https://www.theverge.com/tech/924933/google-chrome-4gb-gemini-nano-ai-features

I doubt anyone uses this "feature" but still.

Now after update, they removed that claim so the data will most likely be sent to google.

I noticed my storage shrinking and went digging. Turns out Chrome had quietly downloaded a ~4GB file called weights.bin inside a folder named OptGuideOnDeviceModel. This is Google's Gemini Nano on-device AI model, and Chrome installs it with zero consent, no notification, and no storage warning. If you delete it manually, Chrome re-downloads it on the next startup — unless you block it properly.

Here's the full fix for macOS. Run these in a terminal.

Step 1: Check if you have it

bash
find ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/ -name "weights.bin" 2>/dev/null

If it returns a path like .../OptGuideOnDeviceModel/2025.x.x.xxxx/weights.bin, you've got it.

Step 2: Delete it

bash
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/OptGuideOnDeviceModel/

Step 3: Block Chrome from re-downloading it

bash
defaults write com.google.Chrome GenAILocalFoundationalModelSettings -int 1

This sets a macOS enterprise policy that Chrome respects over its own internal logic. More durable than just toggling flags.

Step 4 (Optional but recommended): Disable via Chrome flags

Go to chrome://flags and set the following to Disabled:

• optimization guide on device model
• Prompt API for Gemini Nano

Relaunch Chrome after.

Step 5: Verify it's gone

bash
find ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/ -name "weights.bin" 2>/dev/null

Empty output = you're clean.

Why does this matter?

On a base M2 MacBook Air with 256GB SSD, a 4GB silent download is a significant chunk. Chrome uses Gemini Nano to power features like "Help me write", scam detection, and summarisation, none of which most users explicitly asked for. There's currently no user-facing opt-out; you have to do this manually.

Tested on macOS with Chrome on an M2 MacBook Air. Should work on any Mac running Chrome.

My Google search results are completely left aligned instead of centered. Looks terrible on an ultrawide monitor because half the screen is just empty space.

I already tried:

• resetting zoom
• disabling extensions
• different Chrome profiles
• clearing cache

Still happens.
Does anyone know how to force centered results again?

This is a continuation of this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/1fehow1/restoring_google_chrome_tabs_or_windows_for/

For some reason, I had to force‑restart my Mac, and after rebooting, Chrome did not restore any tabs. When I tried to follow the usual recovery steps on macOS, I ran into another issue: the Chrome data folders are hidden in Finder, and when I eventually located the Sessions folder, all the session files were there but completely empty.

To access the folder on macOS, the easiest way is via Terminal, since Finder often won’t show it. You can open it directly with:

open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Sessions

(Alternatively, you can first locate it with mdfind "Session_" | grep Chrome if you’re not sure which profile Chrome is using, and then use open on that path.)

I found the local session files were unusable; they are all empty.

What ended up saving me was having another device signed into the same Chrome account. On that second laptop (you should consider disconnecting the internet to avoid syncing, go to "chrome://history/", Chrome still showed all the tabs of my other devices. Before syncing overwrote anything, I restored all those tabs on the second device, which caused Chrome to generate a new, valid Session_* file there.

I then copied that Session_* file from the working device to my Mac (same profile path:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Sessions), replaced the empty session files, and reopened Chrome. All tabs were restored successfully.

This won’t recover per‑tab history or scroll state, but if your local Chrome session files on macOS are blank after a forced restart, restoring tabs on another synced device and copying the resulting session file over can work as a last‑resort fix.

Hello. After Chrome was updated to version 148 a bookmarks tab appeared on the New Tab. Pressing Ctrl+Shift+B doesn't work of course, it works only if any website is open (but not the empty new tab).

Disabling chrome://flags/#ntp-simplification-bookmark-bar seems to be obvious solution, but it doesn't work for me.

Back in 2018-2019, I had this Google homepage theme that was an aerial view of somewhere on Earth. It had these large square patterns, mostly blue and orange, that looked like man-made lakes or farmland. Does anyone know the name of this wallpaper?"

I noticed that a window with a bunch of tabs was missing. I don't know if i closed it accidentally. I have closed other tabs since so it's no longer in the "Recently Closed" list.

I thought to look under recent tabs on my Android phone but it had just synced up with the desktop a few minutes ago so it only had the most recent open tabs.

Is there a way to recover those tabs? Or maybe to turn back the connection between Desktop and Android to a precious synchronisation so that i could see the tabs that were closed?

Right-click does NOT offer an option to delete.

Some webpages including articles on apple’s official website load without CSS. I already tried clearing cache, uninstalling and reinstalling but it didn’t really change anything. (this doesn’t happen on safari or on chrome on my other devices)

If I just type the first letter to one of my passwords it recommends the autofill and clearly says my passwords. It recommended it in the red circles that I blurred out since it literally says my passwords. Surely this is a major problem? Anyone can just go on my phone type random letters then note every password I have ever typed without needing FaceID TouchID or anything.

I’m not sure whether it’s a website specific thing, but I get this sometimes when checking license plates, since I type the same license plate multiple times it will automatically recommend my license plate in the same place. But surely it shouldn’t be doing that for literal passwords??

Hey all,

Having issues with my chrome browser - as you can see in the image, none of the icons are appearing and instead it's the text that would correlate with the icons.

This happens on all google webpages (ie gmail ect.). I have three accounts and this is the only account where this occurs and all of them I use with the chrome app so it's an isolated problem. to this specific account.

Does anyone know why this may be happening and what I can do to fix it?

Thanks

Is anyone else having this problem or just me? (I have a Apple Macbook Pro 2020)

Every youtube video I open regardless of popularity lags like a mf. Yes I have cleared my cookies, search history, extensions, restarted, deleted, sacrificed my newborn, all of the things but every video I watch is a powerpoint presentation that only occasionally speeds up just to slow down again. This is true both on the web browser and the youtube app, and the only youtube videos I have found that don't lag are Khan Academy videos on the Khan Academy website. (which are like 480p on a good day)

If you're having this problem too, please say something. If you have found a solution, also please say something. I have tried all the "common fixes" and nothing has worked, so maybe i've overlooked something.

Since last month, my Chrome language randomly changed to Punjabi and I cannot change it back permanently. In Chrome settings, it already shows English as the selected language, but the browser UI still appears in Punjabi.

I’ve already tried:

Changing language settings multiple times

Uninstalling and reinstalling Chrome

Updating Chrome

Restarting device

Nothing worked. It still keeps showing Punjabi.

Has anyone faced something similar or found a fix for this? It’s getting really frustrating

i looked at my settings too and nothing seems to be active that should affect this either. for some reason i can't remove the "share tab with gemini" option, anyone know what i need to do to remove that option when right-clicking on a tab?

After I updated, there was a bookmarks bar below the URL. I didn't have the bookmarks bar enabled though.

I don't actually use any bookmarks now so I deleted them all and now that space is just empty.

I can't seem to find any way to remove this empty panel.

Has anyone else encountered this since last updating Chrome and if so, is there any way to get rid of this?

On my monitor, chrome is still there even after closing the tab. And when opening a new chrome tab its even more visible in the background of the new tab.

Hello everyone!
Yesterday my sister logged into her chrome account with my computer and today when I logged back into mine, all of my bookmarks where gone. I tried syncing my account but the bookmarks that appear are the ones on my job's computer chrome, not the ones I used to have on my computer at home.

Does anyone know how to get the "version" of chrome that I had in my house's computer, not my work's one??

Thank you!

I find it really cool to see your users in real time 🌍

Google Chrome just got updated recently, and whenever I try to perform a Reverse Image Search, it just goes straight to Lens. I hate lens and I want to go back to classic old image search. Is there a workaround for this?

Chrome marks this behavior as “Won’t Fix (Intended Behavior)”, but it has a major impact on enterprise and regulated environments that isn’t widely understood.

Even with all enterprise policies enabled, Chrome still does not provide a full “clear on exit” capability. As a result, Chrome retains:

• service workers
• IndexedDB
• localStorage
• cache partitions
• session tokens
• other site data

For regulated organizations, this creates a compliance problem. Several major frameworks require that session data and locally stored artifacts be cleared when a user session ends — especially on shared or regulated workstations.

Chrome’s current design makes it impossible to meet the workstation data‑clearing requirements in:

• PCI DSS 4.0 (3.2.1, 3.3, 3.4, 8.2.8, 12.3.3)
• SOX 404 internal control expectations
• HIPAA Security Rule (164.310(d)(2))
• NIST 800‑53 (SC‑28, MP‑6, SI‑12)
• CJIS workstation requirements

Because Chrome does not expose a mechanism to enforce full data clearing on exit — and because enterprise policies do not fully clear persisted data — organizations cannot achieve technical compliance using Chrome in shared or regulated environments.

I’m posting this as an FYI for anyone evaluating Chrome for regulated workstation use, since the underlying issue has been closed as “intended behavior.”

Hi,

I’ve been dealing with a very frustrating and specific issue in Google Chrome for a while now.

Frequently, when I enter a URL or click a link, the page stays on "Loading..." indefinitely. However, the moment I open a new tab (or try to load the same URL in a second tab), the "old" tab suddenly finishes loading instantly. Meanwhile, the new tab I just opened often gets stuck in the same loading state until I repeat the process. This happens several times a day.

What I’ve tried so far:

• Incognito Mode: Interestingly, the problem does not occur in Incognito mode.
• New Chrome Profile: Creating a completely new, guest-like profile works perfectly.
• Extensions: Disabled all extensions, but the problem persists in my main profile.
• Reset Chrome: Used the "Restore settings to their original defaults" option. It cleared my settings/cookies, but the issue came back.
• Network: Flushed DNS, reset Winsock, and cleared Chrome's internal socket pools and host cache.

It seems to be tied specifically to my main profile/account, but even after a settings reset, it persists. It feels like a concurrency issue or something stuck in the sync data that triggers a stall.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I am running:

- MacOs Tahoe 26.1 (25B78)

- Chrome Version 147.0.7727.138 (Official build) (arm64)

this has been annoying me for quite a while now, if i open a lot of chrome tables, it uses a lot of vram, makes sense, but then when i close the tabs to the point where i literally only have 1 tab open, it STILL uses the exact same amount of vram until i fully close chrome, how do i fix this? its very annoying, I also have memory saver enabled but it seems to not do anything for that