#Chrome signs out when closed plus#
#Chrome signs out when closed series#

This document does clarify a few things, but it's long and convoluted. We also wish that Google would make its Chrome Privacy Whitepaper documentation more widely known and more accessible to average users. We wish we could set these options before allowing Google uploads all our information.

#Chrome signs out when closed plus#

On the plus side, there's a tiny Settings link that lets you pick and choose what is synced, and from there you can click through to Google's account settings page where activity tracking can be disabled. If you do click the button to enable syncing, you're shown a dialogue box that tells you that your history, passwords and settings are now being synced, and the ads that you see are being personalised - without asking for confirmation. Moreover, the option to sign out of Chrome is buried in a tiny submenu. The highlighted 'Sync as' button looks like it might be telling you that synchronisation is already on.

#Chrome signs out when closed series#

In response to user confusion that first surfaced on Hacker News, Google Chrome product manager Adrienne Porter Felt posted a series of tweets today, explaining that while you do get signed in to Chrome, data is not synced unless you specifically enable that function.ДЄs many critics have pointed out, the user interface here is not exactly clear. Also, Google has not clarified whether being signed in to multiple accounts means that your data is merged between them. Being forcibly kicked out of all your Google accounts when signing out of Chrome is the complete opposite of convenient. Now, you might think you're using one set of services, but you're signed in to Chrome with a different identity. Many users have more than one account, and some might be juggling personal as well as work identities. In fact, this change seems to make handling multiple Google accounts even more complicated. However, Google accounts have stayed signed in on a browser for ages now - if you're signed in to Gmail, even without it being open in a tab, you'll automatically be signed in to YouTube when you visit, and vice versa.

Secondly, Google says that signing in and out of Chrome will let users manage all their Google services in one shot. First of all, the company seems to think that people were becoming confused about who was signed in to what when they shared a PC, and so having browser-level user profiles will let them protect their accounts. Google claims that this is actually a good thing for several reasons. The little user profile icon on Chrome's toolbar immediately changes to your Google Account profile picture, and if you sign out of the browser, you're kicked out of all your Google services as well. Now, what Google has done with version 69 onwards, is automatically sign you into Chrome whenever you log in to any Google service. Given the criticism that the search and advertising giant has faced over the years for tracking user data and burrowing its way into every part of our lives, that has been a valid concern for many people. You used to be able to safely ignore the little user profile icon if you didn't want Google vacuuming up your browser history and other potentially sensitive information. Although most people would use the same Google account to sign in to Chrome as they would for Gmail or YouTube, one did not require the other. The line had always been pretty clear - the browser is only a way to look at content on the Web it takes you there but doesn't invite itself to the party. This was completely independent of whether or not you were signed in to any of Google's services such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, and Google MapsВ within the browser - or even used them at all. Previously, you could associate a Google account with Chrome in order to store your browser history, passwords, settings, and payment details in the cloud, and have them available and synchronised across multiple PCs and other devices. Version 69 of Chrome was released earlier this month to much fanfare around its overhauled design, but it also quietly changed how users' credentials are handled. Now, however, the search and advertising giant is blurring the lines. All of them trust Chrome, and it's fair to say, assume it can be used independently of Google's many Web services. The sheer number of people who use Google's browser throughout each day is astronomical. For perspective, its nearest competitor on smartphones is Safari, and on the desktop is Internet Explorer, both of which come in at between 11 and 15 percent - barely a quarter of what Chrome commands. Multiple leading analytics firms peg Chrome's market share at between 59 and 67 percent. Google Chrome is by far the most widely used Web browser in the world, across desktop and laptop PCs as well as smartphones.