Considering deleting Chrome from your phone? Try this tweak instead

The default Chrome browser on Android gives any site you visit access to data from your phone’s motion sensor, a security researcher found, prompting some in the media to urge users to delete Chrome immediately. Security researcher Tommy Mysk tweeted on October 29 that “the Chrome browser on Android gives any website you visit access to your phone’s accelerometer data.” Smartphone accelerometers, which detect movement, are very sensitive. Researchers have found that using that sensor alone, an app or site can gather information about your emotional state, heart rate, sleeping habits, and more. If you don’t want to stop using Chrome on your phone, you can take the more measured step of revoking the browser’s access to your motion sensor data. That access is on by default, so you have to turn it off manually. You can find directions for doing so here.

Dear #Android users,Chrome shares your motion sensor with all the websites you visit by default.This video shows how you can disable it. Please do it now.You can learn more about this here:https://t.co/zMbPpuX3VH#CyberSecurity #Privacy pic.twitter.com/riWNQUfxKB — Mysk ???????????????? (@mysk_co) October 29, 2021

Mysk had originally been researching ways that iOS apps could access accelerometer data on iPhones when he discovered Chrome’s access to the sensor on Android. If you no longer trust Chrome to ride around with you on the device you carry everywhere, you have a host of other options. Mysk points out in his tweet that unlike Chrome, the iOS default Safari protects access to the motion sensor by a permission. The Firefox, Brave, and DuckDuckGo mobile browsers don’t give websites access to the phone’s motion sensors at all.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90694632/delete-chrome-android-alternative-tweak?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Établi 4y | 8 nov. 2021, 20:21:11


Connectez-vous pour ajouter un commentaire

Autres messages de ce groupe

Russia restricts WhatsApp and Telegram calls

Russian authorities announced Wednesday they were “partially” restricting calls in messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, the latest step in an 

13 août 2025, 20:30:08 | Fast company - tech
Amazon expands same-day perishable grocery delivery

Amazon is rolling out a service where its Prime members can now order their blueberries and milk at the same time as basic items like batte

13 août 2025, 20:30:07 | Fast company - tech
Most people are using ChatGPT totally wrong—and OpenAI’s CEO just proved it

How did you react to the August 7 release of GPT-5, OpenAI’s latest version of ChatGPT? The company behind the model h

13 août 2025, 18:20:04 | Fast company - tech
This mine feeds the tech world and fuels a rebel war

Under the watchful eye of M23 rebels in the hills around the Congolese town of Rubaya, a line of men in rubber boots ferry sacks full of crushed rocks up winding paths cut into the slopes.

13 août 2025, 18:20:03 | Fast company - tech
This free web timer puts your computer’s Clock app to shame

For something as simple as setting a timer, the built-in apps on our computers can be awfully fiddly.

Usually you have to open a Clock app first, then navigate to a separate tab for time

13 août 2025, 11:20:08 | Fast company - tech
Is agentic AI more than hype? This company thinks it knows how to find out

Over the past five years, advances in AI models’ data processing and r

13 août 2025, 11:20:06 | Fast company - tech
How AI can finally fix prior authorization

If you’ve ever been a patient waiting—days, sometimes more than a week—for treatment approval, or a clinician stuck chasing it, you know what prior authorization feels like. Patients sit in limbo,

13 août 2025, 11:20:04 | Fast company - tech