The latest Google Chrome release for Android, version 50, has a new download manager baked-in that allows users to pause and resume their downloads.

This means you can finally put file transfers on hold when you leave the house without abandoning what you’ve downloaded so far.

Chrome for Android downloads files in one of two ways. When you tap a link and see a popup that asks you to accept a download, the process is taken care of by Android’s built-in Downloads app. When you tap and hold a link, then choose the save option, Chrome takes care of it.

In existing versions of Chrome, when you download files using the second option, you have very few options while the transfer is in progress. In fact, there are zero options made visible to you, but you can stop the download by closing Chrome and clearing it from recent apps.

With Chrome 50, which is available now in beta for those on Marshmallow, and pre-installed with Android N, that second download option now presents you with cancel and pause options within its notification.

This means that if you’re downloading a large video and you have to pop out, you can pause the download and resume it again when you get home — rather then eating into your data allowance while you’re out, or canceling the transfer and having to start from the beginning later.

The feature is buggy at the moment; Android Police reports that resuming paused downloads often results in a crash or a failed error, so bear this in mind before upgrading to Chrome 50. But it should be stable by the time this update is ready to go public.

In the meantime, there are third-party download managers for Android that provide you with similar functionality.

• SourceAndroid Police