Tested the issue on chrome version #67.0.3396.87 on Samsung J7 Android 7.0.0 as per steps mentioned in comment#0 and observed that browser starts and loads homepage which was set earlier.

Note: Chrome should be restarted twice for the flag to take effect.

glass.s@ Could you please update to latest stable version #67.0.3396.87 and check by restarting chrome twice after you enable flag and let us know if issue persists.

Thanks!

We are talking about chromium,right?

On chrome i did not recognized such a bug. On chrome there is no need to force enable the homepagebutton.

This bug report is for chromium.

Thank you for providing more feedback. Adding the requester to the cc list.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

Tested the issue on chromium version #67.0.3396.87 on Samsung J7 Android 7.0.0 as per steps mentioned below:

Steps Followed:
1.Enable 'Force enable home page button' flag from chrome://flags
2.Go to chrome>> settings >> home page >> set home page( example: www.facebook.com)
3.close browser and access it after 1 hour Observed that new tab page is seen on startup.
4. Tapped on '+' button and observed that default new tab is opened.
5. Tapped on home button, user is redirected to the homepage (www.facebook.com).

Note: 'Force enable home page button' flag displays home button if enabled but not about loading homepage automatically on startup.

glass.s@ Could you please help us by providing screencast for both chrome and chromium for better understanding and to triage further.


Thanks!

Naturally here is a screencast and a screenrecord of the bug's behavior in chromium.

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	VID_1.mp4 5.4 MB View Download

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	Screenshot_20180627-220616.png 282 KB View Download

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Thank you for providing more feedback. Adding the requester to the cc list.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

... here is the screenrecord for chrome.

Deleted: VID_3.mp4 731 KB

	VID_3.mp4 731 KB View Download

Tested the issue on Android and able to reproduce the issue.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Launch chromium >> go to chrome://flags and enable #force-enable-home-page-button flag
2. Now go to settings>>set your homepage you want to get loaded on startup(example:facebook.com)
3. Start the Browser after a certain time of not using it( an hour) 
4. Observed that newtab page is seen on start-up

Chromium version:
67.0.3396.87(Stable), 69.0.3475.0(Dev)

Android OS:
7.0.0

Android device:
Samsung J7

Leaving this issue as Untriaged as we cannot provide bisect for issue as it requires one hour waiting time to reproduce.

Please navigate to below link for log's  --
go/chrome-androidlogs/855024


Thanks!
 

 Issue chromedriver:2675  has been merged into this issue.

Chromedriver  bug 2675  is not a duplicate of this issue.