Google is testing Copyless Paste in Chrome for Android, gives text suggestions in other apps

Google has deployed the first code for a new feature called Copyless Paste in its Chrome app for Android. The feature is meant to take data from your Chrome usage and use that to improve the experience in other apps. It’s now possible to enable Copyless Paste in chrome://flags in Chrome Canary for Android, although turning it on might not do anything.

The flag’s description includes an example of how this feature could come in handy. “If you looked at a restaurant website and switched to the Maps app, the keyboard would offer the name of that restaurant as a suggestion to enter into the search bar,” it says. Data is only stored locally and never sent to Google.

I reported on a feature along the lines of Copyless Paste in March, although at the time I had heard only part of the name: “Copy Less.” This follows Apple’s introduction of keyboard suggestions for certain bits of text, like addresses.

Google appears to have begun work on its Copyless Feature feature in February, and engineers committed the code for the flag in Chromium last week. Presumably Copyless Paste will arrive in Chrome 60 for Android in the next few months.

Currently the feature isn’t designed to work when you’re using incognito tabs in Chrome Canary for Android. And it seems that low-end devices can’t take advantage of Copyless Paste at all. Google declined to comment.