{"id":133180,"date":"2019-03-26T17:40:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T17:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=133180"},"modified":"2025-07-01T22:11:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:11:03","slug":"chrome-privacy-vs-sensors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/chrome-privacy-vs-sensors\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Chrome will make it easier to browse more privately"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>These days, our devices can do a lot of different things. At the heart of this versatility lies a multitude of sensors collecting different types of data, which is then used to perform what seem to be technological miracles. From light sensors to gyroscopes, our modern devices are constantly working to detect our surroundings and how we\u2019re interacting with them.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_133253\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-133253\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-133253\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2021\/05\/Device_sensors_tb75ta.jpg\" alt=\"All our device collect a lot of data\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-133253\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our devices are constantly collecting and sharing data about many things including where we are and what we&#8217;re doing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The positive half of all this is that we then get all sorts of insights and data into our behavior that we can use to inform our future decisions. The flip side, however, is yes, you\u2019ve guessed it, <strong>privacy<\/strong>. With so much data constantly being collected, it is all too easy for us to just hand it over to whoever runs the websites we visit or the apps that we use. So it is good news that <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/chrome\/answer\/114836?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&amp;hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google is planning to make it much easier to control<\/a> who we share all this data with.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/11\/security-192.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">How to enable private browsing mode on different browsers<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-enable-private-browsing-mode-on-all-browsers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">Read now<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-enable-private-browsing-mode-on-all-browsers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<h2>New Chrome feature will tell you what sensors websites are trying to access and give easy option to prevent it<\/h2>\n<p>The types of sensors listed above are found in laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Sites might try to access the data they\u2019re collecting for a whole host of reasons. Knowing things like what device you\u2019re using and how you\u2019re using it is lucrative information, which gives a financial incentive for the tracking.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-133258 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2021\/05\/This_page_is_using_light_sensors_mfrp7h.jpg\" alt=\"light sensors\" width=\"700\" height=\"125\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In a bid to make this whole process more transparent, Google is introducing a new feature that will show a pop-up any time a site tries to access one of your device\u2019s settings. The pop-up will also include a switch, which will give the option of turning on or off the site\u2019s ability to use data that sensor is collecting.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-133256 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2021\/05\/Google_chrome_sensor_settings_ao38jh.jpg\" alt=\"New Chrome sensor control\" width=\"700\" height=\"277\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This new user-friendly privacy tool has been spotted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/chrome\/canary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Chrome Canary<\/a>, which is the advanced developer build of the famous web browser. <strong>Canary is where Google tests potential new features for Chrome and checks for bugs or potential coding issues.<\/strong> At the moment, a more fully functioned version the feature appears for the desktop version of Chrome, which gives control over each individual attempt to access a device\u2019s sensors.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Google Chrome Canary\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_app-logo-l,f_auto,dpr_auto\/p\/2836c730-96d5-11e6-b080-00163ec9f5fa\/2818375302\/google-chrome-canary-logo.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Google Chrome Canary<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/google-chrome-canary.en.softonic.com\/?ex=DSK-1218.6\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download now<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--70\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"70\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"7\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\">7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/google-chrome-canary.en.softonic.com\/?ex=DSK-1218.6\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>For now, at least, the Android version of the feature works <a href=\"https:\/\/bugs.chromium.org\/p\/chromium\/issues\/detail?id=796904\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">simply as an on\/off switch<\/a> that gives users the opportunity to block all sensor data being shared or allow blanket access.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-133257 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/c_scale,w_350\/v1553397228\/Chrome-Android-Site-Settings-Sensors_copy_kbuxql.png\" alt=\"Android Chrome sensor support\" width=\"350\" height=\"202\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There is no official word as yet about when this new feature will come to Google Chrome but the guys at <a href=\"https:\/\/techdows.com\/2019\/03\/chrome-block-sites-access-motion-or-light-sensors.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tech Dows<\/a> believe Google has set it as priority 1 for it to be included the Chrome 75 update. As we\u2019ve only just seen <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/google-chrome-duck-duck-go\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chrome 73<\/a> receive a general roll-out, we can expect to have to wait a few months yet before we gain control over which of our sensors the sites we visit on Google Chrome have access to.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-related-articles-white\">\r\n<p class=\"sc-related-articles-white__title\">More from Softonic<\/p>\r\n  <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__row\">\r\n    <a title=\"6 Chrome extensions to make you more productive at work\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/6-chrome-extensions-to-make-you-more-productive-at-work\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/pexels-photo-374899.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      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it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":133254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[2378,1068,1045,1126,1624],"usertag":[839],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-133180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionchrome","tag-google","tag-google-chrome","tag-online","tag-privacy","usertag-vpn"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326363,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133180\/revisions\/326363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133180"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=133180"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=133180"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=133180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}