Chrome on Android adds approximate location sharing for websites

Google has added a new location choice in Chrome on Android, letting users share an approximate location with websites instead of precise coordinates. The company said the option is meant for situations where rough location is enough, such as local weather and news, while exact location still remains available for uses that depend on it, including navigation, delivery orders and finding the closest ATM.

The change matters because Chrome already sits in the middle of a location-sharing chain. By default, Chrome asks before a site can use location, then sends information to Google Location Services to estimate where the user is before passing that information along. The new option narrows what the website receives, but it does not remove the browser from that process or eliminate the need for users to make a choice when a site asks for access.

Android Authority said it spotted the new toggle in Chrome for Android version 142.0.7444.171, and that the option appeared for contributor Zachary Kew-Denniss while others on the team could not see it, pointing to an A/B test before the wider release. The same reporting noted that Android has long offered two accuracy levels at the system level, with approximate location covering roughly a three-square-kilometer radius and precise location giving exact coordinates.

Google said it plans to expand approximate location sharing to desktop in the coming months and to release new APIs that would let web developers request approximate location or indicate when precise location is necessary. That makes this a practical privacy upgrade, especially for everyday tasks that do not require a home address-level pinpoint, but it also leaves the broader location-sharing model intact. Sites can still ask for exact coordinates when they have a real technical need, and the browser will still mediate those requests through the same permission flow.