The Frustration of Cross-Device Browsing
You are researching a complex topic on your laptop, reading a long article in Google Chrome. Suddenly, you realize you need to leave the house, but you want to finish reading the article on your phone during your commute.
Historically, users have relied on clumsy workarounds for this scenario. They might copy the URL and email it to themselves, send it in a Slack message to a private channel, or rely on Apple’s “Handoff” feature (which only works if both devices are Apple products).
Google Chrome offers a much faster, cross-platform solution built directly into the browser: Send to your devices. This feature allows you to instantly push a webpage from your computer to your phone (or vice versa), regardless of whether you are using Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS.
Step 1: The Prerequisite (Chrome Sync)
For this feature to work, you must be signed into the same Google Account on both the sending and receiving devices, and Chrome Sync must be enabled.
- On your computer, click your profile icon in the top right corner of Chrome. Ensure you are signed in and “Sync is on.”
- On your mobile phone, open the Chrome app, tap the three dots, select Settings, and verify you are signed into the exact same Google Account and that Sync is active.
Step 2: Sending a Tab from Computer to Phone
Once Sync is established, sending a tab is incredibly simple.
- Open the webpage you want to share on your computer.
- Right-click anywhere on the empty space of the webpage (do not right-click a link or an image).
- In the context menu, select Send to your devices.
- A sub-menu will appear listing all the active devices connected to your Google Account (e.g., “Pixel 8 Pro” or “iPad Air”).
- Click the name of the device you want to send the tab to.
Alternatively, you can click the “Share” icon (a square with an upward arrow) located in the address bar, next to the bookmark star, and select “Send to your devices” from that menu.
Step 3: Receiving the Tab on Your Phone
When you click send on your computer, the magic happens silently in the background via Google’s push notification servers.
Within a few seconds, your phone will receive a system-level notification from the Chrome app.
The notification will say: Tab received: [Title of Webpage].
Simply tap that notification. The Chrome app will open automatically and load the exact URL you were just viewing on your computer. You don’t need to dig through your browsing history or open your email.
Step 4: Sending a Tab from Phone to Computer
The process works perfectly in reverse, which is highly useful when you find a dense spreadsheet or a long PDF on your phone that you would rather view on a large desktop monitor.
- Open the webpage in the Chrome app on your phone.
- Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner (or bottom right on iOS).
- Tap the Share button.
- In the sharing menu, look for the Chrome icon labeled Send to your devices.
- Select your computer from the list of available devices.
On your computer, a small Chrome notification will slide in from the corner of your screen. Click the notification, and a new tab will instantly open, loading the page.
Step 5: Troubleshooting Missing Devices
If you click “Send to your devices” and the list is empty, or a specific device is missing, the issue is almost always a Sync failure.
- Check the Account: Double-check that both devices are genuinely using the exact same Google Account profile. If your phone is on your personal account and your work laptop is on your enterprise account, they cannot communicate.
- Force a Sync: Open Chrome settings on the missing device, go to “Sync and Google services,” and toggle Sync off and back on again to force the device to register with Google’s servers.
- Stale Devices: The list might occasionally show old phones you no longer own. These will eventually fall off the list automatically after a few weeks of inactivity. You cannot manually delete them from the “Send to” menu.