Google‘s Chrome on Android could soon gain new privacy features based around limiting access to personal information in the same fashion as the web version of the browser.
As reported by Android Police, the latest Canary build version 122 of Chrome on now features website-specific controls that let users better control the access websites have over personal data such as one’s location.
Functioning in a similar vein to app notifications, alerts pop up in this experimental version of Chrome to flag to users to what data permissions and access to device features a site is after. For example, these will alert users as to when a site is trying to gain access to any of your device’s features like your camera, files, or location data, by presenting you with the option to accept or reject the request.
From there users of this build of Chrome on Android will be able to select from a trio of site permissions: ‘Allow this time’, ‘Allow on every visit’, and ‘Don’t allow’.
Another layer of protection
Assuming that this feature eventually finds its way into a stable,and thus general public-ready, version of Chrome on Android, it will provide users with another layer of security, enabling them to have more granular control of specific data and device feature access websites they rust and don’t trust have access to.
As mentioned the feature is still at the experimental stage, and right now we’ve had no indication as to when it might be rolled out to Android devices. But if and when it arrives it’ll be another example of Google’s commitment to protecting user privacy and providing a safer browsing experience – and commitment than ensures Chromes is a fixture on our list of the best web browsers.
