Every Android phone owner told to check five settings – don’t risk ignoring them
GOOGLE is urging Android phone owners to check their privacy settings on Google Chrome.
The tech giant recommends taking a closer look at five settings that could keep you safe – and make your life easier.
It's very easy to check your Chrome settings from an Android phone or tablet, and it's definitely worthwhile.
"You can improve your browsing experience with privacy settings," Google said.
"Most of these settings are turned on by default, but you can turn them off."
To find your settings, first open the Chrome app.
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Then to the right of the address bar, tap More > Settings.
Now tap Privacy And Security, and then choose the feature you want to update.
Google Chrome privacy settings on Android
The first feature you want to take a look at is Preload Pages.
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This feature can make your web experience much faster – but it comes at the expense of privacy.
"Chrome makes browsing and searching faster by preloading pages that it thinks you might visit," Google explained.
"To do this, Chrome may use cookies, if you allow cookies, and may encrypt and send pages through Google to hide your identity from sites."
The second feature of note is called Do Not Track.
This feature is designed to flag to websites that you don't want to be tracked.
It's not watertight however: websites could still ignore the request.
But it's a simple way to instantly boost your privacy online.
Third up on the list is Clear Browsing Data.
It does what it says on the tin: you can easily clear your browsing data from Google Chrome.
That includes websites you've visited, or saved entries to web forms.
It's even possible to clear browsing data from specific time periods. For example, you might only want to wipe the past hour – because you were looking at birthday gift ideas.
Fourth in Google Chrome's privacy roster is Safe Browsing.
This is a very important feature because it can protect you from falling victim to a dangerous website.
"Protects you and your device from dangerous sites: get an alert whenever Chrome detects that the websites you visit could be harmful," Google explained.
"When you visit a website, Chrome checks it against a list of websites stored on your computer that are known to be bad."
This could stop you from falling prey to a scam, or having your device infected with dangerous malware.
Finally, you'll want to examine Access Payment Methods.
This is where you can see the payment methods you've got saved for Google Chrome.
Saving payment methods can be a handy way to speed up online transactions – but it naturally adds privacy risk.
Thankfully, there's a special tweak you can make that could help.
"You can edit your saved payment info so that it's only saved on your device, and you won’t see your saved payment info on other devices," Google revealed.
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While it's important to use the best privacy settings, remember that you're never truly safe online.
Always be cautious when using the web, don't hand over personal information without checking the recipient is legitimate, and avoid clicking unsolicited links or documents.
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