Google Chrome can syncronize all your data across your devices, giving you easy access to important information from anywhere. The browser is now adding a partial syncronization feature, for when you only need some data to show up everywhere, but it seems potentially confusing.
Google is rolling out a new “streamlined” way of accessing your data across Google devices. Soon, all you’ll need to do is sign in to your Google account on the browser, and your passwords, bookmarks, and addresses will be readily available. You previously had to turn on Chrome’s sync feature for any information to syncronize across devices.
This new change gives you a “customized browsing experience” just by signing in, allowing you to easily send tabs between devices and utilize your saved passwords wherever you are. In practice, this is basically just a “soft sync.” Your browser history and other data will not be shared between devices, but passwords are shared.
Google told The Verge, “Today, users increasingly expect to just sign in to get access to their stuff and sign out to keep it safe. Given this evolution of technology and user norms, we’re continuing to make progress on transforming our legacy sync model into one that more seamlessly meets the expectation users have today.”
This seems like a confusing change. Why would you want to share your passwords between your different devices, but not your browsing history? It seems like Google is trying to avoid all your sensitive information being syncronized automatically, but your passwords can reveal a lot of information too.
Even though the process is more streamlined now, signing in and syncing any data is still optional. If you prefer not to link your browsing data to your Google account, you can continue using Chrome without signing in. You still need to explicitly enable the full browser syncronization, which is a different setting, for your history and open browser tabs to show up.
While the exact rollout date for Android and iOS remains unannounced, Google is just telling users to “stay tuned for updates.”
