by Martin Brinkmann on September 25, 2018 in Google Chrome – Last Update: September 25, 2018 – 3 comments
Chrome users who open the Clear Browsing Data prompt of the browser may have noticed a new “you won’t be signed out of your Google Account” addendum to the Cookies and other site data clearing option recently.
The change, which seems to have gone live for most users with the release of Chrome 69 to the Stable channel.
Only users who are signed in to a Google Account when they open the Clear Browsing Data prompt in the browser see the notification. Users who are not signed in won’t see it.
Google introduced a new sign-in experience in Chrome 69 for the desktop. Users who sign in to any Google service on the Internet are signed in to Chrome as well. The same is true for users who sign in to Chrome as they are signed in to any Google service on the Internet automatically as well.
The company has been criticized heavily for the new experience by privacy advocates and some users. The behavioral change affects the Clear Browsing Data functionality of the browser.
Chrome users may use the shortcut Ctrl-Shift-Del to open the dialog or select Menu > More Tools > Clear Browsing Data instead.
Signed-in users get the “you won’t be signed out of your Google Account” message while uses who are not signed in to a Google account won’t get the notification.
What does it mean?
If you select to delete cookies and other site data, you stay signed in to the Google Account. Users who used the clear browsing option to clear all traces on a machine and sign out of all accounts automatically won’t be able to do so anymore following the change.
Staying signed in means that the tie to the Google account is not destroyed. It is quite possible that this was Google’s main intention from the get-go when it introduced the new sign-in experience in the Chrome browser.
In other words: clearing cookies in Chrome won’t sign you out of any Google service on the Internet or in Chrome.
What can you do?
Users who are affected by this need to sign out of the Google Account in Google Chrome before they use the Clear Browsing Data dialog to delete cookies and other site data.
Some cookies are removed automatically that would otherwise remain in the Chrome browser.
Note that you can undo the sign-in experience change introduced in Chrome at this point. Google may remove the option from Chrome though eventually.
Now You: What is your take on this?