When you open the Google Chrome app on an Android phone and tap the address bar to type a search query, a drop-down list immediately appears. Before you even type a single letter, Chrome populates this list with a section called “Trending Searches,” displaying topics, news stories, and celebrity gossip that other people in your region are currently searching for.
If you use Chrome for work or simply want a distraction-free browsing experience, having irrelevant news headlines forced onto your screen every time you try to search for something is incredibly annoying. Fortunately, you can disable this specific feature and restore a clean, blank search box.
How to Disable Trending Searches in Chrome for Android
You cannot turn this off within the main Chrome settings menu. The setting is actually controlled by the Google Search engine itself.
- Open the Google Chrome app on your Android phone.
- In the address bar, type google.com and press Enter to go to the main Google search homepage.
- In the top-left corner of the Google homepage, tap the three horizontal lines (hamburger menu).
- Tap on Settings from the slide-out menu.
- Scroll down the page until you find the section labelled Autocomplete with trending searches.
- Tap the radio button to select Do not show popular searches.
- Scroll all the way down to the absolute bottom of the page and tap the blue Save button.
- A small pop-up will confirm your preferences have been saved. Tap OK.
The next time you open a new tab in Chrome and tap the address bar, the “Trending Searches” section will be completely gone. You will only see your own recent search history (if you haven’t cleared it) and nothing else.