The Silent Login Mechanism
Google Chrome includes a built-in password manager that can save and sync your credentials across devices. To make browsing faster, Chrome also includes an “Auto Sign-in” feature. When this is enabled, if you navigate to a website where Chrome has saved your username and password, it will automatically log you in without requiring you to click a “Sign in” button or manually select your profile.
While highly convenient, this can be a privacy nightmare if you share a computer (or a Chrome profile) with a family member or coworker. If they visit a site you use, Chrome might instantly log them into your personal account before they even realize what happened. If you prefer to have explicit control over when and where you log in, forcing Chrome to wait for your permission, you must disable the auto sign-in feature.
How to Disable Auto Sign-in for Websites
You can turn off this silent authentication in Chrome’s Password Manager settings.
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner and select Settings.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Autofill and passwords.
- Click on Google Password Manager.
- In the new Password Manager tab that opens, look at the left sidebar and click on Settings.
- Look for the toggle switch labelled Auto Sign-in (the description will say “Automatically sign in to websites and apps using stored credentials”).
- Toggle the switch to the Off position.
From now on, when you visit a site where you have a saved password, Chrome will still fill in the username and password fields (if you have autofill enabled), but it will force you to manually click the website’s “Login” or “Submit” button to actually authenticate.