Chrome shortens links you share with friends

Google has quietly added a new feature to Chrome for Android. Starting with v64, Chrome for Android has the ability to shorten URLs you share with friends. Now you can share a clean link without any unnecessary tracking information.

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There are many messaging apps available nowadays and all of them provide us with ample opportunity to share URLs with our friends and family. Unfortunately, these links to websites and web pages often have extraneous information attached to the end.

Removing fluff from URL

Starting with Chrome 64 on Android, Google is trying to help remove this extraneous information from URLs. As Android Police first discovered, Google Chrome now automatically removes the fluff at the end of a link, turning a long URL into a much shorter URL shortener.

This works when using the menu » Share» in chrome. Which you can open by clicking on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the Google mobile browser. This works whether you copy the link or want to share it directly with another app.

Potentially useful feature

It’s not the biggest or best feature in the world, but for those who regularly share links with their friends, it’s potentially useful. Unfortunately, since it can remove anchor tags or referral tags, this can also be annoying. But it’s better to be able to.

Are you using Chrome for Android? If so, how often do you share the URLs you find while browsing? Have you noticed that Chrome shortens links this way? Or is it too minor a feature for you to pay attention to? Please let us know in the comments below!

Image Credit: Marco Verch via Flickr