5 Chromebook Privacy Pitfalls Most People Miss

Chromebooks have a good reputation as low-maintenance computers with solid security and privacy. In general this is true. That’s why we trust them for use by children and students, or why some companies are happy to give them out to employees who only need a basic computer.

However, there is no such thing as perfect privacy and even Chromebooks have their pitfalls.

Location access via apps and services

Until recently, ChromeOS didn’t have much granularity when it comes to determining whether an app knows your location or not. Unlike Android, your options were pretty much to disable location services or let everyone use them. This isn’t an issue in the latest ChromeOS version, as you can see here in the Location settings section of Settings on my Chromebook Plus.

If you have a Chromebook that is no longer supported, make sure location services are enabled. Even if the global setting is disabled, it may not affect individual apps. You’ll have to look for a location setting in those apps, and even then there’s no guarantee that location tracking will actually be blocked for that app.

If you have the latest version of ChromeOS, you can manage location services on an app-by-app basis, but you’ll need to go through your list of apps and make sure they’re all set up the way you want.

Visibility of the device in Close Share / Quick Share

Nearby or Quick Share is a great feature similar to Apple’s AirDrop that lets you easily send files between Chromebooks, Android phones, and anything else that supports the standard. However, just like with AirDrop, there are privacy concerns when it comes to your visibility settings.

The default visibility can be set to “Contacts” (which is safe enough), but “everyone” is a bad idea unless you have a reason not to add someone to your contacts before exchanging files. As I was writing this, I noticed that my Chromebook Plus no longer even has the “Everyone” setting and now only shows “Contacts,” “My Devices,” and “Hidden.”

In my case, “My Devices” was the default setting and I actually think it’s the best setting for most people. On paper, “My Contacts” may seem safe, but there are a huge number of people listed in my contacts from years of Gmail interactions. So it doesn’t feel very safe at all, and I don’t know when I’ll have time to check that list using the “Manage Contacts” option.

Background sync and data collection from Google accounts

Although Chromebooks are marketed as secure and private, there is a basic level of data collection that occurs the moment you sign into your Google account. Which isn’t really optional on a Chromebook. Web and app activity, location history, YouTube tracking, device data sync, and more happen on your Chromebook. Even if you are not explicitly aware of it.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to disable all data collection by Google on your Chromebook. However, you can disable certain things by going to ‘Send diagnostic and usage data’ and ‘Receive content recommendations’, both under ‘Privacy controls’ in the Privacy & security section of Settings.

Aside from disabling these options, the per-app permissions I already mentioned are also relevant. Disable anything related to tracking you unless you want it for a specific reason.

Functions that leave sensors active

Some Chromebooks (unfortunately not mine) have a feature where the camera looks at you and will do that automatically lock the computer when you leave. This is very useful for students or people who are simply forgetful about locking their computers when they leave for lunch or to go to the bathroom. However, if you can remember to manually lock your Chromebook (Search/Launcher/All + L button), then it is much better for your privacy to disable this feature. If your Chromebook webcam has a privacy shutter, enable that too while you’re at it.

Similarly, on some Chromebooks, you can activate the “Hey Google” feature to access the Google Assistant with your voice. However, I think on a laptop device where you have a key that opens a universal menu for quick access, there is no need to have your microphone on all the time. In any case, it feels less necessary compared to a smartphone that you often use hands-free.

Consent creeps in

The last easy trap to fall into is consent creep. You can’t check your app and operating system permissions just once on your Chromebook and then assume everything is fine forever. Whenever an app is updated, or you install a new app, or there’s been a ChromeOS update, it’s a good idea to check that apps have proper access.

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If an app without your camera or microphone has these permissions, uninstall it. If they somehow come back, consider uninstalling the app. Either way, privacy and security aren’t something you do, it’s how you live, and starting with the Chromebook in front of you is a great way to get into that mind space.