Browse as a guest

You can share your Chromebook with friends and family, even if they don't have Google Accounts. By using the guest browsing feature, you can let them borrow your Chromebook and keep your own account information safe and secure.

How guest browsing works

Guest browsing can be useful for times when you need to quickly browse the web in private, because your browsing data is cleared once you exit the browsing session. You can start a guest browsing session from the main sign-in screen by clicking Browse as Guest from the launcher. If you don't see this option, that means guest browsing is not enabled on your Chromebook.

When browsing as a guest, you can surf the web and download files as normal. Once you're done browsing, click the status area and select Exit guest (or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Q) to end your guest session. All the browsing information from the session will be deleted from the Chromebook, but websites you visited may still have records of your visit.

Enable or disable guest browsing

Guest browsing is enabled by default. If you are the owner of the Chromebook, you can turn this feature on or off:

1. Sign in to the Chromebook with the account that has been designated as the owner.
2. Click the status area in the lower-right corner, where your account picture appears.
3. Select Settings and find the "Users" section.
4. Click Manage other users.
5. Use the "Enable guest browsing" checkbox to control the feature.

Using a Chromebook at work or school? Your network administrator might disable guest browsing, in which case you won't be able to use this feature. Learn about using a managed Chromebook

Next steps

• If you have owner permissions, you can control who gets to use your Chromebook.
• Learn more about owner permissions.