If you have plenty of articles you want to read but not enough time in the day to read them all, why not save them for later? Google is working on an update for Chrome that will let you do just that without clogging up your bookmarks with articles.

Google Chrome's New "Read Later" Update

The news of this new feature broke on XDA Developers. Google Chrome is receiving an update that brings its "read later" feature out of hiding.

Currently, this feature is only enabled by default on the Canary build of Google Chrome. The Canary build gets updates that were coded the night before, so it's quite unstable; however, it is the best way to peek at what's going on in Google Chrome.

Right now, if you run Google Chrome Canary on an Android phone, you can long-press the URL and bring up the usual list of options. However, near the bottom is a new addition called "read later."

When you tap on this option, Chrome will save the tab under a section called the "reading list." This list works like a bookmark, storing articles for later reading. If you've ever used Pocket, you'll know how this works already.

So, why bother using the read later feature when you can bookmark everything? First, when you save something for later, Chrome will automatically save the page for offline reading. This means you can catch up no matter where you are.

Second, while bookmarks are a long-term solution, the reading list is for "one and done" deals. Once you've read the article, you can quickly get rid of it again. It also keeps these temporary quick-reads away from your actual bookmarks, so you know what's what.

A New Update, but Not a New Feature

If you like the sound of this feature but you'd rather not download Chrome Canary, there is another way to check it out. You may have noticed earlier that we said the update brings the read more feature "out of hiding;" that's because it has been lurking in your Google Chrome this entire time.

Don't believe us? Enter chrome://flags/#read-later into your Chrome's URL bar and hit Enter. You should see an option to toggle the read later feature. Give it a try—you can put articles on your reading list by clicking the bookmark star in the address bar, then selecting "add to reading list."

However, this is an experimental feature that you have to enable manually. The Google Chrome Canary build, on the other hand, aims to finally put the reading list in the spotlight as a default Chrome feature.

Bringing a Chrome Flag Into the Spotlight

With the read now feature enabled by default on Chrome Canary, it's only a matter of time until the main branch will also have it turned on from the get-go. However, that doesn't mean you have to wait; just check out the Chrome flags and turn it on yourself.

If this feature was lurking in Chrome the entire time, what else is hidden away in the browser's flags? As it turns out, there's quite a lot of flags you can toggle to make Chrome a better browser.