Playing a lot with my Nexus 6, I came to want to try Chrome out a bit, for a change from Firefox. And I stumbled on what I consider a very big problem.
All my browsers, I set up to clear history, cache, cookies, etc, as soon as I stop using them. Be it for pr0n, bank managing, or mere general hygiene, I just want the browser to start fresh every time I launch it (I only keep bookmarks and some selected passwords).
Now, with Chrome, there doesn't seem to be any real way to wipe all the crap when exiting the browser. So I started playing with deleting of history, recent tabs and cookie files in /data/data/com.android.chrome/app_chrome, triggered by recent app swipe out (process stop) detection in Tasker. And it worked, for some time.
Problem, after having swiped Chrome out, deleted history files, and checked the history and recent tabs indeed seemed wiped, when tapping on the clock history icon, on the lower right part of the empty home page, then tapped on display whole history (translated from my language; YMWV). But OCD striked out, and I went back to the empty home page, to repeat the same process again. And again...
Until I ended up with the history appearing back, out of seemingly nowhere. So I wiped everything in the app itself (clear browser data), which works OK everytime. And now disconnected the phone from data before wiping the history and co files. And then went back to the history icon routine: now, without data, the history doesn't appear back. Then, I activated data anew, went on the repeated history checking, and bang: history appears right back...
So, when one tampers when Chrome history and co files, it seems Chrome restores those from the Internet, most probably from Google. Even though I set web history to off in my Google settings... Also tried History Cleaner Pro for root app, and end up with the same exact behaviour from Chrome. For what is worth, I use latest everything, factory 5.0.1, rooted, up to date Nexus 6.
Seriously: what's that crap?!?! Do you observe the same behaviour? Do you know of a way to teach hygiene to Chrome? Not sure I'll be touching the thing again though, even with a barge-pole... There may be a way to clean Chrome (would it be manually, in the app itself, which works as far as displaying information from previous sessions), but this experience tends to make me believe Chrome will save the history and all kind of crap at Google's, even if it doesn't display it anymore in the browser, even when you ask Google not to manage your history. And I surely won't have that. Back to Firefox, I am.
noraef said:
Playing a lot with my Nexus 6, I came to want to try Chrome out a bit, for a change from Firefox. And I stumbled on what I consider a very big problem.
All my browsers, I set up to clear history, cache, cookies, etc, as soon as I stop using them. Be it for pr0n, bank managing, or mere general hygiene, I just want the browser to start fresh every time I launch it (I only keep bookmarks and some selected passwords).
Now, with Chrome, there doesn't seem to be any real way to wipe all the crap when exiting the browser. So I started playing with deleting of history, recent tabs and cookie files in /data/data/com.android.chrome/app_chrome, triggered by recent app swipe out (process stop) detection in Tasker. And it worked, for some time.
Problem, after having swiped Chrome out, deleted history files, and checked the history and recent tabs indeed seemed wiped, when tapping on the clock history icon, on the lower right part of the empty home page, then tapped on display whole history (translated from my language; YMWV). But OCD striked out, and I went back to the empty home page, to repeat the same process again. And again...
Until I ended up with the history appearing back, out of seemingly nowhere. So I wiped everything in the app itself (clear browser data), which works OK everytime. And now disconnected the phone from data before wiping the history and co files. And then went back to the history icon routine: now, without data, the history doesn't appear back. Then, I activated data anew, went on the repeated history checking, and bang: history appears right back...
So, when one tampers when Chrome history and co files, it seems Chrome restores those from the Internet, most probably from Google. Even though I set web history to off in my Google settings... Also tried History Cleaner Pro for root app, and end up with the same exact behaviour from Chrome. For what is worth, I use latest everything, factory 5.0.1, rooted, up to date Nexus 6.
Seriously: what's that crap?!?! Do you observe the same behaviour? Do you know of a way to teach hygiene to Chrome? Not sure I'll be touching the thing again though, even with a barge-pole... There may be a way to clean Chrome (would it be manually, in the app itself, which works as far as displaying information from previous sessions), but this experience tends to make me believe Chrome will save the history and all kind of crap at Google's, even if it doesn't display it anymore in the browser, even when you ask Google not to manage your history. And I surely won't have that. Back to Firefox, I am.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stop using chrome lol.
only solution i can think of. **** i dont even use google search because they record that too. i use duckduckgo, they dont track
Phurkus said:
i dont even use google search because they record that too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I don't care so much about them recording what I do as about them forcefully flinging that crap back at me... that's what annoyed me. Anyway, yeah, stopped using Chrome, and won't go back to it.
I am looking for specific date on History Brower. Dates before and after appear but there is a gap. Any ideas how to restore these missing dates.
Phurkus said:
stop using chrome lol.
only solution i can think of. **** i dont even use google search because they record that too. i use duckduckgo, they dont track
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Censorship is also a quite a problem. So many search results get axed because the copyright mafia deems its infringing on their multi-billion dollar project copyrights.
Ironically, even Bing fares better than google and bing belongs to mcrosoft.
agreed. I use bing as my default search engine in browsers. As for Chrome, if OP is still interested, and their isnt an browser sync option in settings>accounts>google, you can use an app like disable services to disable com.google.chromesync.... or something along those lines. you'd have to look thru and find it in GooglePlayServices
Are people still having this issue with not being able to clear google chrome browser history on android?
If so, I found a way to clear it. I will be making a video tutorial if interest with this issue is still in demand. If so please don't hesitate in responding.
Related
What's the deal....syncing is sporadic at best.
Anyone know the trick yet?
You need to go into settings then applications and clear all data on browser, then sync and should work fine.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
roadratx said:
What's the deal....syncing is sporadic at best.
Anyone know the trick yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I have the trick you're looking for. After some trial and error, I figured this out. Its essentially a method by which one can refresh the saved attributes (in this case bookmarks) across all Google/Chrome outlets:
1) On your desktop, open Chrome and sort out your bookmarks as you would like them.
2) Then, in Chrome, on the menu bar under "Chrome", go to "Synced...", and click "Stop syncing this account", and then click the pop up to "Stop syncing".
3) Right after that, in the same location, click "Set Up Sync..." (you'll be prompted to sign in to your Google account, so do it). Once you've signed in, you'll be prompted again; this time, check off the Bookmarks option as the item you'd like to sync (no need to check off anything else. Leave the other option for Google Account password ticked as it was.
4) Click "OK" and presto, your bookmarks will be refreshed across all Google/Chrome devices or browsers. At this point you can check your XOOM to verify that those bookmarks have updated.
Its too bad they don't have a slightly easier option for doing this, but its not bad and it works. And the best part is you don't have to do a thing on the XOOM to make this happen (i.e. no wiping of browser data like saved passwords, etc.) So every time you'd like to tweak your bookmarks, or change the order of them as they appear in your XOOM's bookmark list, I have found that this is the best method you should follow.
Enjoy!
kyoteqwik said:
You need to go into settings then applications and clear all data on browser, then sync and should work fine.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The method I've detailed above is the best way I've found to truly get this to work; I've tried your method with extremely mixed results on many occasions.
EDIT - oh and by the way by your method you'll clear out any saved passwords for websites, etc, so if you want to keep any of those, this might not be a great idea. Just an FYI
joeski27 said:
The method I've detailed above is the best way I've found to truly get this to work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, tried this and it synced my bookmarks bar and one of my & bookmark folders. Any suggestions for getting the other 5 folders to get synced?
Strange that its a partial sync. Its almost as if the sync process is time limited. Couple more milliseconds and it would be complete. Just speculating
By the way, I did get a full sync a couple of weeks ago. But a FC requred killing the cache and I accidentally killed the saved data too. PITA
roadratx said:
ok, tried this and it synced my bookmarks bar and one of my & bookmark folders. Any suggestions for getting the other 5 folders to get synced?
Strange that its a partial sync. Its almost as if the sync process is time limited. Couple more milliseconds and it would be complete. Just speculating
By the way, I did get a full sync a couple of weeks ago. But a FC requred killing the cache and I accidentally killed the saved data too. PITA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the only thing I have now figured to do, with regard to utilizing the "Other Bookmarks" folders is to 1) populate your bookmarks bar with everything you'd like, and then 2)long press on the bookmark(s) you'd like to place in the "Other Bookmarks" folder, then click "Edit", and at that point you can select the location where you'd like this bookmark to appear. Once its there, if at any point you want to change the order of any of your bookmarks, you'd have to come back into Chrome on the desktop and take care of it there (followed by the syncing procedure I already outlined). Again, hopefully Google will come up with an easier method than this eventually
I had the same problem and got hold of the developer of chromemarks who informs me that its Google "throttling" the amount of bookmarks synched!
In Chrome, you can you goto the addess "about:sync" (no quotes) and you
should get some stats. Then you look for the "Unsynched count"
My original count on synch start was: 3,085
Mine shows today: Unsynced Count - 2,320
It is generally going down around 50 to 100 per day! So I will be waiting for some months before I get all my bookmarks synched!
Google Throttling - Read more
All the best,
Cheers,
Dave
deejaydave said:
I had the same problem and got hold of the developer of chromemarks who informs me that its Google "throttling" the amount of bookmarks synched!
In Chrome, you can you goto the addess "about:sync" (no quotes) and you
should get some stats. Then you look for the "Unsynched count"
My original count on synch start was: 3,085
Mine shows today: Unsynced Count - 2,320
It is generally going down around 50 to 100 per day! So I will be waiting for some months before I get all my bookmarks synched!
Google Throttling - Read more
All the best,
Cheers,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You seriously have that many bookmarks? I think you'd be better off with a list of sites on the internet that AREN'T bookmarked, it'd be shorter!
deejaydave said:
I had the same problem and got hold of the developer of chromemarks who informs me that its Google "throttling" the amount of bookmarks synched!
In Chrome, you can you goto the addess "about:sync" (no quotes) and you
should get some stats. Then you look for the "Unsynched count"
My original count on synch start was: 3,085
Mine shows today: Unsynced Count - 2,320
It is generally going down around 50 to 100 per day! So I will be waiting for some months before I get all my bookmarks synched!
Google Throttling - Read more
All the best,
Cheers,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip. I had over 1000 unsync count and watched it sync to 0 in a matter of minutes.
Hmm.. I have 0 unscynced according to about:sync but I'm still missing folders on Xoom :/
bjarnia said:
Hmm.. I have 0 unscynced according to about:sync but I'm still missing folders on Xoom :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually seem to have fixed the issue. There were just a few root folders that were not being synced.. Renaming them on my desktop computer triggered a sync on my xoom.
so the problem is fixed now.
I deleted my chrome sync data from google dashboard and then added I back and xoom now has all my bookmarks and folders
running CleanROM 2.4 + Browser2RAM + stock browser. all great.
in terms of browsing, i like my devices discrete. i.e. there's stuff i only want to see on my desktop for work, and stuff i want on my tablet, phone. but now i have like 300+ bookmarks (organized into folders, thank goodness) on my tablet. thing is, i can't delete any of it!
1) at first it appears that i CAN delete bookmarks. but upon reboot, bookmarks are still there.
2) logged into Google Dashboard and deleted synced Chrome bookmarks and disabled this function. deleted some bookmarks, rebooted the tablet, bookmarks still there.
3) disabled com.android.providers.partnerbookmarks. deleted some bookmarks. rebooted. deleted bookmarks still there.
i understand that with Browser2RAM, upon reboot, everything goes back to the original state and ASUS becomes the home page. so why are my bookmarks still there? and better question: how can i delete them?
IDIOT, i am.
Clear Data on Browser
disable Google Bookmarks Sync (though i noticed this seemed to be enabled, regardless) or clear Google Chrome Sync in Dashboard.
done.
AM Radio said:
IDIOT, i am.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL
I do stuff like this all the time...
Hang in!
Rant PART (1) -
Having to recently reinstall Dolphin browser I tried to sync my bookmarks using Dolphin connect, Sync failed. After a log of faffing, reinstalled removing accounts etc etc its still failing.
To cut a very long story short i've only just found out today about google blocking chrome's API which essentially locks out every 3rd party app from syncing bookmarks, wow, just wow.
Not only that i've been unable to even import bookmarks to another browser from Chrome... wow.
When did google become apple, i'm now forced to use either chrome app which is pants or move everything to firefox which is also pants, why are these pants you say?
Rant (2)
What is the most important thing about a browser once you get beyond the fact it actually loads and its secure?, bookmarks, we all use them and most of us will probably like those on all of our devices without having to manually rebuild them every time we need to reinstall an app or get a new phone.
So bookmark sync is essential but is pretty now locked out to most third part browsers, you can only get google's from google and firefox from firefox, I couldn't even find a browser which would import any direct from either app / account, this is insane.
Rant (3)
Ok so lets say we've got our bookmarks in place, we'll no doubt use these all the time so we'll want quick access to this, oh no no no, 99% of browsers are still hiding saved / synced bookmarks behind several menus, chrome is slightly better than firefox though.
Prior to locking down its API dolphin was the best browser available for quick access, a quick swipe right reveals a list of all your shortcuts and these would update on the fly from you google chrome bookmarks on your desktop, this is no longer available and there is no manual sync.
Firefox should still be working in dolphin but dolphin haven't pulled their finger out and added support for the latest firefox so sync isnt working there either, this effectively makes Dolphin no different to any other browser so I've deleted this from my phone for the first time in years.
Why are android browsers so bad, do people who make then just not use them ,why on earth is there no swipe left/right or gestures to get quick access to bookmarks in any browsers?, the exception being lightning / dolphin browsers which does have swipe to bookmarks but as you cant import anything anymore thats totally useless, i'm not adding all 169 of my bookmarks manually to anything.
The upshot of this is i'm forced to use clunky Chrome app on android and this makes me very angry indeed.
If anyone has some workaround for these issues or can suggest a browser which does have some sort of sync or chrome bookmarks import working please let me know.
Im experiencing the same issue since rebuilding my phone. Did you ever get this resolved?
Same thing here. I've always used boat browser. Don't feel like sideloading it on my Note 9, so I downloaded puffin and then dolphin and neither have a way to import from another mobile browser or even an html file. How f'ing stupid in 2018 that you can't simply import bookmarks.
All I want is a damn browser that always has tabs at the top like a desktop browser so I'm not forced to change my workflow just because I'm on a smaller screen, and I want to save and import/export my bookmarks as needed. Neither chrome or firefox offer this. I guess I'm sticking with an old browser that still seems to do things the right way. Maybe that's why I can easily import and export bookmarks, because the last update was 2yrs ago, possibly before google crippled the **** out of how browsers work.
You would think there would be some sort of revolt, major complaint thread or something on it.
What is more amazing than today's total lack of sync is the fact that very few threads exist on this matter. It is like if everybody (else) has a secret way to do it or -worse- nobody cares. I really don't get it I must be getting too old!
cfrantzol said:
What is more amazing than today's total lack of sync is the fact that very few threads exist on this matter. It is like if everybody (else) has a secret way to do it or -worse- nobody cares. I really don't get it I must be getting too old!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google has people lulled into complacency. [emoji53]
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
A few times a week, my phone will cache the Facebook Messenger photos, and whenever it does they appear in my photo storage apps. I seem to be the only one having this problem as I can't find a permanent fix. Here is what I have attempted so far:
1) Manually deleted all folders containing an image of a Facebook Messenger sticker.
2) Uninstalled all Facebook Messenger stickers. It lets me uninstall all stickers except for the "Pusheen" and "Meep" stickers.
3) Added ".nomedia" folders to the "storage\android\data\com.facebook.orca\files\stickers" and "storage\android\data\com.facebook.pages.app\files\stickers" file locations.
4) Cleared my Facebook Messenger cache and data.
Adding the ".nomedia" folders seems to temporarily work, but somehow they always end up being deleted and the images will make another appearance in my photo storage apps. It seems to happen randomly, as well, as sometimes the "Pusheen" and "Meep" stickers from the Messenger app will appear and other times a bunch of random stickers from the Pages app will appear. The annoyance is compounded by the fact that each sticker is stored in its own individual folder, so when they do reappear there is always at least 30+ new device folders in my photo storage app. So, is there any way to just completely stop the Facebook Messenger and Pages apps from caching these stickers I've literally never used?! Do I have to uninstall the stickers in my Facebook settings somewhere? I don't care what it is, I just want a solution. I have never had this problem until I purchased the OnePlus 6 almost 2 months ago..
Did you switch from iOS?
I get that too, but in the regular gallery app as well. Any cached images from any app shows up, included cached ad videos.
Farcebook
Farcebook and tweaker want to run your life
trsix said:
Farcebook and tweaker want to run your life
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you run knockoff apps like that, you deserve whatever you get. Plus maybe you should get some help. I'm suspicious that you're tweaked out of your mind right now.
Still Happening
I forgot about this thread because it hadn't happened for a while, but today when I went into my Gallery app after taking a photo I noticed it happened again.
I have posted photos of what it looks like, and as you can see it is very annoying. The ".nomedia" folder trick didn't work this time, either. I understand Facebook sucks, but I have been using Android phones since the Note 3 and I've never had this problem before. So, it has to be something with OnePlus's settings... There really should be a way to turn this off. One thing I've noticed this time is that the date in the albums is much earlier than when the pictures actually appear in my Gallery app. I have no idea why that would be the case.
If no one can provide me an answer here, then maybe I'll take it to OnePlus's customer service and they can give me an answer that I can forward to everyone... I doubt it, though, as their customer service is usually pretty awful and I seem to know more about their phones than they do.
You're supposed to create a .nomedia file, not folder.
Ah hah!
Techno-Freak said:
You're supposed to create a .nomedia file, not folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, that makes sense. That's what I did this time, hopefully it'll be a permanent fix.
So if I navigate to a Web page using the Google search bar widget, and I'm writing a message into some random web sites contact page, I'll get like half way through writing some intricate message, and navigate away to go retrieve some needed info, and if I end up entering a new search inquiry into the Google search bar widget, get the needed info, and then return to the page where I was typing the message,
To my dismay, I immediately become extremely irked to discover that page I was on is now gone.
Of course I know how to access the recent pages list and navigate back to that web page, but of course that intricate message I was typing is now gone...
On the other hand, if I was doing the same task completely using the Google Chrome app itself, I am sufficiently aware that navigating away from a page will cause me to lose anything on that page, so I of course make sure to open a new tab and do my search there, and then return to the other tab to complete the text fields successfully.
However when I'm doing this when I have originally accessed the page from the Google search bar widget, and then initiate a new search from the widget, that page then is instantly lost.
Is there any way to enable a history with any text entered into forms saved for a certain period of time?
Or any way to force the Google search bar to initiate the search using the Chrome app in a NEW tab..?
I'm aware of the "open in chrome" option within the Google app, but this issue generally happens when I forget or don't realize I'm in the Google app, and then get totally f*d
This is already a long enough post, but hopefully you can follow my run on sentence structure and understand what I'm trying to ask.
Am I the only one who experiences this issue? Surely not right?
If anyone has a solution to this problem please share
Im super excited to say I think I answered my own question.
Open the Google app. (Not the Chrome app, but the Google app)
Click your account icon bubble(top right)
Click settings
Click general
Locate option "open web pages in the app"
Unselect/disable that option
Now when u initiate a web search with the Google search bar widget, as soon as you Click a link to any website, it will open as a new tab in your default web browser
Update:
Yes this definitely works perfectly, and if youre reading this and your name is Google,
I would highly recommend this be disabled by default..
what would be the reasoning for this being enabled by default?
I've been getting fked by that setting on AT LEAST a weekly basis for YEARS!
Woo hoo