Browser Chrome Update Guide: Desktop, Android, iPhone

Chrome picks the worst moment to ask for a relaunch — right when you’ve got a dozen tabs open, a half-written reply, and a call starting in five minutes. A browser Chrome update is normally harmless: Chrome saves your tabs and quietly reopens them. But the details matter, especially for Incognito windows, Chromebooks, and mobile devices, where the process works differently than it does on a laptop.

This guide walks through how to update Chrome on every platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and iPhone) and what actually happens to your open tabs during that relaunch. It also covers what to do when the update won’t apply, how Chrome’s approach compares to Firefox, Edge, and Brave, and how BelayTab adds a safety net so a bad relaunch, a mid-update crash, or a forgotten Incognito window never costs you real work.

What Happens During a Browser Chrome Update?

A browser Chrome update closes the app briefly, installs the new version, and reopens your previous tabs and windows automatically. The one documented exception is Incognito: Google’s support page for Chrome states plainly that Incognito windows won’t reopen when Chrome restarts.

Most updates need zero effort from you. Chrome checks for new versions and downloads them in the background, and the update simply finishes “the next time you close and reopen the browser,” per Google’s own support documentation. If you never manually relaunch, the download just waits until you happen to quit Chrome for some other reason (shutting down your computer, for instance) and then applies itself on the next launch.

Here’s the quick version for whatever situation you’re in right now.

The takeaway worth remembering: Chrome browser updates are designed to be invisible, and for the vast majority of relaunches, they are. The gaps show up around edge cases — Incognito, forced restarts, and platforms where “update” means something different than clicking a button in the browser itself.

How Do I Check My Chrome Version and Update It on Windows or Mac?

You check and update Chrome the same way on both Windows and Mac: open the three-dot menu, go to Help, then About Google Chrome. That single page shows your current version, checks for a newer one, and gives you the button to apply it.

1. Open the menu. Click the three dots (⋮) in the browser’s top right corner.
2. Go to Help. Select “About Google Chrome” from the menu that appears.
3. Let it check. Opening this page automatically triggers an update check in the background.
4. Click Relaunch. If a new version downloaded, a Relaunch button appears — click it to apply the update now.

If you don’t see a Relaunch button, you’re already current, and there’s nothing else to do. If you do see one but you’re mid-task, it’s fine to wait: the update has already downloaded and just sits there until you’re ready.

One thing worth knowing: minimum system requirements differ by platform. Windows needs Windows 10 or later for Intel and AMD chips (Windows 11 for ARM), and Mac needs macOS 13 Ventura or later, per Google’s install documentation. If Chrome refuses to update at all rather than just delaying, an outdated OS is worth ruling out before you assume something’s broken. For the initial install steps on a fresh machine rather than an update to an existing one, see our guide on how to restore tabs in Chrome after closing or crashing, which covers the adjacent case of getting your session back once Chrome is running again.

How Do I Update Chrome on Linux?

On Linux, Chrome updates through your system’s package manager rather than Chrome’s own built-in updater. That’s a real distinction from Windows and Mac, where Chrome handles its own updates silently in the background.

If you installed Chrome via a .deb package on Ubuntu or Debian, or a .rpm on Fedora or openSUSE, new versions arrive the same way any other package does — through apt, dnf, or whatever tool you normally use to keep your system current. Running your usual update command (sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade, for example) picks up Chrome along with everything else.

Visiting Chrome’s About page on Linux still shows your version number, but it won’t necessarily offer a one-click Relaunch-to-update the way it does on Windows or Mac, because the update itself is handled outside the browser. If your package manager reports Chrome as current but the About page seems to disagree, trust the package manager. It’s the actual source of truth on this platform.

Don’t mix install methods. If you installed Chrome from a source other than Google’s official .deb or .rpm (a third-party repository mirror, for instance), updates can behave unpredictably. Reinstalling from the official Chrome download flow, which Google’s support page describes as “download the installation file, then look for it in your downloads folder,” resets things to a known-good state.

This is one of the few places where “chrome browser updates” genuinely diverge across platforms rather than just varying in menu location. Everything else in this guide (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS) funnels through Chrome’s own updater or an app store. Linux funnels through your distribution instead, which is worth remembering if you’re troubleshooting a stuck update and keep looking in the wrong place.

How Do I Update Chrome on a Chromebook?

A Chromebook browser update is really a ChromeOS update, since Chrome ships as part of the operating system rather than as a separate download you manage on its own. Google’s support documentation is direct about this: on a Chromebook, “you update the ChromeOS operating system itself rather than Chrome as a separate app.”

Practically, that means there’s no About Google Chrome page with its own independent version number and Relaunch button the way there is on Windows or Mac. Instead, ChromeOS updates bundle the browser, the system, and security patches together into one release. Checking for updates and applying them happens through ChromeOS settings rather than Chrome’s menu — the specifics of that flow are covered in more depth in our dedicated guide to updating a Chromebook, including what it does to your files and open tabs.

One update, one restart. Because ChromeOS updates the whole system at once, applying one usually means a full device restart rather than a quick browser relaunch. If you’re not sure whether a Chromebook restart will bring your tabs back, our guide to Chromebook restarts covers exactly what survives and what doesn’t.

Since BelayTab is a standard Chrome extension, it installs the same way on a Chromebook as it does on any other machine running Chrome, through the Chrome Web Store. That matters here specifically: a Chromebook update usually means a full restart of the device, not just the browser, and a system restart is exactly the kind of event where having an independent, automatic snapshot of your open tabs pays off. You’re not relying solely on ChromeOS’s own session restore to get everything back in the right shape.

How Do I Update Chrome on Android?

You update Chrome browser on Android the same way you update any other app: through the Play Store, either automatically or by hand. Google’s support documentation confirms Chrome “auto-updates based on Play Store settings” by default.

To trigger an update manually instead of waiting for the automatic schedule, open the Play Store, tap your profile icon, choose “Manage apps & device,” find Chrome listed under “Updates available,” and tap Update. If Chrome isn’t listed there, you’re already on the latest version and there’s nothing to do.

To confirm what version you’re currently running, open Chrome’s own three-dot menu, tap Settings, then “About Chrome.” That page shows the version number directly, which is handy if you’re trying to figure out whether a feature you read about has reached your phone yet or not.

Play Store settings control the schedule. If Chrome never seems to update on its own, check the Play Store’s own auto-update setting rather than assuming Chrome is broken. Play Store auto-update behavior (Wi-Fi only, always, or never) is a device-wide setting that overrides how quickly any individual app, Chrome included, picks up new versions.

Android’s app-store-driven model means Chrome tab behavior on relaunch works a little differently than desktop too. If you’ve ever lost a stack of open tabs after an Android update or a forced app restart, our guide on restoring closed tabs in Chrome on mobile walks through what Chrome’s own recovery can and can’t do on a phone, and where the gaps are wider than on desktop.

How Do I Update Chrome on iPhone or iPad?

You update Chrome on iPhone or iPad through Apple’s App Store, not through any setting inside Chrome itself. Per Google’s support documentation, Chrome for iOS “auto-updates based on Apple App Store settings,” mirroring how any other iOS app stays current.

To update manually, open the App Store app, tap your profile icon in the top corner, and look for Chrome under “Available Updates.” Tapping Update there installs the newest version immediately, without needing to open Chrome first.

Checking your current version works from inside Chrome: tap the More menu, then Settings, then “Google Chrome,” and the version number is listed right there. It’s a slightly different path than Android’s “About Chrome” screen, but it lands in the same place.

Some features are iOS-only limited. Google’s own documentation notes that certain Chrome features (including specific cookie settings, auto-detect encoding, and Do Not Track) simply aren’t available on iOS, due to platform constraints Apple imposes on all browsers. That’s not a bug or something an update will fix; it’s a permanent limitation of the platform, not of Chrome specifically.

For a fuller picture of how Chrome behaves on an iPhone beyond just updates (tab syncing, ad blocking, and how it stacks up against Safari) our dedicated guide to Chrome on iPhone covers the rest of that ground. As on Android, the app-store update model means you’re trusting Apple’s App Store, not Chrome, to decide when the update lands on your device.

Does Updating Chrome Delete My Tabs?

No — updating Chrome does not delete your tabs. Google’s support documentation states that after you click Relaunch, “the browser saves your opened tabs and windows and reopens them automatically when it restarts,” which covers the overwhelming majority of update scenarios.

The one documented exception is Incognito. Google is explicit that “your Incognito windows won’t reopen when Chrome restarts” — no autosave, no restore, no exception for how many tabs were open in them. If you had research, a private purchase, or anything else running only in Incognito when you clicked Relaunch, it’s gone the moment the browser closes.

There’s a second, less obvious gap worth naming: Chrome’s own tab-restore promise depends on Chrome shutting down cleanly. If the browser hangs during the update, or your computer restarts unexpectedly at the same moment, or the operating system force-quits Chrome instead of letting it close normally, the same guarantee doesn’t necessarily apply the way it does for a clean, voluntary relaunch.

This is really the heart of why “does updating delete my tabs” is worth asking in the first place. Chrome’s own answer is a well-documented “usually not, except Incognito.” A rolling automatic snapshot is what closes the “usually” part of that sentence.

What If Chrome Won’t Update or the Update Fails?

If Chrome won’t update, the first fix is the simplest one: fully quit Chrome and reopen it, rather than just clicking Relaunch again. Google’s documentation notes that updates typically finish “when you close and reopen the browser,” which implies a genuinely closed and restarted app, not just a page refresh.

If that doesn’t help, revisit the About Google Chrome page again. Because opening that page triggers a fresh update check, it’s worth doing more than once — sometimes the first check simply hasn’t finished downloading yet, and a second visit a few minutes later shows the Relaunch button that wasn’t there before.

On Linux specifically, remember that Chrome’s own updater isn’t in the driver’s seat — your package manager is. If apt or dnf shows Chrome as current but the About page still nags you, that’s a sign the browser’s internal check is out of sync with reality, not that something is wrong.

For a clean Google Chrome update, browser reinstalls should always come from the official download page rather than an unfamiliar link, especially if a pop-up or email is what pointed you there in the first place. That advice isn’t unique to Chrome — Mozilla’s own support pages warn that scammers push fake “urgent” browser update notices to install malware, and the same caution applies across every major browser, not just Firefox. If Chrome feels generally unresponsive rather than simply stuck on an update, our guide to Chrome freezing covers a broader set of fixes worth trying first.

How Does Updating Chrome Compare to Firefox, Edge and Brave?

Chrome browser updates work much the same way as updates for other Chromium-based and independent browsers: automatic downloads in the background, with a relaunch needed to finish the job. The differences show up in exactly where you go to check and how the “apply” button is labeled.

Firefox’s process, per Mozilla’s own support documentation, is close to identical in spirit: “Updates are applied after restarting Firefox,” and the About Firefox window both shows your version and kicks off a check. Edge follows a similar pattern but runs its background updates through a dedicated Windows service, and Microsoft’s troubleshooting page for Edge points to clearing the update cache or reinstalling from the official site if updates get stuck. Brave overlays a colored icon on its menu button when an update is ready, and choosing “About Brave” from the Help menu both shows the current version and starts downloading a newer one automatically if it exists.

None of the four browsers require you to manually download and run an installer just to stay current. That model is largely gone. The practical differences are cosmetic: where the “About” page lives, what the relaunch button is called, and whether an icon lights up to tell you something’s ready. If you’re comparing browsers more broadly rather than just their update mechanics, our roundups on installing Firefox, installing Microsoft Edge, and installing Brave cover the rest of what changes when you switch.

How Do You Make Sure Your Tabs Always Survive a Chrome Update?

You make sure your tabs survive a Chrome update by keeping an independent, automatic copy of your open windows that doesn’t depend on Chrome’s own relaunch behavior going perfectly every time. That’s the specific gap BelayTab is built to close.

Chrome’s built-in promise (tabs and windows reopen automatically after Relaunch) is genuinely reliable for the common case. But it has real edges: Incognito windows never come back, an unclean shutdown can behave differently than a clean one, and a Chromebook restart bundles the browser update into a whole-device reboot. BelayTab doesn’t try to replace Chrome’s relaunch behavior; it runs alongside it as a second, independent safety net.

Everything BelayTab saves is free, with no account and no limit on how many sessions or tabs you keep, and it also keeps the last 20 versions of each session so restoring never overwrites a version you might still want. It’s worth being clear about what it doesn’t do, too: BelayTab can’t recover tabs from before it was installed, and it won’t fix a Chrome crash or freeze on its own. What it does is make sure the tabs themselves survive whatever happens to the browser around them — whether that’s an update, a restart, or a Chromebook reboot.