Google Chrome User Guide for Mobile

A complete guide for beginners to install Google Chrome on mobile devices

Introduction

Web browsers, also known as browsers, are computer programs used to access information on the world wide web. This information is available through websites on the web. These websites have a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which is a link that points to their location on the web. When you type this URL into a web browser, it locates the website and displays it for you to see on your device.

Some examples of web browsers for mobile include

1. Google Chrome
2. Opera
3. Firefox
4. DuckDuckGo privacy browser
5. Microsoft Edge
6. Brave

In this article you will be learning how to use Google Chrome, which is the most popular web browser because it is fast, secure, and reliable. It has multiple customization options and is easy to use.

What is Google Chrome?

Google Chrome is a web browser accessible on all mobile and desktop devices.

Google Chrome is the default browser for Android, and for you to be able to connect to web pages a web browser must be installed. In a few paragraphs, you can install Google Chrome on your mobile.

Difference between Google and Google Chrome

Google is a company while Google Chrome is one of the products of Google.
It was founded in 2008, and by 2013 Google Chrome became the most popular web browser outshining other major browsers present before it in the likes of Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Its original intent was not to succeed other major browsers but to advance the current web browsers with features that will accommodate new technologies such as Google products like spreadsheet, calendar that operate on the web.

Some other popular products owned by Google include:

• Gmail
• Google Play
• Google search engine
• Google maps
• YouTube, and others.

A detailed list of Google products can be found here.

Why Google Chrome?

1. Users find it easy to navigate Google Chrome as the icons are neatly arranged, with no distractions, which saves time and makes users focused.
2. It syncs with your Google apps and stores all historical data like passwords, bookmarks, browsing history, and so on. With this, when you log in to your Google account on any device, all your data shows up, you don’t need to start from scratch.
3. The choice for web applications — Most web developers create applications that are accessible on Google Chrome
4. Fast browsing experience - With Google Chrome, websites load faster when compared to other browsers. With multiple tabs open, Chrome still loads pages fast, and the websites still function well.
5. In a group of ten people, Google Chrome is the first choice for six of them, hence, it is the most popular web browser.

How to Install Google Chrome on Mobile Devices

For Android

If you do not have Google Chrome web browser on your mobile device, follow the steps below to install it:

1. Go to Google Play Store on your mobile device.
2. In the Search box, type ‘Google Chrome’
3. Press Enter.
4. Tap on Install.
5. Wait for the Google Chrome to finish installing.
6. Select Open.

Now, you can access Google Chrome as your web browser.

How to use Google Chrome

After opening the Google Chrome web browser on your mobile device, the first display you see is the homepage.

The homepage

Homepage features

1. The Search box is where you type in the questions or web pages you want the Google Chrome browser to display to you.

The Search box has three ways information can be searched on Google Chrome. They include:

a. Text search — When the Search box is tapped, it displays the image below. Here you can type the web page you want.

b. Voice typing — When you tap on the voice icon next to the ‘Search or type web address’ placeholder text in the search bar, it displays a new prompt where you ask the question you want answers to or pronounce the web page you want to visit.
Google Chrome converts audio to text and searches this text, which will display web pages related to what you asked for.

c. Image search — When the camera icon next to the audio icon in the search bar is clicked, it displays a prompt that asks for you to grant Google Chrome access to your images. With this, you can search for related images, translate the text on the image, and find the image source.

2.Refresh icon
a. The red arrow in the image below shows the ‘refresh’ icon. When this icon is tapped, the web browser opens a new tab where you type in a new query, but this option deletes the previously opened web page.

b. Alternatively, when the three vertical dots on the far left-hand side are clicked, it displays a list of options with ‘new tab’ as one of the options.

When the vertical dots are clicked it displays a list of options

c. When this ‘new tab’ is clicked, it opens a new tab but saves the previously opened web page.

3.In the labeled image below,

• ‘A’ is your account image that is linked to your Google account, if you sign in with the same account on another device, mobile, tablet, or desktop, all your bookmarks, passwords, and settings will be automatically synced. That is, you get access to all your information across all devices you are signed in to.

• ‘B’ is the recommended web page or social media web app based on how frequently you visit these sites.

• The section below the highlighted section, B is the Discover section, here Chrome selects articles that are based on your previous browsing history. You can see that in the image below the user previously searched about jobs.

Case study

1. You will start by typing the information you want the web browser to display to you in the search query.

2. Tap on the ‘search’ button.

3. Type your question or web page to visit —  as you type related suggestions will show.
   

4. A page of related pages that contains the information or answers you need will be displayed.

5. The first 3 results are the inorganic pages, that is, the owners of these pages paid Google to display their pages first.

6. The other pages are the results of organic search, these pages have more related answers to your query.

7. You can also search other pages if you are not satisfied with the results of the first page.

In this study, Appwrite is the first result that displays, because it is the best match for your search. If you scroll upwards, you will see other related pages.

Features

This section will show you all the features of Google Chrome on mobile, so you can get familiar with them for more productivity and effectiveness.

1. The All tabs icon — This has all your previously opened web pages or applications. This is helpful when you want to resume an application or you lose track of a web page address.

When the All tabs icon is tapped it displays web pages, as seen in the image below. You can click on any web page you want to visit from here.

At the top of this page seen above, there are two options — + New tab and three vertical dots. The New tab opens a fresh page for search, while the other displays a list of options when tapped.

The image above shows the labeling of the list of options that are displayed when the three vertical dots at the far right-side is tapped.

a. New tab option — This opens a new tab.
b. New incognito tab — This is a new private tab, here your browsing history is not saved but your downloads and bookmarks (more on this later) are saved.
c. Close all tabs — This close all the open tabs.
d. Select tabs — This selects tabs to close, group, bookmark, and share, as seen below.

e. Settings — This option allows you to customize your experience on Google Chrome (more on this later).

2.The Share and edit feature — ‘a’ is the search box, when you tap on this you have the option to edit, copy and share the web page.

When you tap on the ‘Share’ icon (where the arrow is pointing), a list of options will be displayed from which you can choose.

3a. The More options icons — This displays when you click on the three vertical dots on the far left side of the web page.

The top heading of this display has four features that are highlighted — 

• Bookmark feature — This is what allows you to save interesting or important web pages so that you can find a particular page easily. When you tap on it, it directs you to a folder where all your bookmarks are stored. Take note of this folder name, you also have the option of changing the folder by clicking on the option. In the image below, you tap on ‘User guide resources’ to change the folder. You can also delete the bookmark by tapping on the recycle bin feature.

• Download feature (arrow) — This allows you to download the web page, and the downloaded page can be viewed offline.

• More info icon — This gives you more information about a particular web page, as seen below.

!Google Chrome ‘More info’ icon](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tpwg2fuhh4oxt5nozths.png)

• Refresh feature — This refreshes the web page.

3b. Other options — Below the top heading is a list of options that have been labeled for easy recognition.

1. History — This displays all your search queries, which are stored automatically.

2. Downloads — All your downloaded web pages, images, videos, and other file types (mp4, PDF) are stored here.

3. Bookmarks — This is where your bookmarks are stored in folders.

4. Recent tabs — This displays all your recent tabs, across all the different devices your google account is signed into. For example, if you use both mobile and desktop with the same account, when you open this feature it shows your recently visited web pages.

5. Share — This displays a list of options to share the web page from which you can choose.

6. Find in page — This allows you to search a web page for a particular word and highlights the word. This saves a lot of time when you are looking for a particular word in a long article like this one, or web page.

1. Translate — When you are browsing through a website written in a different language that you are not familiar with, this feature allows you to translate the web page into the language you are familiar with.

2. Add to Home screen — When you visit a web page often, this feature allows you to visit the web page from your home screen, that is you do not have to go to Google Chrome web browser to search for it. It links directly to the web page.

3. Desktop site — Some web pages do not have certain features or content available on mobile, if you want to access these features on your mobile phone, this feature will help you achieve this.
   Take note that the desktop site will be opened each time you visit this particular web page.

1. Settings — This allows you to customize your experience on the Google Chrome web browser (more on this later).
2. Help & feedback — This displays a list of options that is useful to look for instructions when you are stuck and send feedback to the Google team.

Customization

For you to customize your experience on Google Chrome, you will adjust some default settings to your satisfaction.

1. You and Google section:

• The first option is where you sign in to your Google account, you can have more than one account signed in.
• The Sync tab is next, here you can choose to sync everything on all devices or not.
• Google services lists multiple options to customize your experience on the web browser.

2.Basics section

• Search engine — When you tap this, you have options to choose your preferred search engine from Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

• Password manager — When you click on this, it directs you to a new page where you can create, save and manage your passwords. With this, you do not have to remember all your passwords while you use the Google Chrome web browser.

• Payment methods — When you click on this, you can fill in and save your methods. With this, it automatically fills in payments you make on the Google Chrome web browser with your saved information.

• Addresses and more — This gives you options to fill in all your addresses such as phone numbers, email addresses, and delivery addresses. When you filling location details online, Google Chrome displays these option(s) for you to choose from.

• Privacy and security — This displays a list of tabs you can explore and adjust to your taste such as clearing browsing history, allowing sites to check if you have payment methods saved, and so on.

• Safety check — When you open this tab, it displays updates (except your chrome is up to date), compromised passwords, and safe browsing enhancement, and you can click on the ‘Check now’ button on the bottom right of the page to confirm these details.

• Notification — This opens a new page where you can choose the preference of notifications you want.

• Theme — This displays a list of options where you choose to turn on dark mode, switch to the light theme or be on Systen default, that is the dark theme turns on only when your mobile is on battery saver.

3.Advanced section

• Homepage — This opens up a page where you can type in the web page you want to see each time you open the Google Chrome web browser, instead of the default homepage.

• Toolbar shortcut — This gives you the option to choose the icon you want in the highlighted (three stars) area on the Google Chrome homepage.

• Accessibility — With this, you can increase or decrease the font size of text when you double-tap on web pages, enable captions on images, and others.

• Site settings — This displays a list of options that enables your browsing experience on the Google Chrome web browser. You can see all the sites you’ve visited, allow or disallow cookies, and other permissions can be adjusted to your desire.

• Languages — Here you can set your preferred languages and also enable translation from different languages you are not familiar with.

• Downloads — Here you can set the location all your downloaded files will be stored, or turn on or off notifications to ask where you will save your files.

• About Chrome — This gives you more information on the Google Chrome version, your operating system, and legal information.

Tips by Marko Denic

To use Google Chrome more effectively, and spend less time looking for answers on the web, these tips shared by Marko Denic will help you achieve this.

1. Use quotation marks (“ ”) to wrap your search query, this will display results that are the exact match as your search.
2. When you want web page results relating to two words, use *AND *(in capital letters) between two words.
3. If you do not want your search results to include a particular word, use a hyphen (-) together with the word to be excluded in the search box.

For more tips from Marko Denic, visit this page.

Google Chrome Alternatives

Apart from Google Chrome, we have other top web browsers with great features and good security that are unique and different in their own way. They include

1. Opera web browser

This is a web browser developed by Opera Software and was first released on April 1, 1995. You can use the search bar to browse other websites like Google.

2.Firefox web browser

This web browser was first released in September 2002 as Phoenix v0.1 but was officially launched as Firefox on November 4, 2004.

3.Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge is built by Microsoft, and replaced Internet Explorer in 2015.

4.Brave web browser

Brave web browser was first released on November 13, 2019.

These browsers can be installed with the same process as Google Chrome.

Conclusion

A web browser is used to display web pages that are related to or contain the same words you type into the search box after you tap the search icon.

Google Chrome is the most popularly used internet browser in the world because of its user-friendliness and popular opinion. With this, you can visit any web page, and at the same time enjoy your experience as you desire.

Glossary

1. Cookies — This is a piece of data from a website that is stored within a web browser that the website can retrieve at a later time.
2. Feature — This is a notable property of an application that satisfies a requirement.
3. New tab — A different page where you can input a new web address.
4. Placeholder text — This is a hint on the type of content that should be filled in a space or input field.
5. Prompt — A symbol on a screen indicating input by a user.
6. Query — This is a combination of words in a search box to gain more information.
7. Web browser — This is a computer program used to access information on the World Wide Web (www).
8. Search query — These are words you use to search for something through web browsers.
9. Sites — also known as websites.
10. Software — This is a set of instructions used to operate a computer.
11. User — This is a person who uses something.

If this article has been helpful, follow me on Twitter and on LinkedIn to keep updated on my new articles.