Google To Add Location Privacy Controls To Stop Geolocation-Based Tracking In ChromeOS; All You Need To Know

The location permissions in Chromebooks can help advertisers personalise ads and recommendations for the user. It seems Google could soon bring a feature in ChromeOS that will restrict access to geolocation. According to 9To5Google, soon after introducing controls for the camera and microphone, the company is now gearing up to introduce a location privacy toggle on ChromeOS-powered devices.

According to the report, the "Privacy control" will allow users to decide if Android apps, web packages in Chrome and other system services can use the geolocation data. While the toggle could restrict location services, the coordinates could still be accessible via the IP address. The toggle to control location data on ChromeOS will be available within the 'Settings' app.

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It will appear in the 'Security and Privacy' option of 'Privacy controls', according to 9To5Google. The feature will likely roll out in the first half of this year. Moreover, the company is also working on "granular application-level permissions" for location, microphone and camera permissions for Android and web applications.

The feature to restrict location access will arrive for Chromebooks in the second half of 2024. (Image: Pexels) 

Apart from this, the company could also introduce secure data retrieval if users forget their passwords. ChromeOS will utilise the user account and the device to restore local data. These attempts are stored in a "tamper-proof, persistent ledger" in a private manner to detect unauthorised attempts.

On a related note, the company recently introduced "real-time, privacy-preserving URL protection" in Safe Browsing in Chrome on PCs and iOS. It also introduced new password protections on Chrome for iOS. The company noted that the Standard protection mode in Chrome will check webpages (with Google's server-side list) you visit in real time to monitor bad websites.

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The real-time protection will be available for Android users "later this month". On iOS, Chrome will now flag "weak and reused" passwords in addition to the compromised ones. While Chrome will alert users of issues with the passwords, you can manually check for problems in the Safety Check feature of Chrome Settings.