chrome browser for mac free download How to Install Chrome for Mac. This article explains how to download and install Chrome for Mac as well as the benefits of using Chrome on a Mac. How to Download and Install Chrome for Mac. Every Mac comes with Apple's Safari web browser installed on it, and lots of people use it. Safari is far from the only browser you can use on a Mac, however. While the built-in option has benefits, you may want a different program, like Google Chrome. Here's how to put Google's browser on your Mac. Go to the download page for Chrome on the Mac you want to install it on. The site detects that you're using a Mac and automatically suggests the right version for you. Click Download Chrome for Mac . The installer program for Chrome downloads to your designated Downloads folder. Open the Downloads folder and double-click the file called googlechrome.dmg to launch the installer. Drag the Chrome icon to the Application folder icon. The installer will copy Chrome to your computer. Before you start using your new browser, clean up the installer files. If you don't, those files will use up space on your hard drive unnecessarily. Open a Finder window and click the arrow next to Google Chrome in the sidebar. Return to the Downloads folder and drag googlechrome.dmg to the trash. Go to your Applications folder and double-click Google Chrome to start using your new web browser. If you expect to use it often, drag it to the Dock for easy access. The Benefits of Using Google Chrome on a Mac. Some of the most common and compelling reasons people prefer to use Chrome include: Chrome ties into the Google ecosystem : You can sign in to your Google account using Chrome and use all the services and data in your Google account, right there in your browser. If you're a heavy user of Google services, Chrome is the simplest and best-integrated way to access them. Chrome is highly compatible : Although it doesn't happen much these days, some sites won't load or function correctly in Safari. In those situations, you might have better luck with Chrome. Chrome is available on many platforms : Because it comes from Apple, Safari is available only on Macs and iOS devices (it comes installed on the iPhone and iPad, too). Apple used to offer Safari for Windows but discontinued that version in 2012. Chrome, however, runs everywhere: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Linux, and more. Chrome has a massive library of extensions : You can expand your browser's functionality by installing extensions. Safari supports extensions, too, but Chrome has a much bigger selection. With over 10,000 extensions available for Chrome, you can add a huge array of features, including ad-blocking, web developer tools, and more. Don't worry about being permanently committed to Chrome. If you use it for a while and find that it's not the right browser for you, you can always uninstall it from your Mac. Why Chrome uses so much RAM and how to make it use less. If you’ve ever used Google Chrome, you’ve probably seen your Windows PC or Mac slow down considerably. This is because Chrome is famous for using a lot of RAM. If you go to your Task Manager right now, you’ll likely see that Google Chrome is using more of your system’s RAM than any other program. Today we’re going to walk you through why that happens and then show you some tricks you can use to help cut down on Chrome’s RAM usage so that your browser and system can work efficiently. As smartphones like Android handsets and Apple iPhones and iPads work a little differently to desktop PCs, we won’t be looking at them with this article. Why does Chrome use so much of your computer’s RAM? Chrome uses RAM in just the same way as any other app, program, or piece of software. It uses your system memory to store various processes while it performs the tasks that you and the websites you visit set it. This means that if you were to open Chrome on its own it wouldn’t actually require that much RAM, not much more than other web browsers like Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox anyway. It is only when you start browsing the internet that Chrome’s bumper RAM requirements quick in. Modern websites have more fluid and interactive elements than ever before, with each requiring a lot of processes and therefore a lot of memory to perform. This is then amplified when you consider how we use the internet these days. More Tabs = More RAM. We now think nothing of having a lot of websites open at the same time using Chrome tabs. The thing we don’t consider, however, is that every open Chrome Tab needs about 50MB of RAM to operate normally. Yes, that does say MB, which is so 90s I know, but look at how many Chrome tabs you have open right now. Ah, now you understand. It is easier than ever to browse multiple web pages at once and when your Chrome memory usage is going up in multiples of 50 things add up fast. How to reduce the amount of RAM the Chrome browser uses. Chrome’s experimental features. Google Chrome has a number of experimental features called Flags. These Flags might be what the Chrome team is planning to introduce with future Chrome updates, or they might just be pet projects of individual team members. Some of them have been designed to help Chrome users limit Chrome’s memory consumption. You can access the Google Chrome Flags menu by copy and pasting chrome://flags/ into Chrome’s address bar. The best Chrome Flag to help you reduce Chrome’s RAM usage is Tab Freeze . When enabled, Tab Freeze will suspend all eligible Chrome tabs that have been inactive for more than five minutes. They’ll reload when you open them again, but until that time they’ll sit dormant and won’t use any of your system’s RAM. The best flags for Google Chrome. Extensions Toolbar Manager is another Chrome Flag that you should think of installing if you have many different extensions on Chrome performing many different tasks. Extensions can be process heavy, which means the more you have the more pressure they place on your system. The thing is, however, you might not them to perform their processes all the time. Enabling the Extensions Toolbar Manager Flag will shrink all your extensions icons into a single menu. This will then make it much easier to disable them when you’re not using them so that you can use the RAM for something else. How to make Google Chrome run faster. The Chrome Task Manager. Just like Windows has one, Google Chrome has a Task Manager too. You can activate the Google Chrome Task Manager by opening Chrome and then hitting the Shift + Esc keys at the same time. Unfortunately, that hotkey only works in Windows, so if you’re using a Mac, you’ll have to go into the Window menu. Once you have the Chrome Task Manager open, you’ll be able to see each individual task that Chrome is running and shut down the ones that are hogging up all your RAM. If you have extensions that use a lot of RAM and your system is struggling, get rid of them. Another you’ll be able to do here kills any open tabs that might be using too much RAM also. Sometimes tabs might not be working exactly as they should, or the content they’re displaying may be putting excess strain on your system resources. The Task Manager will show you exactly how much system memory each tab is using and if one of them is using a lot more than the rest of them, close it. Chrome Browser Extensions. If you find that the Chrome Flags haven’t done enough and you’re still having problems even though you know how to access the Chrome Task Manager, then maybe you should head to the Chrome Web Store and think about installing some Chrome extensions that will help you manage and reduce Chrome’s RAM usage better. The Great Suspender is a fantastic Chrome plugin that will deliver effective results quickly. It works by giving you a number of options including setting time limits for how long tabs can remain inactive or unused before the extension will freeze their operation. When the tabs are frozen they’ll no longer put a strain on your system’s resources, which should see an upturn in performance, if you’re pushing your system’s limits. The tabs will appear dimmed when inactive and will then simply reload again when you open them up again. One Tab is another great Chrome extension that promises a massive 95% memory reduction against Chrome browsers that don’t have the extension installed. When activated all open tabs are shrunk down to a single tab, which then shows a list of all tabs. They’re all right there ready to go, they’re just not using all your system’s RAM anymore. Wrapping up. Now you know why Chrome uses so much RAM and how to reduce its RAM usage. It is important to note, however, that you should only really limit Chrome’s RAM usage if it is causing a problem. If you have RAM to spare while Chrome is running full blast and it isn’t affecting your browsing experience, leave it that way. If not, which will happen more and more if your device has 8GB of RAM or less work your way through the tricks outlined above? Google Chrome for Mac. First released for Windows in 2008, Google Chrome officially launched on the Mac computers in 2010 after several months of beta testing. It offers fast and secure web browsing via a search engine, giving you access to internet articles and pages. It also boasts an exceptional experience with an elegant user interface. What is Google Chrome? Chrome is a web browser that lets you access information on the internet . You can read the latest news, download files, or play web-based games. To look for specific articles or details online, you’ll need to make use of a search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing. You can enjoy various features to enhance the browser’s functionality. Chrome Extensions gives you more tools to optimize your experiences , such as VPN access, web clippers, input utilities, and more. You can even install a password manager if you’re not satisfied with Chrome’s default settings. The browser stores your internet search history if you’re logged into your account. With the bookmark function, it opens web pages faster if you’ve visited them in the past. All you need to do is start entering the relevant keywords from the site on the omnibar, and the link for the page should automatically appear. Another feature you’ll enjoy is the shortcut menu that takes you to connected apps. If you’re using Google as your preferred search engine , you can open the tab for access to Youtube or a translator for transforming site text into English from a different language. You can also play around with Chrome resource constructions if you have the technical expertise. Can you install Google Chrome on a Mac? Many people use browsers like Safari, Firefox, Avast Secure Browser, or Camino on Mac devices. However, you can also download and install Chrome if that's your preferred option. To start the process, you first need to download the installation file. Once completed, you’ll need to look for the file ‘googlechrome.dmg .’ A separate window will open, giving you the option to select Chrome. You shouldn’t open it just yet, as you’ll first need to drag the icon to the Applications folder. Your Mac device may ask you for your password to ensure optimum security . If you don’t have the password at hand, you can move it to the desktop and change the settings. When you’re ready, you can open Chrome, access Finder, and then click on Eject in the sidebar. If this method fails, your best option is to contact the Help Center to find a solution. Is it bad to use Chrome on Mac? Many people that use Chrome on Mac devices have cited various issues. For one, the browser has been known to drain the battery life of laptops and notebooks . Even with a few updates from Google, it still appears to remain a problem for those hoping for long battery life. Another issue is that the browser was developed within the ChromeOS, which isn’t optimized for macOS . What this means for you is that closing apps won’t happen instantly when you hit Cmd+Q. Instead, you’ll need to hold it in for a longer period for it to take effect. If you’re a Mac device owner who prefers operating systems older than macOS Yosemite, Chrome won’t work for you. Many reasons exist for not upgrading the system, especially if you don’t like any of the new features. However, Chrome only works on macOS Yosemite or higher . Is Safari safer than Chrome? When it comes to choosing between Safari and Chrome , most Mac users choose the former. The main reason is the latter’s Chrome Extensions tool. While it’s one of the browser’s most prized utilities, it’s also why battery life runs out so quickly. The installed extensions take up several resources, which may also cause issues. Chrome Extensions also has several security concerns . Some of them have different privacy settings than Safari, which may introduce malware or other threats to your device. While Safari has its own set of extensions, they won’t eat at the memory or conflict with security features as much as Chrome. Speaking about privacy settings brings another concern to the table. Most of Google’s revenue is in the form of adverts , making you a product instead of a consumer with information that the company can sell. Apple focuses more on you as a treasured client, marketing hardware, and software beneficial to you. How do you optimize Chrome on Mac? Despite the above concerns, there are ways that you can optimize Chrome on Mac for a better experience. One of the best ways is to update any outdated components. To complete this task, you need to insert ‘ chrome://components ’ in the omnibar and click on each element to update them. The second method of speeding up Chrome may be slightly frustrating, as it’ll force you to log into your accounts again. You can type in ‘ chrome://settings ’, head to the Privacy and Security section, and clear your cookies, cache, and data . As another solution, there’s the CleanMyMac app to clear all installed browser information for you. Fast and secure web browsing. Chrome is often referred to as the fastest and most secure web browser . While you’ll eventually come across lagging and other potential issues, it remains true. If you’re using Google as a search engine with an account, there are several benefits to installing Chrome on mac and accessing all the apps you love so much. Author's review. Get a fast, free web browser. Search instantly. Search and navigate from the same box. Choose from results and suggestions that appear as you type, including your recent searches and visited websites, so you can get to what you want in a snap. Type less. Tired of filling out web forms with the same information time and time again? Autofill lets you complete forms with just one click. And it works across devices too — so you can skip all that small-screen typing. Pick up where you left off. Chrome brings your open tabs, bookmarks and recent searches from your computer to your phone or tablet, and vice versa. That way you have your web on all of your devices. Just sign in on your other devices to start syncing. Experience a smarter web. Get the best of Google when you browse with Chrome. Chrome and Google work together to bring you more relevant suggestions and features across Google products including Voice Search and Google Now. Make Chrome yours. Browse just the way you'd like with Chrome themes, apps and extentions. Get straight to your favorite web destinations with bookmarks and start pages. Once you've set up Chrome, your customizations will be kept in sync across all of your devices. Hidden Chrome Settings You Should Change Right Now. Google Chrome is by far the most popular browser on the planet. It is quick, secure, and keeps evolving to offer us more useful and innovative features via constant updates from Google HQ. One of the reasons Chrome is so popular is that it is a simple web browser that is easy to use. Available for Windows, Mac, and on Android smartphones, iPhones and iPads; you simply download it, install it, boot it up, and then you’re browsing the internet. Easy peasy. There’s a lot more to Chrome, however, than what it can do when you first download it. Google Chrome has lots of interesting and useful features hiding just below the surface that can tweak and enhance your web browsing experience. Let’s have a look then at some of the best hidden Google Chrome features you should start using right now. Google Chrome hidden settings. Manage your search engines. Obviously, the Chrome browser comes with Google as its default search engine and home screen. Google, however, would get in a lot of trouble, if it stopped you from using other search engines on Google Chrome. This means that Chrome has some useful options for managing your search engines. As well as selecting different default search engines you can also add Omnibox search capabilities too. The Omnibox is the address bar that sits at the top of Chrome. You can use the Omnibox to search websites that you set as search engines; these special searches are known as Quick searches . To do this go to Settings , then Search Engine , and then hit Manage search engines . You then want to click Add under the Manage search engines section and enter the URL for the site you want to add. Then, if you use Wikipedia, for example, every time you type Wikipedia into the Omnibox you’ll have the option to press tab and search Wikipedia directly. Why did Wikipedia protest the EU? Parental Controls. It is becoming increasingly normal for children these days to use the internet. Whether it be playing silly games, watching silly videos, or researching school projects there is an awful lot for kids to do online. Obviously, however, this brings with it certain risks, but Google Chrome is there to help give worried parents peace of mind. Chrome allows parents to manage the sites their kids will have access to and monitor their browser usage including how long they’re spending on all the sites they visit. Parents wanting to do this need to set up a Google Family Link , which is Google’s brand-new app for monitoring web and app usage across multiple Google accounts and devices. Family Link has actually replaced an older Chrome setting called Supervised accounts . This means that as well as monitoring web usage, parents can now monitor all online activity across apps and web pages. Really Block Ads. If you use an ad blocker, you might have noticed recently that websites are able to detect your ad blocker then ask you to turn it off. So far, so annoying right! Well, Chrome has a secret feature that makes it next to impossible for websites to detect your ad blocker. Basically, these sites use JavaScript to detect your ad blocker and you can block that JavaScript to block that detection. To unblock your ad blocker, copy and paste chrome://settings/content/javascript into Chrome’s Omnibox and hit enter. This will take you to Chrome’s JavaScript control panel where you can block the sites blocking your Ad-Blocker from using the JavaScript code. The best flags for Google Chrome. Access your passwords. Google has built a password manager right into Google Chrome. This handy feature takes care of coming up with new and secure passwords when you create online accounts and auto-filling them in for you when you access said accounts. This is both useful and vital in today’s online world. A by-product of this, however, is that you’ll have a lot of passwords saved that you don’t actually know. If this is the case and you want to log into an account away from Chrome, you’ll need to check your passwords in Chrome first. To do this copy and paste chrome://settings/passwords into the Chrome Omnibox. How to: create strong passwords. Block mic and camera use. The internet is quite a pervasive place when it comes to your personal privacy. The idea is that whatever sensors you have gathering information to feedback to you, there’ll be companies and corporations hoovering up that data too. Of all these sensors, none creep people out more than webcams and microphones. The idea of corporations spying on us so directly is frankly terrifying and this why it has become a thing these days to see people covering up their webcams with strips of tape. The good news, however, is that using Chrome you can block websites from accessing your device’s webcam and microphone. To do so copy and paste chrome://settings/content into the Chrome Omnibox. This will take you to the Chrome permissions tab where you can decide all the permissions that websites have to access your device sensors. Resume interrupted downloads. This is one of those hidden features that should just be the default setting. Basically, you can go into the experimental features found on the Chrome Flags page and enable Download Resumption , which will make it possible to continue downloads that were interrupted rather than having to start again from the beginning. If you’ve ever tried to download a large file such as a movie or photo album, you’ll know that it is madness that Chrome doesn’t have this setting activated by default. Google Chrome for Mac. Chrome is the lightweight flagship browser that originated from an open source project by Google called Chromium and Chromium OS. It is now one of the more widely used browsers thanks to a vast ecosystem of extensions and add-ons, a robust Javascript engine, and a rapid-release development cycle that keeps it on the competitive end of the curve. Installation. The self sustenance comes from 'channels' ; Once you install the Chrome browser, Google will automatically roll out updates silently in the background and keep your software updated with the latest versions. Interface. Chrome's overall UI has remained stable since version 1.0: a minimal two row window with tabs resting above the address bar (Omnibox), 3 browser controls (Back, Forward, Stop/Reload), a star-shaped toggle for bookmarking, and settings icon. Users coming from older browsers might have to get used to not having a dedicated File menu layout but we found ourselves getting quickly adjusted. As you install extensions, active icons will appear to the right of the address bar, but beyond that Google maintains strict restrictions on adding visible add-ons. That means no toolbars or any undesired overlays, which at one point was a widespread standard practice. Despite the limited customiseable options, Chrome is minimalist for a reason, and that results in a clean browsing experience with maximum use of screen estate for websites. Features and Support. In addition to tabbed browsing, Chrome can be used as simply or as complex as you want, thanks to an impressive number of built-in tools, modes, hotkey functions, and more. One popular feature is, of course, Incognito mode: Chrome's response to Mozilla's Private Browsing feature. Incognito opens a new window that disables history recording, tracking cookies, and reduces the amount of traceable breadcrumbs from your usage. Contrary to popular belief, it does not mean you can freely browse the web for illegal use as your ISP can still see your traffic activity. so stay out of trouble. Under the hood, Chrome has some awesome features that make it very developer friendly: hardware acceleration for rendering 3D CSS effects, Google's own NaCl (Native Client) that allows secure execution of C and C++ codes within the browser, and an in house JavaScript engine that improves load times with every release. Pressing F12 will open a dev console that allows you to view web code and quickly identify elements simply by highlighting the mouse over each line. You can also add your own HTML and CSS codes to render a page with custom styling. Chrome also allows Google users to sync their accounts, which comes with added benefits like restoring saved bookmarks and extensions in the cloud no matter what device you're on. Performance. Chrome is fast. Really fast. As of version 27, Chrome is powered by Google's own V8 JavaScript engine that renders pages at speeds that have been setting a standard for modern browsers. In addition, Google has been on the forefront of implementing best practices for HTML5 standards and though it's also currently running the widely used open-source Webkit engine, Google has also announced plans to move to Blink in the near future. Wrap up. Google has relentlessly set the standard for speed, stability and security and Chrome's numerous version updates, as many as there are, have continued to complement its minimalist friendly design. It's no surprise that its market share continues to rise, especially when combined with its mobile cousin on Android. Regardless of who's faster, whether its user adoption or Chrome's own development team, Google's internet browser is one for the masses: casual user and developer alike.