browsing flow instead of a separate detour.
There’s also an accessibility upside. Cleaner layouts, adjustable typography and background choices can reduce eye strain and improve comprehension — a modest change that could help a lot of people given Chrome’s large mobile audience.
How it stacks up
Competitors have long made reader views more obvious. Safari’s Reader is prominent on iOS, and Samsung Internet shows a reader button in the URL bar when it detects article text. Chrome’s new approach narrows that gap: it’s not as immediate as a one-tap URL-bar button, but it’s more dependable and less jarring than the previous full-screen takeover.
For users who follow Chrome’s steady UI experiments, this redesign joins other mobile-focused tests and features Google has been trying out — from new AI integrations in mobile Chrome to floating controls for Search Live — signs that Google is refining how powerful features coexist without interrupting browsing Google AI Mode and floating Search controls.
If you read lots of long posts, recipes or how-tos on your phone, this is an update worth watching. It’s the kind of quiet polish that changes how often you reach for a feature — and how often it helps you actually get through what you came to read.