Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Chrome on Android now lets you share an approximate location instead of your exact one.
- You no longer have to give precise coordinates just to check basic things like weather or news.
- The update is Android-only for now, but desktop Chrome support is on the way.
It can feel invasive to give your exact location to every website that asks. Allowing your location access often meant sharing your precise spot, even for something as simple as checking the weather. Google is now introducing a helpful privacy update.
On Chrome for Android, you can now choose to share only your approximate location with websites, Archit Agarwal, a Chrome product manager, wrote in a blog post. He described it as a simple way to give you more control over your location data.
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Agarwal noted that precise tracking is useful for tasks such as ordering food or finding the nearest ATM, but it is unnecessary for casual browsing. If you just want to check the news or weather, sharing an approximate area may be enough.
Google tested this feature last November before today’s rollout. You get the same web experience without revealing your street address. If a website really needs your exact location, you can still share it, so you will not miss out on important features.
At the moment, this privacy update is only available on Chrome for Android. That said, Google plans to bring this feature to Chrome on desktop soon.
This change also affects web developers. Google plans to release new APIs that let developers request an approximate location or specify whether they really need a precise one. The company is encouraging developers to review their location requests and ask for exact coordinates only when necessary for the site’s features.
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