Google Chrome 124 update breaks audio on Mac devices; favicons also misaligned

Update 08/05/24 9:30 am (IST): Google confirmed late last month that the fix for the Chrome audio issue has started rolling out as part of version 124.0.6367.82 of the web browser. By now, this update should be available for everyone. However, if for some reason it’s still not available or you are still facing the problem, then the following workarounds should help you.

Here’s a quick workaround for now:

1. Open Audio MIDI setup.
2. Click the”+” on the bottom left hand side of the corner of the window and choose “Create Multioutput Device”
3. Chose your audio interface as the only device.

This should get past the channel limit implemented in this update. Looks like they are reverting the change, so we shouldn’t have to deal with this for now…

It sounds like chrome devs set the max number of output channels to 32, and our interfaces are capable of more than that. (Source)

Here’s how another user commented on the workaround shared above:

THANK YOU. This helped me fix the problem on my side. If you’re having this issue on a UAD Apollo, then you just need to change the number of outputs and inputs to <=32 (Source)

Update 30/4/24 9:35 am (IST): The issue with misaligned favicons has been fixed with the recent Chrome v124.0.6367.79 update. I can confirm the same on my end. Thanks for the heads up, Sam!

Update 22/4/24 2:47 pm (IST): A product expert on the Google Chrome forums confirmed that the misaligned favicons bug is due to users tweaking flags. Many users tweaked flags to get rid of the new UI, however, this has resulted in conflicts between the old and new UI elements after the new update. Here’s what the product expert says:

Google has found a fix!!

This issue is only impacting users that modified flags or command-line switches to opt-out of the Chrome redesign we launched last fall. As the Chrome team begins to remove code for the old design, users that have tried to opt-out will start to see issues like this surface. As always, flags are experimental and may result in unexpected behavior.

To resolve the issue, users can visit chrome://flags and click “Reset all” in the top-right, or if they added command-line switches, they can remove those by following the reverse of the instructions they originally followed.

Additional information can be found in the public-facing crbug: https://issues.chromium.org/issues/332081796

Original article (from 19/4/24) follows:

While going through the Google Chrome community as part of my research into emerging bugs and issues, I noticed an influx of reports from Mac users who claim that the latest Google Chrome 124 update broke audio support on their devices. Apart from that, many others who installed Chrome on their Mac and Windows machines too noticed that the favicon (website icons) are now misaligned in the tabs. So in this post, I’ll share all the details about the problems and any potential workarounds too.

Sound not working after Chrome 124 update

I’ve seen not just 3 – 4 posts, but around 10 on the Chrome community and a few more on Reddit and even the Chromium issues tracker. Most of these threads even have plenty of upvotes, indicating that it’s indeed a widespread problem. Another thing I’d like to point out is that while most reports don’t mention anything about external audio interfaces, I did notice a few posts that indicate they were using external audio interfaces.

According to affected users, after they installed the Chrome 124 update, they couldn’t get the sound to work when playing videos or music. Users say they tried basic troubleshooting steps like restarting, reinstalling Chrome, clearing cache, and more to no avail. Luckily, there’s one trick that seems to help most users fix the problem. All you have to do is disable universal audio. This was even recommended by a product expert on the official Google support forums. I’ve added their comment below for reference as it includes the steps as well:

“Please Disable your UAD.”

How do I disable UAD?
Step by Step Instructions:

Click the Start menu icon in the bottom left corner of your screen and type in “control panel”. …
In the Control Panel window, click on “Programs and Features”. …
Scroll down until you locate “UAD Powered Plug-Ins” in the list, then click on it and select “Uninstall” from the menu bar.

The same expert also mentioned that they’re seeing several similar reports about the problem and are requesting users to share feedback about it:

We now have several reports of this please do the following:

Chrome Computer Feedback and crbug

Sending feedback is important, as the logs will help engineers identify issues and pain points.
On your computer, open Chrome.
At the top right, click More .
Click Help Report an issue.
Add details, including steps to help us recreate the issue you’re experiencing.
Choose if you want to include more information in your report, like a web address, your email address, or a screenshot.
To submit the report, click Send.
Also file a crbug report.

As I mentioned above, a report about the bug has been lodged in the Chromium issues tracker too. However, a Google employee commented on the report that they were not able to reproduce the issue. To back up their claim, they even shared a screen recording of them playing a video on YouTube in which the sound is clearly audible. Here’s the video the employee posted:

Misaligned favicons

Apart from the bugged sound, many users have been reporting about the misaligned website icons in the tabs. Unlike the audio bug, this seems to be affecting users on Windows and Mac too. Rather than appearing in the center on the left, they have now shifted toward the top-left edge of the tab in an odd position. Those with OCD are definitely not going to like this. I’ve added a screenshot shared by a user highlighting the problem for a better understanding.

As seen in the screenshot, the icons have moved up a few notches from where they usually appear. Naturally, this has left many users asking for how to fix the misaligned favicons after this Chrome 124 update. Luckily, it seems that a fix is in the works. A Googler confirmed that they identified the problem. Here’s what they mentioned:

Given that there is still a UI flag that can trigger this condition, I’ll put a fix out and merge it to M124 and M125. The reality is that we shouldnt have a flag that triggers the old UI anymore, and the team that was experimenting with that flag should remove it so we can continue with deprecation.

For now, if you have been avoiding the new Chrome UI by disabling the “Customize Chrome Side Panel” flag, you might just have to go ahead and enable it to fix the misaligned tabs, as noted by a user on the Chrome forums:

I’ve just found out that even in Incognito mode tab icons are distorted. With that being said, I would rather be with distorted tab icons than with new layout. It really seems that enabling “Customize Chrome Side Panel” flag is the only one solution right now: your tab icons will be “in place” but your layout will also be new. (Source)

That said, I hope this article helped you work your way around the newly introduced audio and misaligned favicons bugs that are part of the Google Chrome 124 update. If you liked the article, please consider tapping that ‘Like’ button. Further, if you have a better workaround to share, you can do so in the comments section below. Thanks in advance!