Safe Browsing is the part of Chrome that shows a red Dangerous site warning, or a “Did you mean” message, before you open a page that may steal your passwords or install harmful software. It is on by default. If you just saw one of these warnings, the safest thing to do is go back and not visit the site. Google’s advice in Manage warnings about unsafe sites is simple: “If you see this warning, we recommend that you don’t visit the site.”
What Safe Browsing protects you from
Google says Safe Browsing warns you about malware, abusive sites and extensions, phishing, malicious and intrusive ads, and social engineering attacks. Phishing and social engineering sites are pages built to trick you into doing something dangerous, such as typing your password or personal details into a fake copy of a real site.
Google crawls and analyzes the web to find harmful sites and adds them to its lists. Each time you visit a website or try a download, Chrome checks with Safe Browsing. How much information that check sends to Google depends on your protection level, Standard (the default) or Enhanced. Our Enhanced vs Standard protection guide compares the two.
What each warning means
- Dangerous site. A red page you may see when the site is on Google’s list of phishing, malware, unwanted software or social engineering sites.
- Did you mean [site name]? Chrome thinks the address may be for a different site than the one you expected. It can also say “Is this the right site?” or “Fake site ahead.” Google says you get it when the site looks similar to a safe site you usually visit, uses an address slightly changed from a known safe site, or has an address slightly different from one in your history.
- A blocked download. Safe Browsing also checks files you download. Turning Safe Browsing off turns these download warnings off too.
- Change your password. If you enter a saved password on a page that turns out to be phishing, Google says Chrome asks you to check or change your password. If that happens, follow our steps for a password warning.
If you think the warning is wrong
For a “Did you mean” warning on a site you trust, Google says you can select Yes, continue. For a red Dangerous site page, you can select Details and then Visit this unsafe site. Google says visiting a page that shows a warning isn’t recommended unless you understand the risks. Make sure the address is exactly right before you type anything into the page.
To keep a file Chrome blocked, Google’s steps on a computer are: select More (the three dots), then Downloads, find the file, select More next to it and choose Download dangerous file. Again, this is not recommended.
If you own the site or software that was flagged, Google points site owners to request a review after fixing the problem, and software publishers to its guidance on resolving malware issues with downloads.
Check that Safe Browsing is on
- On a computer, open Chrome and select More, then Settings.
- Select Privacy and security, then Security, or paste
chrome://settings/securityinto the address bar. - Under “Safe Browsing”, make sure Standard protection or Enhanced protection is selected, not No protection.
On Android, iPhone and iPad the setting is under More, Settings, Privacy and security, Safe Browsing. On a work or school device, your administrator may have set this for you, and then you can’t change it yourself.
Seen a phishing page with no warning?
Standard protection warns about sites Google has already identified as dangerous, so a brand-new phishing page may not show a warning yet. You can send it to Google yourself. Our guide on how to report a phishing site shows how.