Chrome for Android: new download options including scheduling
Google is working on improving the download options provided by the company's Google Chrome web browser for the Android operating system.
Current versions of Chrome for Android offer little when it comes to downloads. Downloads start immediately when you select to download files, and while that is probably wanted in most cases, there are cases where users may not want downloads to start immediately.
A prime example is when the device is connected to a mobile network and not a wireless network. There may also be situations where you don't want downloads to start right away, e.g. when you are still connected to a school or work network with your device. While you could wait before you start the download, other options may be welcome to address these situations.
Google engineers added a new experimental flag to the latest Chrome Canary version that introduces new download options. Once enabled, Chrome will display several options to the user when files are selected for download. These let users start the download right away, start it when the device is connected to a wireless network (if it is not at the time), and to schedule the download.
Let's take a closer look at the available options and how to enable the feature in Chrome.
- Make sure you run the latest version of Chrome Canary for Android; the version that I used for the test is 86.0.4204.0.
- Load chrome://flags in the web browser's address bar.
- Search for "Enable download later".
- Set the experimental feature to Enabled.
- Restart the Chrome browser on the Android device.
Google Chrome for Android will display a prompt when you start downloads in the browser after the restart. The prompt provides you with options to start the download at that point in time, wait until the device is connected to a wireless network, and to schedule the download.
The first two options are self-explanatory, the third resembles functionality known from Download Managers. When you select it, Chrome asks you to pick a date and time for the download. It will schedule the download and start it at the selected date and time.
Chrome users may dismiss the prompt to restore the default downloading functionality of the browser.
The scheduled downloads are listed on the browser's downloads page.
Closing Words
Experimental features may come and come at any time, and it not 100% ensured that the download scheduler and other download options will make it into stable Chrome. The options may be useful in some situations, e.g. when starting downloads while connected to a mobile network; the scheduling on the other hand, I'd estimate that it would not become a very popular feature.
Now You: What would you like to see in your browser's download manager? (via techdows)
I guess Softonic is also getting money from Google.
Wait till Shaun discovers chrome://flags/ and then the real how-to chrome article flooding will start…
I don’t think so. The real summary. If you need to use Chrome use it in Incognito Mode because it keeps track of your browsing history. Use Edge for your normal browsing. Edge keeps track of your browsing history for saving puppies:) Typical tricks, badmouthing the main competitor.
Really Shaun your writing “The Dark Web Awaits!” is the dark mode the same as the dark web?
Maybe dark mode was a better title?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_web
Or Brave shortcut with “-tor” parameter at the end.
The problem, is that I’m not sure which is less dangerous – Chrome or Tor?
Question marks after a declarative sentence is bad Grammer. See the headline. To use a question mark simply change the wording to a sentence, such as “How do you……”
@Shaun thanks for the articles!
“One of the best things about using Google Chrome is it keeps track of your browsing history.”
Considering the article topic I assume you mean browsing history in a broader sense, including things like tracking storage. Well even if that comment was restricted to browsing history only, not only it’s not Chrome specific but rather universal among browsers, but Chrome would instead be specific in making keeping history the worst possible feature among browsers. Because while most of the browsers (Chrome and Firefox for instance) misuse browsing history by exploiting it commercially for things like personalized advertising, so the more is kept the better for them, Chrome excels at it by uploading it unencrypted to Google servers often without the user even knowing.
“This mode disables local storage of site data, cookies, and browsing history.”
This is false. You are still being tracked by web sites (by local storage, cookies…) during your private browsing session, it just ends at the end of the session by a wiping of the tracking storage. Firefox has the same issue, and both by design. From:
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/7440301
“Cookies and site data are remembered while you’re browsing, but deleted when you exit Incognito mode.”
In fact, if it works like in Firefox, the tracking storage is even hidden to the user in the UI during private browsing but still here, creating the illusion that it is actually disabled, and even technical users often fall for this. The ability to limit, clean, auto-clean tracking storage, for instance with extensions, may also be limited in this mode. Personally I do not use it because it’s not private enough for this reason, giving up control on cookies ; I use normal mode with privacy tweaks.
A consequence is that browsers like Tor Browser that use mandatory permanent private browsing mode suffer from the same problem. In fact some update went further and totally removed the ability to block cookies and other tracking storage in the UI, while it’s still possible in Firefox in private browsing.
In private browsing modes a bit like in Tor Browser it seems that there is an underlying philosophy that it doesn’t matter that you every tiniest action is being scrutinized, analyzed, and used back against you by evil actors as long as there isn’t your real life name attached to the process. Personally, I disagree. This “loophole” is being heavily abused by surveillance capitalists in many other ways currently.
“One misconception people have is their data is kept private when using incognito mode. You should know that you can still be tracked and attacked by third parties. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) can track your browsing history and block local websites according to your geography.”
I don’t think that the most common misconception about private browsing is that it would act like an antivirus and block attacks that target vulnerabilities.
What’s often misunderstood is rather that a lot of this mode aims at protecting from other users of the same computer, being a sort of “porn mode” for example. From the same Google reference:
“When you browse privately, other people who use the device won’t see your history.”
A typical example being the browsing history wipe, while such history is not accessible to web sites anyway, but could be to other local users. (well as discussed above it’s also accessible to browser companies while it shouldn’t be, and additionally for anti-user purposes, but that’s another issue). Or the cookies being stored in memory instead of on disk, which may address yet other privacy issues due to local attacks.
However it is also useful to partly limit web tracking (I would not call this “third party” as the author writes because this obviously also includes first party ie the browsed site) in addition to protecting from other local users, by wiping tracking storage at the end of the session. With the caveat above that during the session itself, tracking storage is not disabled. There are also typically other measures that are directed against tracking by web sites exclusively, that are enforced in private browsing mode.
And finally there is all the tracking by sites that happens without using the tracking storage itself, such as through fingerprinting or the IP address ; wiping storage at the end of the session won’t help with that, unless using Tor Browser.
Why use an incognito mode when you can use browsers with a pre-installed web proxy. The UtopiaP2P ecosystem browser is the best way for me to surf the web anonymously. If, like me, you value your anonymity and privacy, then I recommend using this browser.