Google Chrome Switches to a One-Week Schedule for Stable Updates

Google has announced that, starting with Google Chrome 116, users will receive weekly stable updates, marking a significant shift from the current four weeks.

Having the latest security updates installed is always necessary to help protect any device running Google Chrome. This is not the first time Google has shortened the duration between stable updates. In fact, it used to be six weeks before it came down to four. Now, Google is switching to a one-week window.

“Chrome ships a new milestone release every four weeks. In between those major releases, we ship updates to address security and other high impact bugs,” said Amy Ressler from the Chrome Security Team. “We currently schedule one of these Stable channel updates (or ‘Stable Refresh’) between each milestone. Starting in Chrome 116, Stable updates will be released every week between milestones.”

“This should not change how you use or update Chrome, nor is the frequency of milestone releases changing, but it does mean security fixes will get to you faster,” she added.

Google Chrome is based on the open-source project Chromium, which developers with new features and patches constantly feed. Accelerating the time for those changes to make it into the stable version of Google Chrome makes sense.

“While we can’t fully remove the potential for n-day exploitation, a weekly Chrome security update cadence allows up to ship security fixes 3.5 days sooner on average, greatly reducing the already small window for n-day attackers to develop and use an exploit against potential victims and making their lives much more difficult,” Ressler said.

This doesn’t mean unscheduled updates won’t be necessary anymore. Developers still need to consider zero-day exploits that have to be addressed as soon as possible for emergency deployment in Google Chrome.