The Chrome app now supports image copying, but it may not work for you (Updated)

Update: January 22, 2020 (3:15 PM ET): Google has merged the commit allowing users to copy images to the Android clipboard from directly within the Chrome app (h/t: XDA Developers), and the feature flag mentioned below is now available. Unfortunately, copied images can’t be pasted into certain apps since only the default keyboard and current app can read the clipboard in Android 10.

To fix this, it looks like Google might also be preparing to fold this image copying functionality into its keyboard app — Gboard. This information comes from another APK teardown, but this time of the Gboard app. There are hints at what apps may support this functionality, including Facebook, Google Messages, WhatsApp, and Twitter, though none of this is confirmed at this time.

Original Article: January 19, 2020 (12:00 AM ET): Google Chrome is easily one of the best Android mobile browsers. It offers seamless integration across all your devices, it sports Google’s latest Material Design, and it’s packed with useful features for power users. Now, users may have yet another reason to use Google Chrome as their default browser thanks to an incoming feature that could let you more easily share images by copying them to your clipboard.

XDA Developers discovered a recent commit on Chromium Gerrit revealing the feature’s development. The commit describes a new context menu that lets users copy images from directly within Google Chrome.

Read also: Google finally announces Chrome App death timeline

Users can already share images from the browser, but they must use Android’s share menu. Image copying could make this process simpler, allowing Google Chrome users to share images in just a couple of taps.

There is a link in the commit showing off the proposed UI, but no one can access it without permission. Though there is no way for us to know precisely how this would look, we suspect Google would simply add a new “copy image” option in Chrome’s existing long-press context menu.

It’s still possible Google won’t merge this commit into Chrome. But, if it does, you will be able to enable it by typing chrome://flags#context-menu-copy-image directly in your browser.