After shutting down the Google Shopping app on Android earlier this month, Google is working to add one of its key features – price tracking to Chrome. The feature was first spotted by SmartDroid and exists behind a Chrome flag at the moment, although it is available by default for some users.
Enable Google Chrome’s Price Tracking Tool
Once available, Google Chrome will notify you whenever the price of a product in one of your open tabs drops. It is available in Chrome 90’s stable channel. With that said, here’s how you can enable Chrome’s price tracking tool right now:
1. Open Google Chrome and head to chrome://flags. Here, search for ‘Tab Grid Layout.’ You can alternatively paste the following address into Chrome’s address bar on your Android phone.
chrome://flags/#enable-tab-grid-layout
2. From the list of options, choose ‘Enabled Price notifications’ and restart your browser.
3. When I tried enabling the feature, it didn’t immediately appear after the automatic restart. If you face the same issue, make sure you manually close Chrome and open it again.
4. To use the feature, open Chrome’s recent tabs switcher interface and tap on the vertical three dots menu at the top right. You’ll now see a new option called Track prices. Tap on it to enable price drop notification alerts.
While it is good to see a built-in price tracking tool in Google Chrome, the current implementation requires you to keep the tabs of product listings open. Unless you are a tab hoarder, it doesn’t look like this feature could prove helpful. You can, however, try this one out to see if you find it any good. Meanwhile, if Amazon is your shopping platform of choice, you could also check out one of these Amazon price trackers to efficiently track price drops.
