Taking Control of Your Digital Security
Google Chrome features a surprisingly robust, built-in password manager. Whenever you log into a new website, Chrome helpfully slides a small window down from the address bar, offering to save your credentials for the future. For many users, this is an incredibly convenient feature that saves them the hassle of remembering dozens of complex passwords.
However, relying solely on your web browser to manage your passwords poses several security and practical issues. If you share a family computer and do not use separate Windows user profiles, anyone who opens Chrome can automatically log into your bank accounts or email. Furthermore, if you switch to a different browser like Firefox or Safari, or try to log into an app on your phone, you won’t have access to the passwords trapped inside Chrome.
Because of this, cybersecurity experts strongly recommend using a dedicated third-party password manager, such as 1Password or Bitwarden. If you decide to make the switch to a dedicated app, the very first thing you must do is turn off Chrome’s built-in manager to prevent the two systems from fighting over your login fields.
How to Stop Chrome from Asking to Save Passwords
Disabling Chrome’s password manager requires turning off two specific settings: the prompt to save new passwords, and the automatic login feature.
- Open the Google Chrome browser on your computer.
- Look at the top right corner of the window and click the three vertical dots to open the main menu.
- Select Settings from the drop-down list.
- In the left-hand sidebar of the Settings tab, click on Autofill and passwords.
- Click on Google Password Manager. This will open a new tab containing all your saved security information.
- In this new tab, look at the left sidebar again and click on Settings.
- You will see a toggle switch labelled Offer to save passwords. Click the toggle to turn it Off (the switch will turn grey).
From now on, Chrome will no longer interrupt you with a pop-up window every time you create a new account or log into a website.
How to Stop Automatic Sign-ins
Even if Chrome stops asking to save new passwords, it might still automatically fill in the passwords it has already saved. To stop this behaviour:
- Stay on the same Settings page within the Google Password Manager (from step 6 above).
- Look for the toggle switch labelled Auto Sign-in, located immediately below the previous setting.
- Click the toggle to turn it Off.
When you visit a login page, Chrome will no longer automatically paste your username and password into the text boxes.
What Happens to Your Existing Passwords?
Turning off the “Offer to save passwords” and “Auto Sign-in” settings does not delete your data. Any passwords you previously saved to your Google Account remain safely stored on Google’s servers.
If you are migrating to a new third-party password manager, you should export your passwords from Chrome before you delete them permanently. You can do this by navigating to Settings > Autofill and passwords > Google Password Manager > Settings, and clicking the Download file button under the “Export passwords” section. This will generate a .csv file that you can easily import into your new security app.
Once you have successfully imported your data into your new app, you should delete the passwords from Chrome to ensure your digital security remains consolidated in one secure location.
