Chrome is Google's web browser and the most widely used browser on the planet, with roughly 3.8 billion users. It runs on the Blink rendering engine and supports over 200,000 extensions through the Chrome Web Store. For most people, Chrome is the browser that came with their device or Google account.

The browser is fast and well-maintained. Google pushes automatic security updates every few weeks, and Chrome consistently scores high on web standards compliance. Its built-in password manager, address bar search, and cross-device sync make it convenient if you already use Gmail, Google Drive, or Android.

The trade-off is data. Chrome collects 20 different types of user data according to Apple's App Store privacy labels. That is more than any other major browser. This includes browsing history, location, identifiers, usage patterns, and diagnostics. When you sign into Chrome with your Google account, your bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history sync to Google servers. That sync data is not end-to-end encrypted by default. You can enable a custom passphrase, but most users never change this setting.

Google originally planned to remove third-party cookies from Chrome through its Privacy Sandbox initiative. That plan was abandoned in 2024. Third-party cookies remain on by default, and Google retired most of its Privacy Sandbox APIs, including the Topics API, in 2025.

Worth knowing

Chrome's privacy settings let you toggle things like ad personalization and activity tracking. But these controls affect what Google does with your data across its platforms. They do not stop Chrome from collecting the data in the first place. France's CNIL fined Google EUR 325 million in September 2025 specifically because Chrome's consent screens made it harder to reject personalized ads than to accept them.