1. Google Chrome App On Macbook

Jul 05, 2017 RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Google Chrome's Profile Switcher. To back up your profile(s), copy the Default profile folder and any numbered Profile folders in the UserData folder on Windows, the Chrome folder on Mac OS X El Capitan, or the google-chrome folder in Linux to an external hard drive or a cloud service. The Google Analytics app helps you monitor your websites on your Mac. Google Analytics for Mac. Chrome for Mac No ratings yet. Mar 16, 2019 Google introduced this feature for Mac users in version 73. So, update your browser on Mac to use this desktop shortcut feature. It works exactly like Windows version, however on Mac you can’t add the shortcut in desktop. You can only add the shortcut as an app and access through “chrome://apps” or from the “Apps” bookmark. Open any web browser, type “ google.com/chrome ” into the address bar, and then press the Enter button. Now, click Download Chrome for Mac Save File OK. Open your Downloads folder and double-click the “googlechrome.dmg” file. In the pop-up window, click and drag the Google Chrome icon into the Applications folder directly below it.

Google Chrome is the king of web browsers but if you’re here it’s probably because the king has gone a bit insane. Is Chrome running slow, crashing, freezing, or not even loading? Are web pages not loading anymore? Is your browser experience getting slower every day?

If you’re experiencing any of those Chrome problems, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to show you how to troubleshoot and resolve common Chrome problems that make you feel like Google hates Macs.

Some fixes will be easier than others but none require advanced knowledge.

If you’re ready to fix Chrome, let’s begin!

Is it your Mac or Chrome that is slow?

Google Chrome App On Macbook

Chrome isn’t an independent entity, it’s a part of a whole Mac system. So before you deal with Chrome, make sure the problem isn’t in your macOS. A quick example — the outdated system caches causing your Chrome plugins to crash. Or is your Mac gasping for free space?

A clever path is to give your macOS a good cleanup, first. We like CleanMyMac X app for this purpose as it finds and cleans all redundant & conflicting files across all your folders. So, take 2 minutes to tidy up your Mac with CleanMyMac X, and let’s move further.

CleanMyMac is available for a free download here — this app is notarized by Apple, so no worries.

Common Chrome problems on Mac (and their fixes)

Mac battery draining fast

Chrome is known for its fast performance, which it gets by using your Mac’s CPU more than other browsers. But more CPU usage means more battery drain. If you use your laptop on the go, this can become a huge issue. What good is performance if your battery is completely drained and you can’t turn on your Mac?

If Mac battery life is important to you, then there’s a simple trick that should be a big help. Often there is a tab or an extension that is hogging your resources and burning through your battery life by itself.

Follow these steps to find the offending site or extension:

1. Open Chrome and choose Window in the top menu.
2. Click on Task Manager.
3. In Task Manager, click the Memory Footprint column to sort them.

Now you can determine what sites and extensions use up the most memory in Chrome. You can still visit one of these sites but maybe don’t leave it open in a tab anymore. Also, remember that even sites that aren’t memory hogs can still be a battery drain if you have a lot of tabs open.

Close resource-hungry and unnecessary tabs and the time you get from a battery charge should start to improve.

Chrome is running slow

Does Chrome on your Mac feel like browsing through a swamp? If browser responsiveness is slowing, it’s time to drain the swamp.

Why is Google Chrome so slow? We mentioned earlier that Chrome is resource-heavy, especially on your CPU. Chrome is fast when your Mac has the resources available, but when they are limited, and Chrome is demanding more than your Mac can give – swamp time.

The tip from the previous section will help a lot, but if you’re still experiencing slowness, there are other fixes you can turn to.

Let’s start by focusing on the cache. Chrome loves storing lots of your web browsing data. At first, it can help speed things along, but soon Chrome’s pockets are being weighed down by cache, particularly if your Mac is low on space or memory.

To manually delete your Chrome cache on Mac:

1. Open Chrome and choose Chrome in the top menu.
2. Select Clear Browsing Data.
3. Check the history, cache, cookies, and other types of browser data that you want to delete.
4. Click 'Clear data.'

Again, there’s another method for clearing out your cache, cookies, browser history, autofill form data, and a whole lot more. You can use the free version of CleanMyMac X. There’s surely no easier way to manage not just the cache that’s slowing down Chrome, but also your privacy and security — if these things are important to you (they should be).

To delete Chrome cache and other browsing data with CleanMyMac X:

1. Download the free edition of CleanMyMac X and launch the app.
2. Go to the Privacy tab and select Chrome.
3. Select what you want to clean.

Or you can even use CleanMyMac X’s System Junk cleanup tool that not only removes Chrome cache files but also gets rid of “temporary” files that clog up your system. So, hopefully, your browser will get a bit snappier.

Сhrome using significant energy on Mac

“Chrome using significant energy” may be a sign of general memory overload on your computer. Try opening your Activity Monitor and check off a few memory consumers.

1. Open the Launchpad and type in Activity Monitor in the search bar.
2. Now, sort by Energy and use the [x] button to quit a process.

Disable background synchronization

There’s another setting that may help you out. Sadly, it’s buried too deep in Chrome’s Preferences but according to many users, it should greatly reduce energy consumption by Chrome.

1. Open Chrome and go to Settings.
2. Select Privacy and security > Site Settings.
3. Scroll down and click “Background sync.”
4. Use the slider to disable the background sync.

What does it do? It stops the websites from communicating with your Mac (even after you’ve left that site). Was it enabled by default is a different question.

Chrome keeps freezing

Your browser is not just slow as a snail but keeps freezing? A spinning circle appears for a while? This is ordinary trouble with web browsers after continued use. And it may relate to the problem with the browser cache.

We've already told you how to remove the Chrome cache, so just go to the previous section and choose the way that works best for you: manual or easy one. Hopefully, this will help you to get rid of the spinning beach ball and fix the freezing issue.

Other ideas to try:

• Close all tabs
• Restore settings (Settings > Advanced > Reset settings)
• Log out from all your Google accounts and log in back again.
• Try browsing in an incognito window and see if that helps.
  
• Reinstall Chrome from scratch

Some services, like Dropbox, Alfred, and notably, Google Drive are constantly self-updating in the background. As in the previous step, you can use Activity Monitor and force-quit these processes.

Google Chrome is not responding

However, if your browser is not responding at all and you can't open the menu to clear the cache, browsing history, or delete extensions, try to force quit Chrome and then launch it again.

There are a few possible ways to force quit Google Chrome. Here is our comprehensive guide 'How to force quit Mac applications' that offers five different ways to deal with unresponsive apps. Pick your favorite one.

There are is a number of background plugins operating invisibly on every Mac. They could be various helpers, updaters, and everything else that supports the main application. For example, Chrome itself has an updater app that constantly communicates with the server. So, once again, go to your Activity Monitor and scan through your open processes. Try quitting anything Google-related there.

Another idea to try is to free up your RAM (random access memory) in the Terminal. This should unfreeze your Chrome, at least temporarily.

1. Open your Terminal app (you can find it via the Launchpad search).
2. Now, paste in sudo purge into the Terminal window.
3. Hit Enter

See if Chrome is feeling better now.

Google Chrome keeps crashing

Chrome freezing is one thing but crashing? That’s a much bigger issue as it’s a sign that something is broken. But what do we do with things that are broken around here? We fix them!

Probably the most common cause of crashes is a byproduct of one of Chrome’s strengths – its constant stream of exciting extensions. They make our browser experience more enjoyable and productive, but occasionally one of these extensions will be corrupted or introduce a bug that causes Chrome to crash.

Here’s what you should do to find a problematic Chrome extension.

1. Update your browser

Make sure Chrome is updated to the latest version. A new update could very well include the fix that will stop Chrome crashing.

2. Run a Safety check

The latest version of Google Chrome has a feature called Safety check. Go to Chrome Settings and select “Safety check” from the menu on the left. Press “Check now.” The browser will run a quick check to determine whether Google Chrome is up-to-date and protected from threats.

3. Turn off browser extensions

If that didn’t work or everything was already up-to-date, you can manually turn off your extensions and turn them back on, one at a time. This way, if the crashing goes away until a certain extension is turned back on – that’s when you’ve probably found the problem.

To manually disable and remove Chrome extensions:

• Open Chrome and go to Window > Extensions.
• Disable a few extensions or click Remove to completely delete them.
• Relaunch Chrome.

Spend some time using Chrome without extensions and then slowly turn each one back on until your crashing returns. When you think you have the culprit, simply click the Trash can next to that extension in Settings > Extensions.

An even easier way to manage your extensions is with CleanMyMac X. You get more control over all your extensions, even those from other browsers, and disabling and removing them is as easy as can be.

To disable Chrome extensions the simple way:

• Click on the Extensions tab in CleanMyMac.
• Click on Chrome Extensions and disable as you like.

Chrome won’t open

Here’s the list of hacks you can try if you want to repair Chrome. When Chrome won’t open, the easiest is to restart your Mac. But that could be a bit disruptive. So here you are, some alternatives:

• Press and hold Command + Q — this will quit Chrome.
• Press Option + Command + Esc — opens a Force Quit pane.
• Uninstall Chrome and download it again.

If that doesn’t help, there’s a possibility that the problem is Google folder permissions.

Web pages not loading in Chrome

“Aw snap!”

This is Chrome’s custom message for when a web page fails to load. If you get this cheeky little message or any other loading error, chances are you’re going to fail to see the funny side.

The reasons for Chrome not loading pages can be wide-ranging and hard to pinpoint, but we’ve collected a checklist of fixes for you to work through.

• Check your internet connection.
• Update Chrome.
• Restart your Mac.
• Remove Chrome extensions (for steps see 'Google Chrome keeps crashing' section).
• Disable or relaunch hardware acceleration

Hardware acceleration is supposed to speed up your Chrome at the cost of your Mac's hardware resources. But quite often this feature crashes things.
Hardware acceleration is found here:
Chrome > Settings > Advanced > System

If you’re still unable to load web pages, a reset or reinstall of Chrome may be needed. We cover that very fix in the next section.

Chrome update failed

Chrome won’t update? Some users have experienced the frustration of Chrome refusing to update on a Mac. The first step would just be patience, but if days have passed and you’re still not getting anywhere, a reset or reinstall of Chrome may be in order.

To reset Chrome manually:

• Launch Chrome and go to Preferences
• Scroll to the bottom and click on Advanced Settings.
• Scroll to the bottom and click on Reset Settings.
• Read the pop-up and Reset.
• Relaunch Chrome and try to update.

Note: Resetting Chrome will not remove your bookmarks, history, and saved passwords. A manual reset can be a bit scary, but as a workaround, you can use CleanMyMac X to reset Chrome without losing any data.

Reset Chrome with CleanMyMac X's free tool:

• Open CleanMyMac X
• Go to Uninstaller tab and find Google Chrome in the list
• Click Application Reset in the dropdown menu next to the Chrome icon.

If the browser is still not updating, download the latest installation file from the web and reinstall Chrome.

More tips to troubleshoot Chrome

Your Chrome browser should now be running great, but wait; there’s more! To improve your future browsing experience we’re sharing some of our favorite Chrome settings. Try these out and fall in love with Chrome even more.

Enable Prefetch

Want your web pages to load even faster? Go to Settings > Privacy and security. Here, select 'Cookies and other site data.' Toggle on 'Preload pages for faster browsing and searching.' This enables 'page prefetch' and makes Google Chrome load pages faster. Now the system will store the page and automatically load it the next time you visit the website.

Use shortcuts in Chrome browser

You’d be amazed at how much faster you can surf the web and get things done by learning just a few key shortcuts.

For example:

Command + t = new tab
Command + h = hide Chrome
Command + r = reload web page

Find the full list of commands at the official Google Chrome Support page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my Chrome keep freezing?

Usually, this is caused be caused by outdated browser caches. Open Chrome’s Preferences to delete recent browser data.

Why does Chrome use so much memory?

Chrome is in a constant back and forth with Google’s servers to process your data. You can help it by optimizing memory usage on your Mac. Use the Mac tune-up app, CleanMyMac X, to free up RAM and you disable heavy memory consumers.

How can I speed up my browsing experience?

As a first step, try removing all the unnecessary extensions in Chrome. Also, try to not use more than 2 memory-heavy services, like DropBox or Google Drive at a time.

That’s it. Hopefully, these fixes have made your web surfing better than it’s ever been. It just goes to show that even drastic problems like Chrome crashing can be solved with a little know-how and helpful apps like CleanMyMac X.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

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macOS loaded Mac.

Why on Earth would someone what to run Android apps when they probably have an iPhone or iPad? Well, there are still a lot of people who haven’t embraced iOS, and Android just happens to be the most popular mobile operating system on the planet. Perhaps you’re interested in seeing what the other side has to offer, or maybe you’re a developer who wants to dabble in both iOS and Android. Some people may want to be able to play Android games on their Macs or PCs, just because they’re plugged in and have “infinite” battery life. Whatever the reason, you can run Android apps on your MacBook-turned-Chromebook or on the Mac itself. However, you may not want to for some very good reasons that I’ll divulge further on in this post.

Running Android Apps on a Chromebook or the Chrome Web Browser on Mac or PC

To run Android apps on your former-Mac-turned-Chromebook or in the Chrome Web Browser on Mac or PC, you need to turn to ARC Welder. No, this doesn’t mean that you’re going to be putting on a welding mask and firing up a generator to power your arc welder. The acronym ARC stands for App Runtime for Chrome, and it provides a way for developers or Android-curious folks to run one Android app at a time in either the Chrome OS or Chrome Web Browser.

With Chrome Browser or Chrome OS installed, click this link to view ARC Welder in the Chrome Web Store. Click the Add to Chrome button, at which time a dialog appears asking whether you wish to Add Arc Welder. Click Add App, and ARC Welder is downloaded and installed as part of the Chrome environment on your Mac. Finally, click Launch App to fire up ARC Welder.

ARC Welder in the Chrome Web Store

In Chrome OS, you’re now free to take APK files (Android apps) and ARC Welder converts them into Chrome apps for “testing”. Did I mention that ARC Welder is a developer tool? It is…

ARC Welder, attempting (unsuccessfully) to convert and run the Geocaching app.

For Macs or PCs running Chrome Browser, ARC Welder displays a dialog helpfully reminding you that you’re using ARC Welder on a non-Chrome OS device. It will also ask you to select a directory (folder) on your Mac or PC where it can write files to the computer’s filesystem. Once you’ve selected that folder, ARC Welder asks you to “Add your APK” — in other words, give it the Android app file so it can be converted to a Chrome app and run on your computer. You’ll be asked to provide a device orientation (portrait or landscape) and type (phone or tablet).

Sep 05, 2019  By default, your Mac will open it with TextEdit, Apple’s built-in simple text-editing app. To change that, Ctrl+click the file in question, then click Get Info. This will bring up a new window. Feb 05, 2020  How to change the default Mac app for specific file types. Right-click on a file that uses the file type you'd like to change the default for. For example, one with a.jpg extension (a photo). Click on Get Info in the pop-up. Click Open With if the section isn't already expanded. Click the dropdown and choose an app.

So, where do you get those APK files? Well, normally you’d get them from Google Play or another Android app store. However, at least with Chrome Web Browser, you can’t download those files directly to the Mac — instead, they want to be installed on an Android device. What you’ll need to do — and I don’t recommend it — is to get APK-Downloader. Why do I not recommend this? You need to have a Device ID for your Android device…and what if you don’t have an Android device? It’s a no-go situation. In order to get the device ID for my “Android” device in order to try this, I actually had to run a Device ID app in an emulator (see below) then paste that ID into APK-Downloader. Even after that, it wouldn’t run on Chrome Browser, only on actual Chrome OS on my “Frankentosh”.

Alternatively, and much more dangerous from a security standpoint, there are sites of questionable background that have APK files available for download. We don’t accept any responsibility for any issues that may occur if you use one of these sites to download free apps. I also suggest that you do your own searches for APK files as we will not recommend any of these sites.

Running Android Apps on a Mac in an Emulator

In addition to running Android apps on a Mac-turned-Chromebook or in the Chrome Web Browser, there’s actually a way to run a pseudo-Android device on your Mac. BlueStacks 2 is a free Android emulator that runs on macOS and Windows, so no matter what kind of personal computer you have, you can try out Android apps. To run Android apps (.apk files) on your Mac:

• Download the BlueStacks 2 app
• Find the BlueStacks 2 .dmg (disk image) file and double-click it to begin the install. Follow the instructions to install and start the app

Pretty simple, right? Well, maybe not. While testing BlueStacks 2 for this article, my fast 4 GHz i7 27-inch 5K Retina iMac encountered no less than three kernel panics. In case you’re not familiar with a kernel panic, it’s not the type of thing you want to see on a regular basis. Your Mac locks up completely and you’re usually greeted with a screen that looks something like this:

To recover, I had to do the first thing listed on this message; press and hold the power button until the iMac shut down, then press it again to power back up.

What did I finally have to do to get BlueStacks 2 running properly? Shut down every other app on my Mac. So take that as a big caveat; you may have to devote your Mac strictly to running the emulator and nothing else.

One other tip: since BlueStacks 2 is an Android emulator and you’ll be pulling down your apps from Google Play (the Android equivalent to the iOS App Store), you will need to have a Google account. At one point during the login process, you’ll be asked to give permission to back up data to your Google account and get emails from the Google Play Store. I said no, since I personally don’t have as much trust in Google’s definition of “personal privacy” as I do in Apple’s, and I don’t need more junk email. You’ll also get an email from Google telling you that your account signed into a Samsung Galaxy S5. I take no responsibility for any embarrassment caused to you when your friends see that.

Google Play Store running in BlueStacks emulator

You’ll also notice that a lot of the apps that are in Google Play are also in the iOS App Store. Take that into advisement before treading into the world of Android.

Finally, BlueStacks 2 isn’t really all that great an emulator in my personal opinion. Considering that my iMac can run Windows 10 at top speed under either Boot Camp or another emulator like Parallels or VMWare Fusion, having an Android emulator that causes severe Mac crashes and runs at a sedate speed isn’t that much of an accomplishment.

An Android App running on BlueStacks 2 on a Mac

A Better Idea – Just Buy A Cheap Android Tablet

If you really want to run Android apps, ignore all of my advice and instruction here and just buy an Android tablet, many of which are inexpensive. You can try out those few apps that might not be available for iOS and get it out of your system. I leave finding a really cheap but functional Android tablet as an exercise for the reader. Me? I’m sticking with iOS.

Related Reading: See why OWC drives and docks are the perfect Chromebook companion

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