Google Chrome is one of the most used web browsers in the world, thanks to its ease of use, extensive extension lineup, and availability across all major OS platforms. Chrome also offers some of the best features among web browsers. However, with Google adding so many features with each new release, it can be tricky to keep up. Many of the best features go unnoticed, so here are our favorite hidden features inside Google Chrome that you may not know about but are incredibly useful.
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1 Live captions for any video or audio
Real-time captions for any content
Captions are incredibly helpful while watching videos, not only for those who are visually or hearing impaired but also for those who may have a hard time understanding accents. Sites like YouTube have an option to auto-generate captions even for those videos that don’t have them natively, but this isn’t true for every website. Thankfully, Chrome offers a tool that can automatically generate captions for any video or audio playing in your browser.
To enable this, go to Settings by clicking the three-dot menu, then from the sidebar, select “Accessibility” and toggle the “Live Caption” option. Some speech recognition files will download to your computer. Once that’s done, Chrome will generate captions for any video or audio playing in your browser. By default, Chrome will download files for English, but you can download additional languages and set your preferred language in the same settings.
2 Lock incognito tabs with biometrics
Keep incognito tabs private and safe
Chrome’s incognito mode lets you browse privately without affecting your history. Thankfully, Chrome has added a new option to lock your incognito tabs behind biometric authentication, such as fingerprint or Face ID, so you stay safe even if you accidentally leave them open and hand your phone to someone else.
To enable this, open Chrome on your phone, hit the three-dot menu, and go to Settings. Next, scroll down and select Privacy and security, and turn on the Lock Incognito tabs when you leave Chrome option. Now, when you leave incognito tabs open and return to them, Chrome will ask you to reauthenticate using your biometrics.
3 Block third-party cookies automatically
Say goodbye to those pesky cookie pop-ups
Don’t you hate it when you open a new website and a cookie pop-up blocks the whole page? Thankfully, Chrome has a built-in tool that lets you block third-party cookies automatically. This not only stops those annoying pop-ups but also protects you from being tracked online and seeing personalized ads. To turn this feature on, go to Chrome settings and select Privacy and security. Then, select the Third-party cookies section and choose your preferred option. However, keep in mind that blocking all cookies may cause some websites not to function properly.
4 Monitor price drops on shopping sites
Never miss a bargain again
While Chrome extensions like Keepa and Honey are helpful for online shopping, Chrome now has built-in functionality that lets you track the prices of your favorite products without installing any third-party extensions. To use this feature, go to the product page on websites like Best Buy or Amazon. If price tracking is available, you will see a “Track Price” or a bell icon in the top right corner. From there, simply select “Track Price” to start tracking the product’s price.
Chrome will now start keeping track of that particular product’s price for you. You can view all tracked products in the side panel, but you can also get notified about price drops. To enable notifications, go to Chrome Settings, select “You and Google,” and make sure “Get price tracking notifications” is enabled. This feature is also available on Chrome for Android, where you’ll see a similar price tracking pop-up next to the address bar for compatible products.
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5 Save memory and energy by pausing background tasks
No more slowdowns — keep Chrome running smoothly
Do you ever feel your computer gets sluggish when Chrome is running in the background? Things take ages to load, animations slow down, and it feels like Chrome is hogging memory. Well, not anymore. Google Chrome has a hidden memory-saver mode that helps both Chrome and your computer run smoothly.
There is a memory-saver mode that snoozes Chrome tabs when they’re not in use, thus saving RAM and improving performance. The tabs remain open and reload from where you left off when you return to them. For important websites, you can mark them as exceptions in the memory saver settings.
Similarly, Chrome also has an energy-saving mode that limits visual effects and animations to save battery life. You can set it to turn on automatically when your laptop reaches a certain battery percentage. You can access these modes by going into Chrome settings and then selecting “Performance” from the left bar.
6 Perform a quick safety check
Keep your browsing (and Google account) safe and sound
With online fraud, password thefts, data leaks, and browser malware becoming more common, Google offers a built-in safety tool in Chrome to protect your data and account. The tool, called Safety Check, checks if your passwords have been compromised, looks for harmful extensions, reviews rarely visited site permissions, and overall ensures that your browsing environment is protected against malware, phishing, and other risks.
To run a Safety Check on Google Chrome, click the three-dot button in the top right corner, click on Settings, and then select Privacy and security from the left menu. Scroll down until you see the Safety Check section, and hit Check Now. Chrome will quickly run through some checks to ensure you’re practicing good browser hygiene. Once done, you’ll see the results of your safety check and can review and address any harmful findings.
Bonus: Download files faster with parallel downloads
If you often find yourself frustrated with slow download speeds for large files despite having a decent internet connection, Google Chrome has a hidden feature called Parallel Downloads that can help. This feature divides large files into smaller chunks and downloads them simultaneously. However, this feature isn’t accessible in the Settings of the Chrome browser, and you’ll have to enable a Chrome Flag to use it.
To activate this feature, open a new Chrome tab, type “chrome://flags/#enable-parallel-downloading” in the address bar (without quotes), and switch the toggle to “Enabled.” Then, relaunch Chrome, and you should see improved download speeds for large files.
There’s plenty more
Google Chrome has many other hidden tips and tricks that you should know about. Did you know you can use the address bar as a calculator or to quickly start a timer? Or that you can beta test features without installing Chrome beta? There’s plenty more in the article below!
13 Google Chrome tips and tricks you should know
Become a Chrome expert with these simple but powerful tips
