Hands on Chrome's HTTPS-First Mode

Chrome to ensure your visits to the websites are secure. Going forward, even if you visit an HTTP site, if supported, Chrome loads the HTTPS version of the page, if that’s not possible, it warns before loading the site. Google is currently testing new a security setting for HTTPS-First mode” in Chrome (along with a new neutral HTTPS indicator), here is how you can enable it.

Chrome by default makes all website visits from the address bar to HTTPS. This change was introduced recently in version 90

Google is now bringing an option to control this via an option in Security Settings.

Mozilla Firefox is the first to offer the HTTPS-Mode Setting (not enabled by default), followed by Edge with Automatic HTTPS. Now, Google Chrome is joining the two popular browsers

Enable HTTPS-First Mode in Chrome

Ensure you’re using the latest Chrome Canary build 94

Visit chrome://flags/#https-only-mode-setting
Select Enabled and restar the browser
Click on menu > Settings > Privacy and Security > Security
Under Advanced, Toggle “Always use secure connections” Setting to on.
HTTPS-First mode setting in Chrome

Following the above change, if you type a website URL without HTTP or HTTPS, Chrome retrieves the HTTPS version when available without connecting to HTTP.

Otherwise, Chrome displays an unencrypted page and warns users about that.

While Edge offers two options with default, “switch to HTTPS only on websites that likely to support HTTPS” and other- “Always switch from HTTP to HTTPS”.

Chrome may offer only one setting to enable or disable the feature with the following description:

“Upgrade all navigations to HTTPS and warn you before loading sites that don’t support “.

The flag says the feature will be available for Chrome, on Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, and Android.

In the future, the HTTPS Everywhere extension could be redundant in Chrome if the setting makes all way to the stable channel.

What’s your take on Google improving security in Chrome with HTTPS-First Mode? Let us know in the comments below.