15 Google Chrome Flags You Should Use

Google Chrome is one of the best browsers out there and has garnered a huge user base over the years. While its set of features may look like a lot to some people, Chrome also has a ton of Chrome Flags and Chrome settings one should change to get the best experience. I especially love using Chrome flags as they let you tweak the UI, boost performance, and also add new features as well. So on that note, let’s go through the 15 most useful and cool Google Chrome flags in 2023.

1. Incognito Screenshots

A lot of people prefer using the Incognito mode to browse websites on Chrome. However, you must have noticed that Incognito Mode doesn’t allow you to take screenshots on Android phones. Even though that makes sense, if you still want the ability to take screenshots, you can do so by just enabling a Chrome flag.

Simply head over to chrome://flags/#incognito-screenshot on Chrome mobile and enable the flag. Relaunch the browser and you will be able to take screenshots of windows in Incognito mode as well.

2. Device Reauthentication for Incognito

The next cool Chrome flag for Android is device authentication required to access the Incognito tabs. Basically, if you have opened Incognito tabs in the background and someone tries to access them, they will be required to enter the PIN or use biometric authentication to confirm their identity.

You can enable the Chrome flag on Android devices only by going to chrome://flags/#incognito-reauthentication-for-android. After that, open Chrome Settings -> Privacy and Security and enable “Lock Incognito tabs when you leave Chrome”.

3. Biometric Reauthentication for Password Filling

As the name suggests, this Chrome flag asks for biometric authentication when you choose to enter a password from Chrome Password Manager. This will add an extra layer of security to the Chrome browser. Nobody will be able to sign into your account without biometric authentication. Keep in mind, this flag is only available on Android phones. You can enable the flag by going to chrome://flags/#biometric-reauth-password-filling.

4. Autofill Predictions

Autofill predictions is another great Chrome flag in 2023 that you can enable both on your desktop and smartphone. It basically auto-fills online forms and text fields with your name, address, email, ZIP code, etc. No need to manually add redundant information. That said, some users hate autofill predictions offered by Google. In that case, you can disable the autofill predictions flag as well by going to chrome://flags/#show-autofill-type-predictions.

5. Live Caption

Live Caption Chrome flag generates captions for media playing in Chrome. This feature is already available on Android as a system feature, but with this flag enabled, you can get Live Caption on any OS, be it Mac, Windows, or Linux. So if you want to enable live caption in Chrome, head to chrome://flags/#enable-accessibility-live-caption and enable the flag. After that, open Chrome Settings -> Accessibility to turn on Live Caption.

6. Dark Mode for Webpages

Chrome has finally received dark mode, which you can easily enable from the Settings page (Settings -> Theme -> Dark). However, you can now activate dark mode for web pages as well. It works just like the Dark Reader extension on the desktop. And the best part is that the earlier issue of inverting the images has been resolved. So search for “dark” in Chrome Flags and enable “Force Dark Mode for Web Contents”. You are done.

7. Faster Download Speeds

Parallel Downloading has been in the Chrome Flags repository for a very long time. It seems Google is not working on this feature to make it part of the stable channel. Nevertheless, this flag accelerates download speed by breaking the files into smaller chunks, similar to how download managers for Windows work. So search for “parallel downloading” and enable the flag.

8. Enable Smooth Scrolling

As the name suggests, this Chrome flag helps improve the scrolling experience on your mobile and desktop. It reduces the janks and jitters that you may witness while scrolling and it works with Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS as well. You can enable #smooth-scrolling from the Chrome Flags page.

9. UPI/VPA Values

Since Google Pay has gotten pretty popular and UPI has almost become a primary way of payment in India, Google is bringing an option to autofill UPI/VPA values in payment forms. After enabling this flag, Chrome will be able to recognize your UPI ID or VPA and offer you to save or autofill your VPA address in the payment box. That’s awesome, right?

10. Enable QUIC Protocol for Faster Browsing

Google has been working on the QUIC connection protocol for a while now, and even though it’s still in development, there are some websites that make use of it. QUIC is a mixture of TCP/UDP and it aims to increase browsing speeds on QUIC-enabled websites by cutting down on the number of trips to the server down to one.

If you want to start using QUIC protocol whenever possible, head over to chrome://flags/#enable-quic and enable the flag.

11. Hover Cards

Hover Cards is a new way to identify and navigate through tabs. It’s especially helpful when you are dealing with lots of Chrome tabs. Basically, if you enable this flag then a preview image of the tab will show in the form of a hovercard. I am using this feature on my Chromebook and it’s absolutely great for seamless navigation.

12. Enable Reader Mode

While Safari has an excellent Reader Mode, we do not have such a feature on Google Chrome. However, there is a hidden Chrome flag that lets you enable Reader mode on Chrome. You get a barebone reader mode which simplifies the web page and is the best way to remove annoying Chrome ads. Sure, it’s not as good as Safari’s Reader Mode, but it does work.

13. Back Forward Cache

If you often find yourself using the back and forward navigation keys in Chrome to navigate across websites and search results, this will be one of the best Chrome flags you’ve used. Simply head over to chrome://flags/#back-forward-cache and enable the flag.

Now, Chrome will start saving entire websites in the cache so when you use the back key or forward key to navigate, the webpages will load instantly without any waiting. Plus, they will even load up if your internet connection drops out for some reason. Pretty neat, right?

14. Touch UI Layout

Nowadays, it is becoming more common for laptops, window tablets, and other devices to come with touch screen capability, making it easier to interact with the content. Still, many websites are not well-optimized to work with touch commands; for this problem, the Google Chrome browser has a touch-optimized UI hidden in the Chrome flags. To enable it, go to chrome://flags/#top-chrome-touch-ui and turn on the flag.

Simply head over to the URL chrome://flags/#files-trash in Chrome OS and enable it. You will then find a new trash folder in your Files app. Here, you can see your recently deleted items, clear them out, or recover them.

15. GPU Rasterization

Chrome generally uses the CPU to render webpages and deliver content to users. However, you can enable the GPU rasterization flag in Chrome which will offload some of the image-rendering tasks to the GPU. This will free up the CPU and you will likely get good performance in Chrome. In image-heavy pages, this Chrome flag will offer the best experience. To enable it, go to chrome://flags/#enable-gpu-rasterization and turn on the flag.

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