How To Manage Privacy And Security Settings For Chrome On Android

Chrome is a popular and user-friendly app used by millions of users on their Android device. Integration with Google makes it more useful and efficient but this increases security concerns too.

You don’t have to worry. Chrome gives various Android privacy and security settings which you can tweak to make your device safer. Some of the privacy settings for Chrome are disabled by default. However, you can manage these setting to ensure safe browsing on Android.

Enable Do Not Track

Websites collect your personal data and track your web activity through cookies and caches. Enabling ‘Do Not Track’ feature sends do not track request to browsing traffic. It prevents many websites, which follow the standards, from using cookies to collect personal data. However, websites may still collect data as they are not obliged to follow Google.

Follow these steps to turn on Do Not Track feature on Chrome.

1. Open Chrome on your Android device.
2. Tap on Menu button which is in the form of 3 vertical dots in the upper-right corner.
3. Scroll down and tap settings.
4. Go to advance and tap on Privacy.
5. Under Privacy header, find Do Not Track and tap it.
6. Turn the toggle On

Enable Safe Browsing

Safe Browsing protects you from harmful sites which may install malware on your device or steal your private data. If ‘Safe Browsing’ is enabled on your Android device, Chrome warns you when you try to navigate to the site which it considers to be unsafe. It also warns you about phishing attacks and when a site tries to install unwanted software.

Follow these steps to turn on Safe Browsing feature on Chrome

1. Open Chrome on your Android device.
2. Tap on Menu button.
3. Scroll down and tap settings.
4. Under Advances Section, tap on Privacy
5. Check on safe Browsing

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Disable Autofill

Autofill feature is very useful but it can land you into trouble. Critical information such as credit card details and addresses are stored on apps and website. You can prevent this information from reaching unsafe hands by disabling AutoFill feature.

You can turn off by following these steps

1. Open Chrome on your Android device.
2. Tap on Menu button which is in the form of 3 vertical dots in the upper-right corner.
3. Scroll down and tap settings.
4. Under Basics section, tap on AutoFill and Payments.
5. Turn off the various toggle

Clear Browsing Data

Chrome stores your browsing data and cookies to allow fast surfing. You should regularly clean up this browsing data protect your private data which can be used by harmful sites. This option not only allows you to delete your browsing history but also cookies and caches files. It also removes passwords for various sites which are stored in Chrome.

Follow the steps to clear browsing data

1. Open Chrome on your Android device.
2. Tap on Menu button.
3. Scroll down and tap on Clear Browsing Data
4. Check the options
   1. Browsing History
   2. Cookies and site data
   3. Caches images and files
5. To remove any previous auto-form data and passwords, tap on Advanced tab and tap on options.
   1. Autofill form data
   2. Saved passwords

You can erase these data from specific time frames ranging from hour to weeks, or can erase entire data.

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Check Site Permissions

You must have not noticed that how many device resources the site wants to access from you. There are many site permissions, such as permission to access camera, microphone, contacts, JavaScript etc. Some of these permissions are set by default. It is advisable to set permissions to ‘Ask First’ to ensure maximum privacy.

For adjusting site permissions follow these steps

1. Open Chrome on your Android device.
2.  Tap on Menu button.
3. Scroll down and tap settings.
4. Under Advances Section, tap on Site Settings

You can change permissions or a particular site or all sites from the list.

Manage Syncing Options

Google Chrome shares data with other Google Apps. Though, it adds to your convenience but also raises security concerns. if you are worried about the security of your critical data, you must un-sync it from Google

Follow these steps to disable syncing,

1. Open Chrome.
2.  Tap on Menu button.
3. Scroll down and tap settings.
4. Tap on your name and select sync
5. Turn off toggle for Sync to disable syncing passwords, bookmarks and history.
6. Under data types, turn off toggle for ‘Sync everything’.
7. Uncheck the data types for which you want disable syncing.

Turn Off Usage Reports

Google collects data and use it to improve its future releases. These reports contain usage statistics, preferences and memory usage and aggregate it with other users, which is potentially harmful.

To turn off Usage reports follow the steps

1. Open Chrome.
2. Tap on Menu button.
3. Scroll down and tap settings.
4. Go to advance and tap on Privacy.
5. Tap on Usage and crash reports
6. Turn off the toggle

Turn Off Prediction Services

Google collects data from your address bar and sends it to your search provider to make search suggestions. If you are using a search provider other than Google, then it is advisable to disable these settings by following these steps

1. Open Chrome.
2. Tap on Menu button.
3. Scroll down and tap settings.
4. Go to advance and tap on Privacy.
5. Uncheck Search and Site suggestions

With growing number of phishing and malware attacks, browser security has become more important. Follow these tricks to limit the access of sites to your device resources, prevent data leakages and enable safe browsing on Android device