Google Chrome: hiding URLs is no longer an issue

Google has stopped the ability to hide URLs in the Chrome browser. The corresponding options have been removed from the browser.

Google had made several attempts to only display the domain in the address line of the browser instead of the complete URL – for example in June of last year from Chrome in version 85.

This was justified, among other things, with safety considerations. This made it difficult for users to distinguish between legitimate URLs and URLs from phishing websites when the URLs were long.

But there was also opposition to Google’s move. For example, it was criticized that in this way it was not clear which page you are currently on. The removal of the protocol (http or https) and hiding the “www” prefix also led to queries.

So far, you could set the behavior of the address bar in Chrome using a flag:

These options have now been removed. If you search for “Path” under chrome://flags in the current Chrome version, only one option is displayed:

According to a report, Google itself has confirmed the end of the experiment. There has been no movement in the relevant safety metrics. Therefore, the feature will not be rolled out, as Chrome Security Engineer Emily Stark reportedly said.

This means that URLs can still be displayed in full in Chrome’s address bar. It remains to be seen whether the hiding of the protocol and the “www” will also be lifted.

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