For a long time, Chrome’s UI stayed the same. It’s functional yet somewhat customizable thanks to its themes and color. However, Chrome UI refresh 2023 is just around the corner with larger toolbar buttons, rounded menus, new icons, and an overall neat look thanks to the Material You design language. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to enable the new UI in Chrome so that you don’t have to wait for the official rollout and disable it if you don’t like the new UI refresh. Let’s get started.
Note: Your Google Chrome browser should be v117 or higher to enable the new UI refresh 2023.
Enable Chrome’s New UI
Open a new tab in the Chrome browser, paste chrome://flags/#chrome-refresh-2023 in the address bar, and press Enter. Select Enabled from the Chrome Refresh 2023 dropdown menu. This enables the new desktop design.
(Optional) Next, to enable the WebUI refresh, enter chrome://flags/#chrome-webui-refresh-2023 in the address bar and select Enabled from the Chrome WebUI Refresh 2023 dropdown menu.
(Optional) To activate the new side panel customization feature, enter chrome://flags/#customize-chrome-side-panel and choose Enabled from the Customize Chrome Side Panel dropdown menu.
Finally, click on the Relaunch button or simply close and reopen the browser to see the new Chrome UI.
Disable New UI in Chrome
If the new Chrome UI doesn’t appeal to you, or if it’s causing instability or performance issues, you have the option to disable it. Follow the steps below to learn how.
First, open a new tab in the Chrome browser, type chrome://flags/#chrome-refresh-2023, and press Enter. Next, select Default or Disabled from the Chrome Refresh 2023 dropdown.
Next, type chrome://flags/#chrome-webui-refresh-2023 in the address bar and press Enter. Select Default or Disabled from the Chrome WebUI Refresh 2023 dropdown menu.
After that, type chrome://flags/#customize-chrome-side-panel and press Enter. Choose Default or Disabled from the Customize Chrome Side Panel dropdown menu.
Finally, click the Relaunch button. Once the browser is relaunched, the UI will revert to old design.
Note: Selecting Default will revert to the current default settings, which may include the new UI if it has been officially rolled out. To ensure the new UI is turned off, select Disabled.