www.androidpolice.com You can now test Chrome for Android's permanent Desktop View switch

It's working in the latest Canary release

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Most websites (like this one) adjust their formatting automatically to account for screens of different size and density. But on tablets (and foldables), formatting often has the tendency to go weird and switch you to mobile view, and you just gotta pretend you're on your proper desktop computer to get the full website experience. If you haven't switched to a different browser to achieve this globally yet, Chrome is about to make your life easier. The latest under-development version of the browser has added an option to enable "Request Desktop Site" permanently, finally giving you the power to always use your tablet or foldable with full website experiences.

The change was initially spotted by Chrome subreddit user Leopeva64-2, who has followed up his initial discovery in the Chromium Gerrit by presenting a working flag. When you activate chrome:flags/#request-desktop-site-global in Chrome Canary 96 and restart it, you'll find a new desktop site option in Chrome settings under Site settings. Upon tapping this entry, a global toggle that allows you to always request desktop websites shows up. Right now, this is a global setting for all websites you visit, but a Chromium Gerrit entry confirms there will be a per-site option in the future, too.

Notably the mobile version of Edge (also based on Chromium) has added more or less the same feature in the last month.

It's easy to see why some users would prefer to always load the desktop site, especially on tablets or the ever-increasing big screens of flagship phones. And with Chrome now switched to a faster release cycle, we'll probably won't have to wait way to long for this feature to arrive in the stable version — provided no further obstacles are discovered during development.

Now live as a flag in Canary

We've updated the article to reflect that the permanent desktop mode toggle is now available and working thanks to a new flag in Canary.

Michael is a born Texan and a former graphic designer. He's been covering technology in general and Android in particular since 2011. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.He wrote a novel called Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story, and it's available on Amazon.