If you are using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge as one of your web browsers, you may not be familiar with something called flags. There's a hidden dedicated page of these flags that gives you access to experimental features not yet released publicly, but are still available to test by the end users. It also gives you access to certain developer tools that have not yet been added to the default interface. By enabling these flags, you get access to new features and tools to enhance and enrich your browsing experience. In this tutorial, we'll learn to access and use these flags on both Chrome and Edge.
In fact, you can use these flags on most web browsers that are powered by the Chromium engine under the hood. You may get a different set of flags at the time of reading, as the new ones keep adding to it.
If you are a casual user with limited browsing activity, these flags may not be of any use to you. Power users who want more out of their web browsers can experiment with these flags to get new features.
What Are "Flags" and Why Use Them?
In simple words, Flags are experimental settings that are hidden by default and are only available in Chromium-based web browsers.
Power users and developers often use these flags to enable the experimental features that are not yet released for general users. Anyone can access them to try out new upcoming features.
Each of these flags can be in one of the following 3 states:
- Default: The web browser automatically decides the feature's current state.
- Enabled: Switches ON the feature.
- Disabled: Switches OFF the feature.
Warning: All the flags are experimental in nature. They can cause your web browser behave erratically. So, use these flags carefully and keep track of the changes you are making.
Here are some of the use cases of these flags.
- Activate hidden or experimental features.
- Some of these flags may boost the browser's performance.
- Opportunity to test new UI changes.
- Enables experimental APIs so that developers can test beforehand.
- Enable you to customize the browser beyond the default settings.
How to Access Chrome and Edge Flags
Because both Chrome and Edge are built on the Chromium engine, the steps to access the flags are almost the same. Still, let's once go through the flags page access process for both browsers.
On Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux)
First, let's see how to access the flags on a desktop for all three popular operating systems.
For Google Chrome:
- Open the Google Chrome browser.
- Now, type
chrome://flagsin the address bar. Finally, hit the Enter key.
For Microsoft Edge:
- Open the Microsoft Edge browser.
- Type
edge://flagsin the address bar. Finish by hitting the Enter key.
You can notice that the flags page for both browsers is almost identical.
On Android
For both mobile browsers, again, the process is the same.
- Chrome: Type
chrome://flagsin the address bar and tap to open. - Edge: Open the address
edge://flagsto get access to the page.
Note: The mobile browsers have fewer flags when compared with their desktop equivalents.
On iOS, you cannot access these flags because both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge use Apple's WebKit engine instead of Chromium.
How to Enable, Disable, or Reset Flags
Modifying flags is not complex. Once you are on the flags page, here's how to modify the desired flags.
- Type in the name of the flag in the search box at the top. The search text need not be the full name. Partial names are also matched.
- From the dropdown menu, select the new status of the flag. Mostly, either Enabled or Disabled is selected.
- Finally, click the Restart button for changes to take effect. If any tabs are in an open state, they're restored upon the browser's restart.
To Reset Flags:
To reset all the flags to their default state, open the flags page and click the Reset all option. Thereafter, click the Relaunch button to apply the changes.
Best Practices Before Tweaking
Here are some of the best practices and guidelines for tweaking these experimental browser flags. Following them can help you keep your data safe while using the new features.
- Make sure your browser is updated to the latest version. Flags keep changing as new versions are released.
- Modify and test one flag at a time and note down the changes you have made. It'll ensure you can pinpoint the flag if anything breaks.
- If you think a feature you are enabling is volatile, use a separate profile or use a developer or beta version of the browser.
- Although flags do not fiddle with your data, taking a backup of your bookmarks and passwords is highly recommended.
Popular and Useful Flags to Try
Let's see some of the flags you can try enabling to experience the features not available by default.
Note: If you are reading this post in the future, the flags mentioned below may not be available as they keep changing. Some of them may get discontinued, while others may make it to the main build and thus be available through the standard interface.
Here are some of the popular ones available at the time of writing this post.
#enable-parallel-downloading- Works On: Desktop and Android
- What It Does: Divides a large download into smaller chunks to speed up the download.
- When to Use: If you regularly download large files from the internet.
#enable-gpu-rasterization- Works On: Desktop
- What It Does: Uses a GPU for rendering the web pages. Significantly improves the performance.
- When to Use: If you regularly browse flashy and heavy websites.
#smooth-scrolling- Works On: Desktop and Android
- What It Does: Makes both mouse-based and keyboard-based scrolling smoother.
- When to Use: If you feel the current scrolling is jerky.
#enable-force-dark- Works On: Desktop and Android
- What It Does: Automatically enforces dark mode for all websites.
- When to Use: If you prefer a dark color scheme while browsing the internet.
#enable-experimental-web-platform-features- Works On: Desktop and Android
- What It Does: Activates Web APIs not yet generally available.
- When to Use: If you are a web developer wanting to try the latest Web APIs.
Sometimes, flag names get changed in subsequent versions. Use partial matches to find these flags.
Troubleshooting Flags Related Issues
Using experimental flags can sometimes create some issues. Although it is rare, you never know. Let's see how to tackle these issues.
Browser Crashing or Won’t Start!
After enabling a flag, if the web browser is crashing frequently or not starting at all, here's how to solve this problem.
Method 1: Start the browser from the command line with the --disable-features=FeatureName switch. It will revert the flag to its previous state.
For example, to disable the parallel downloading flag, start the command prompt and run the following command:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --disable-features=enable-parallel-downloading
Method 2: Go to the user data folder and purge the Local State file. Here are the standard paths to this file on all the platforms.
- Windows:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\ - macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/ - Linux:
~/.config/google-chrome/
After deleting this file, restart the browser and use the Reset all option on the flags page to revert all the flags to their default state.
Conclusion
Browser flags give you early access to the future of Chrome and Edge — from smoother performance and cleaner interfaces to cutting-edge web features.
Treat the flags page like a playground for power users: explore, tweak, and learn — but always one step at a time. And remember, if something breaks, the Reset all button is just a click away. Happy experimenting!
