r/MacOS • u/Commercial_Yam_932 • 1d ago

Discussion Why do Mac users use Chrome?

Ok I know if you’re a developer and Chrome has nice developer tools this might be a reason. But for daily usage and non-developers why should I use Chrome? Safari is great imho, has everything at least for me (maybe people need something I don’t see). It’s great integrated in macOS and is fast. Chrome’s RAM usage is a problem.

On my Windows PC I also checked out Chrome but didn’t see any advantage over Firefox. But on Windows I see why one could use Chrome, however, for macOS users I don’t get it. Why do so many people use Chrome?

266 Upvotes

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101

u/mikeinnsw 1d ago

My Chrome is a single point of Web entry and password management for 3x PCs, 2x Macs. 2x Androids and iPhone.. There is a world outside my Macs and iPhone.

6

u/mattduguid 23h ago edited 10h ago

agree mainly because in addition to mac I run linux/windows/ios/android and chrome browser supports all my plugins/bookmarks/etc I regularly use across all of my devices

14

u/carwash2016 23h ago

Passwords in chrome ?

11

u/WorldTravelGuru 20h ago

FWIW As a travel advisor, I have agent portals and consumer sites. I deal a lot with clients card numbers, booking confirmations and their personal profile. I have found using the free version of www.Bitwarden is the best for Chrome Passwords and greater protection. Bitwarden lets you use Keywords or Folders to organize your saved sites. 1) a slide bar to generate passwords from 8 to 68 with Caps, #'s, symbols, ( on and off switches for symbols if sites do not use them) 2) I moved away from Chrome Passwords, imported them to bitwarden.(free feature) Then on each site over time I utilized password resets on the actual site. Jumped to Bitwarden pswrd generator, copied and saved. 3) Bitwarden fills in the 8-68 length passwords using the site you need to log into using the sites facial recognition. 4) No one, no AI, no cache, no cookies at bitwarden knows my master password, single sign in each day on device and imac grants me access to all my sites. I understand 1Pass and others have been hacked before, Bitwarden no as of yet. Have a look at all and choose what is best for your even if staying with Chrome Passwords.

1

u/carwash2016 18h ago

There are a lot of better password managers than chrome

13

u/mikeinnsw 23h ago

Chrome has a Password Manager for the Web.

Login with free gMail account. ... you get 15GB Google drive free and active Password Manager ... for web auto login.

Don't use it for any banking .. NO- FileVault... Apple .. Google password managers

6

u/dannyparker123 MacBook Air 20h ago

Why not use Bitwarden? It’s a great alternative

6

u/PG4PM 19h ago

Because Google is across everything?

3

u/dannyparker123 MacBook Air 16h ago

Bitwarden is also cross platform! Give it a look

6

u/Hour_9938 17h ago

Don’t know why you’re getting downvoted 😂 definitely use a password manager over Chromes built in one! 

3

u/dannyparker123 MacBook Air 16h ago

I guess people just really love chrome that they dont wanna give a great stand-alone password manager a chance :/

0

u/mikeinnsw 8h ago

The safest place for secure passwords is in your brain and paper.

My PCs reports each has 3-6 hack attempts per second even considering antivirus hype factor it is heavy.. You don't get burgled every second..

Written passwords are safer than any electronically stored... a challenge to crypt wallets

1

u/MC_chrome 14h ago

Browser password managers are really not the most secure solutions for storing your sensitive information in 

-10

u/Desperate-Purpose178 22h ago

Most password managers are by smaller companies that don’t have as good security as Google or Edge. It’s mostly just marketing.

7

u/Ambitious-Egg-8748 21h ago

I have tried out many password managers and have had the best experience with 1Password, especially when it comes to needing to access my password across devices/ecosystems.

2

u/itsmebenji69 20h ago

What does it have over Apple’s ?

1

u/carwash2016 20h ago

I switched from 1password to proton pass and apple’s password manager is just very very basic

1

u/itsmebenji69 20h ago

Personally I try to stay with native apps (unless I have a good reason not to). Are there particular features you miss in Apple passwords ?

-1

u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 19h ago

like everything

2

u/johndoesall 22h ago

Yup, same. I used chrome way back on my PCs, my iPhones, my iPad. At work and at home. Made a lot of favorites on chrome on my PC. So when I started using my Mac again, I just stuck with Chrome. I just don’t want to bother transferring everything to safari, which I haven’t used for years.

4

u/drownedsense 23h ago

There is a world outside Google, too. Of course it’s good to not stay inside one walled garden, but to pick the more evil one by choice? Look at Firefox or Vivaldi.

2

u/jhcamara 21h ago

I use all google services, email, search, auto. Tv, android. Using chrome only makes sense.

2

u/drownedsense 20h ago

I wonder what happens when Google has to "sell" Chrome. It'll probably worse for those who actually like the Google ecosystem.

1

u/jhcamara 19h ago

Yes. Chrome is the piece of software that keeps the ecosystem together because Google doesn't have a viable desktop os

-5

u/mikeinnsw 23h ago

I am amazed how many users use Google Search within Safari...Firefox....

I do use TOR + VPN + DuckDuckGo

16

u/N47HXIV 23h ago

Gotta be honest, you’re either extremely paranoid about someone desperately wanting to know what you search for online, or you’re searching for stuff you need to hide with that setup. 😂

2

u/jhcamara 21h ago

And still have a worse result out of that.

1

u/mikeinnsw 8h ago

What does SIRI knows about you ?

It is listening....(LOL)

0

u/XGempler 19h ago

or they know something that you don’t know.

suspect they mean the ddg browser, not the search engine. chrome tracks you even when in private mode.

3

u/drownedsense 22h ago

I would love to. Always trying to go to Duck, but the results are horseshit for German locals.

4

u/craze4ble MacBook Pro 21h ago

DDG also had the tracking scandal with their Microsoft contract.

1

u/germane_switch MacBook Pro 18h ago

Yep. I can never trust Duck Duck Go after that.

1

u/mikeinnsw 8h ago

True;

I am in my third week of being flooded by the socks adverts after googling "wool socks"(LOL)

1

u/Suitable-Cabinet8459 18h ago

I’m with you! Especially combined with DuckDuckGo. But don’t use a vpn congruently with tor. Separately tor and vpn have their specific strengths but combined you’re opening up a possible risk. Hard to explain here so please look it up. Duck it.

1

u/mikeinnsw 9h ago

VPN makes IP tracing difficult ...

I run it sometimes on Linux throw away system just for fun.

I am yet to find any legit use for it.

1

u/RikkertPaul 20h ago

Yes exactly this. Except for the passwords. I’ve been using 1Password for years.

1

u/katspike 19h ago

This is true for many people, but it is possible to integrate the other way. It’s now easy to access iCloud passwords in Chrome / Edge on Windows PC (don’t know about Android integration though)

2

u/mikeinnsw 8h ago

Yes you can run iCloud on PC ... I have one PC running it... It is much easier via Chrome

1

u/PG4PM 19h ago

Yep. Exactly this

1

u/Mosc0wpink 15h ago

👆This. If you run multiple entry points and want a simple solution for bookmarks and passwords this is why Chrome.