What is the Reader Mode Prompt in Chrome?
When you browse text-heavy websites or news articles on Google Chrome for Android, you will often see a small pop-up bar appear at the bottom of the screen offering a “Simplified view” or asking if you want to “Show simplified view.” This is Chrome’s built-in Reader Mode, which strips away ads, sidebars, and formatting to present a clean wall of text.
While incredibly useful for reading cluttered websites, the constant appearance of this prompt on every single article can become incredibly annoying, especially if you prefer viewing a website in its original layout. You can disable this prompt entirely.
How to Disable the Simplified View Prompt on Android
You can turn off this notification directly within the Accessibility settings of the Chrome app.
- Open the Google Chrome app on your Android smartphone or tablet.
- Tap the More (three dots) icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
- Scroll down the list of settings and tap on Accessibility.
- Look for the checkbox labelled Simplified view for web pages (or “Show simplified view for web pages”).
- Uncheck the box to disable the feature.
- Tap the back arrow in the top-left corner to return to your browsing session.
From this point forward, Google Chrome will load web pages exactly as they were designed by the publisher. The pop-up bar offering a simplified view will no longer interrupt your reading experience.