Browsers, Google Chrome, Privacy and You
We built Chrome not only to be faster, but also to put you in control of your private information while helping protect the information you share when you're online.
Managing your privacy in Chrome
1. Incognito mode
When you don't want your website visits or downloads to be recorded in your browsing and download histories, you can browse in incognito mode. In addition, any cookies created while in incognito mode are deleted after you close the incognito window.
When you're browsing in incognito mode, you'll see the incognito icon in the corner.
Incognito mode is particularly handy since it's an easy way to browse the web in a private way without needing to change your privacy settings back and forth between browsing sessions. For example, you can have one regular session as well as one incognito session in separate windows at the same time.
2. Privacy preferences
You can control all your privacy preferences for Chrome from the Options dialog, under the Privacy section located at the top of the Under the Hood tab.
Learn more about managing your privacy preferences for:
- Suggestions in the Omnibox
- Phishing and malware protection
- Suggestions for navigation errors
- Usage statistics and crash reports
3. Clearing your browsing data
With Chrome, you can clear your browsing data at any time so that this information is not stored in your browser. You have full control over which types of browsing data you'd like to erase from your browser, including browsing and download histories, cookies, saved passwords, and saved form data. Learn more
4. Controlling privacy preferences for cookies, images, JavaScript, and plugins
Under Chrome's content settings, you can control your privacy preferences for cookies, images, JavaScript, and plugins on a site-by-site basis. For example, you can set up cookie rules to automatically allow cookies only for a specified list of sites that you trust, and then manually manage cookie blocking and setting for all other sites. Learn more
5. Opting out of ad personalization
Advertisers use cookies to personalize your ads and improve your experience, so that you see ads you are interested in. Advertising companies that are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and other self-regulatory efforts allow you to opt out of this personalization. In Chrome, you can maintain your opt-out status for the browser permanently even when you clear all cookies by installing the “Keep My Opt-Outs” Chrome extension.
6. Understanding other data sent by the browser
We've taken great care to make sure that Chrome is designed with your privacy in mind. It only communicates with Google services where absolutely necessary to deliver features and functionality. You can disable features that require this kind of communication in Chrome's options so you are in control of what is sent to Google when you use Chrome.