How to Leave Chrome Before the Feds Force Google to Sell It

The U.S. Department of Justice is banging the war drum against Google’s horizontally integrated business model. Last week, DOJ officials asked the federal court to force Google to scalp Chrome from its business. Given that, it may finally be time for users to start looking for a new browser.

If the DOJ’s request goes through (and many court battles are still to be fought), it would be the biggest upset in the tech world for the past 30 years. Feds want to force the $1.4 trillion company to break up its advertising from its search arms. Sure, it’s not the only game in town that has its cake and eats it, too (officials are also looking at Meta over separate antitrust allegations).

Chrome is the most popular browser in the U.S., and not by a small margin. It’s also one of the most CPU-intensive browsers around. This has been a problem for so long that some laptops sell themselves on being able to run Chrome without depleting the battery. Chrome is also extremely customizable, and with built-in connectivity with your Google account, it becomes a shoo-in for most offices that rely on Workspace apps like Gmail or Docs.

But with Google on the end of the DOJ’s antitrust fishing line, it seems there’s now a better reason to abandon ship than ever before. It’s probably for the best. Google has weathered plenty of criticism surrounding Chrome’s data harvesting practices. It’s made strides in recent years to offer users more control over how the browser and sites they visit track their data with Privacy Sandbox, but the damage may already be done.

Whatever happens, it may be a good time to start thinking about migrating. If you’re used to Chrome, you’ll find that most browsers contain similar features, but they won’t be as beholden to your Google account as you might be used to.

Which Default Browsers Could I Consider?

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Microsoft’s Edge browser is already Chromium-based, and it doesn’t take much effort to switch your browser experience from Chrome. The downside is that it’s a Microsoft-brand product, and Windows makers have been overt in trying to keep you using the built-in browser on Windows PCs. This includes pop-up notifications when you dare try to download Chrome. Windows 11 is already too full of popups that you have to disable manually, so we don’t suspect Microsoft will stop its Edge promotion until somebody makes it stop.

It has a few unique features, most recently the integrated Bing Chatbot (so don’t move to Edge if you’re tired of Google’s AI antics). The privacy tools are especially standout. You can target certain pages to prevent pop-up ads or tracking. You’ll find the import tools by clicking the three dots next to the Bing icon at the top right, then hit Settings, Profiles, and Import browser data. After that, find the browser you want to import, and you can choose to bring over your payment info, history, settings, and tabs. It will also try to find similar extensions to the ones you already use.

As for other default browsers, Mac’s Safari is always a nice, simple browser with a few extra tricks, like the Reader mode, which lets you dismantle elements of a page you don’t like. Apple lets you authenticate with Facebook, Google, or an Apple account, so you can maintain your Google account as your main way of signing into various services.

You won’t have access to Google Passwords. Instead, manually import your password file from Chrome to Safari. To import your passwords, bookmarks, and more from Chrome, go to Safari on Mac, choose File, then Import From. You should see your selection of browsers installed on your device, and you can hit which files you wish to keep imported from Chrome.

And Now for Third-Party Browsers

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Mozilla Firefox is one of the longest-running and most well-known third-party browsers beyond Chrome, and that’s mostly because it stood out as a safe haven beyond Internet Explorer before Chrome got big. Today, its benefit is that it’s an open-source option with built-in security features, such as ones that help users avoid internet trackers from clicking links.

Firefox always has some interesting new features. For instance, the browser has worked to cut down on fake user reviews. There are a few more features to try but to get your Chrome data settled; you’ll need to go into the Menu bar at the top of Firefox. Then, hit the Firefox button and select Preferences or Settings. Then, in the General tab, hit the Import Data button. This will let you choose which Chrome profile you want to import. Firefox makes it pretty easy to find similar extensions if there’s anyone that you particularly rely on. It will also transport your payment methods.

Opera is the fifth most popular browser. While you may not hear much about Opera, it’s still a decent browser. The Chromium-based Opera comes with a VPN and ad blocker pre-installed. It’s now available on all major operating systems—most recently iOS. Opera recently implemented an AI chatbot called Aria into the browser. How much mileage you get out of the ChatGPT-based chatbot will vary, but at the least, you can ignore it for the many other stellar features.

You’ll be prompted to import your data from Chrome when installing Opera for the first time. Otherwise, you’ll want to click on the big red “O” logo at the top left of the screen, then hit Settings or Preferences (if you’re on macOS). You’ll find the import tool under Synchronization; then, click Import bookmarks and settings.

There are plenty of other browsers as well. Brave and DuckDuckGo are both privacy-focused browsers that proclaim they block third-party trackers, tracking ads, and cookie popups. Switching from Chrome is far more simple than you may expect. So, why not use this opportunity to go browser shopping?