How to block cookies in Chrome and increase your privacy

Google Chrome is one of the most widespread and used web browsers in the world. However, it has long been the subject of criticism in relation to its safety and lack of privacy. If we have not yet found an alternative to Chrome that satisfies us or we simply want to continue using this browser, there are some settings that we can tweak to have a much more positive experience and increase our privacy.

Currently Chrome has a lot of extensions in the Chrome Web Store that help us navigate in a more secure and anonymous way, although the browser itself already includes several configurations that can help us in this task without the need to install any additional add-ons. Now, we are talking about settings that by default are deactivated (of course!), So first we will have to put our hands on them and enable them if we want them to work.

How to block cookies in Google Chrome to navigate without being tracked

In this post we will explain how we can block cookies in Chrome, both thefirst-party cookies (those used to save your preferences on a website) such as third party cookies (those that record your activity while you browse different pages).

How to activate the blocking of third-party cookies

In early February 2020 Chrome was updated to version 80, an update where it is already beginning to be implemented a new system for classifying and blocking cookies. A system that allows the execution of first-party cookies, but that requires third-party cookies to have certain requirements to verify that they are being used through secure connections.

In Android we can check the number of our Chrome version from the browser settings menu, entering "Settings -> Chrome Information”, And update the app from the Play Store if applicable. For PC users, we can verify and update our version of Chrome by displaying the settings menu in "Help -> About Google Chrome”.

On Android

Google has also indicated that its intention is to eliminate third-party cookies in a period of 2 years to replace them with a new system, although for now, if we want the browser to not allow the use of this type of trackers, we must make the following adjustment of manual way:

• We open the Chrome app and display the options menu (3-dot icon located in the upper right margin).
• We scroll to "Configuration -> Website Configuration -> Cookies ”.
• We activate the tab "Block third-party cookies”.

As you can see, it is not a menu that can be found with the naked eye, since it is outside the rest of the application's privacy settings.

On Windows and other desktop versions of the browser

If we are using the desktop version of Google Chrome, the blocking of cookies is activated in a similar way.

• We open the browser and display the options menu (3-dot icon located in the upper right margin).
• We scroll to "Settings -> Advanced settings -> Privacy and security -> Site settings -> Site and cookie data”.
• Finally, we activate the tab "Block third-party cookies”.

How to block first-party cookies

As we have seen, from the cookie settings we also have the ability to disable first-party cookies. This is not a highly recommended action, since in many cases it can make the web pages we visit not work normally.

In any case, if we are interested in enabling this option, we only have to go to the menu "Website configuration -> Cookies", As we have seen in the previous paragraphs, and deactivate the"Allow all sites to save and read cookie data”.

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How to manage the management of cookies once we have the blocking activated

Once the blocking of cookies is activated, when we visit a web page from Chrome we will see the icon of a cookie or "cookie" in the navigation bar. If we click on it, we will have the option to see which cookies are running and which are not. Likewise, we may also allow or block certain cookies individually.

• From this same window, we can allow the execution of all cookies on the web simply by clicking on the blue button "Ready”.
• If we click on "Show cookies and other site data”Then we will access the cookie management menu. Here we will find 2 tabs: Allowed and Blocked. It is enough to enter each one of them, to see a list of all the cookies, and thus, if we want to modify any, we only have to select it and click on "Let"Or"To block”.

As an interesting fact, it is worth mentioning that if we click on each of the cookies that appear in this menu, we will also have the possibility to see which domain the cookie belongs to, when it was created and its expiration date.

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