The Background Telemetry
Like most modern software, Google Chrome collects telemetry data to help its developers identify bugs, improve performance, and prioritize new features. A significant part of this telemetry is the automatic sending of crash reports and usage statistics. If a tab freezes or the entire browser crashes, Chrome will automatically bundle up data about the error (which can sometimes include snippets of the webpage you were viewing or system memory state) and transmit it to Google’s servers in the background. While this helps fix bugs, privacy-conscious users often prefer to keep all their local browsing data strictly on their own machines, preventing the browser from automatically “phoning home.”
Disabling Crash Reports and Usage Stats
To stop Google Chrome from automatically sending crash reports and usage telemetry, you must explicitly opt-out of data collection within the browser’s privacy and security settings.
Open Google Chrome. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner to open the menu, and select Settings. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Privacy and security. In the main pane, click on the section labeled Sync and Google services. Scroll down the page until you find the section titled “Other Google services.” Look for the toggle switch labeled Help improve Chrome’s features and performance (or on older versions, “Automatically send usage statistics and crash reports to Google”). If this toggle is turned on (blue), Chrome is actively transmitting data. Click the toggle to switch it to the Off (grey) position. This instantly severs the automated reporting connection, ensuring that if the browser crashes in the future, the error data will remain local and will not be transmitted to Google.