Category: Open Source

Whether you’re browsing the web on your PC at home or on the go with your phone, we designed Chrome to be simple to use and work great on all platforms. For example, tools like Chrome sync have made it possible for you to access your bookmarks and passwords when switching between all your devices. 

In the coming weeks we’re making changes to Chrome on iOS to help you get to your most important stuff right away. Instead of having to set up Chrome sync on your device, you can now simply sign in to Chrome to save new things in your Google Account and access what’s already there. This may feel familiar to you, as it’s how many Google apps on iOS already work today. Once you’re signed in to Chrome, you’ll be able to save your important stuff to your account, including bookmarks, reading lists, passwords, payment info, addresses and settings. And, you can separately opt in to synchronizing your tabs and browsing history from Chrome on iOS to your Google Account, which can help you pick up browsing where you left off on another device.

These updates are also designed to help you manage your data. When you sign in to Chrome, the browsing data that’s already on your device will be kept separate as local data on your device. You’ll be able to easily distinguish local from account data in settings. And, if you want any local data to be available on your other devices, you can simply go to settings and save it to your account.

Signing in to Chrome on iOS remains entirely optional. If you don’t sign in, you can still save your bookmarks, passwords and more, but they will be available only on the device where you saved them. You can also continue to sign in to Google web services like Gmail without signing in to Chrome.

We’re hoping these changes make it even easier for you to get the best of Chrome while offering you all the flexibility you need.

Posted by Nico Jersch, Chrome Product Manager