Why does Chrome on Android freeze like this?

June 19, 2020 8:20 AM

As I browse the web on my phone, a few times a day, a word will randomly get selected, then an option will pop-up to allow me to copy/share/select/search the selection. This causes the browser, and sometimes the entire phone to freeze. A minute later, I get offered the option to kill the browser or wait, at which point I can usually choose wait and the freeze will end, and I can close the little pop-up. Is there a reason why this happens and can I stop it?

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 running Android version 10. But I had this exact same problem on a Galaxy Note 3 running who the hell knows what version of Android before I upgraded. Here's an image of the pop-up.

I never deliberately select the word, but I'm using my stylus to scroll, so I'm apparently doing it accidentally. But this is clearly a feature that's meant to exist when you highlight text, so why does it freeze my browser? Does it have a name? Can I turn it off? I'm assuming that as I've had the same problem on two different phones now, it isn't just a me problem. I've tried googling this (MANY MANY MANY TIMES) but apparently don't know the right keywords.

posted by jacquilynne to Technology (2 answers total)

I've been getting this too using Chrome on my Pixel 3. No stylus and it doesn't cause my phone to freeze but I can't even find the word that was highlighted. the Copy/Share/etc bar will just appear and float along through the website. I can't un-click, and highlighting a different word and un-clicking doesn't make the original go away so I'll end up pressing Copy and that satisfies it for a while.

Unfortunately, I don't know what to call it, why it happens, or how to fix it. I just keep it at bay with Copy for now.
posted by simplethings at 8:32 AM on June 19, 2020

Response by poster: Unfortunately, because of the freezing, I can't click copy to make it go away until the close/wait pop-up comes up.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:04 AM on June 19, 2020