Chrome flags are experimental browser settings hidden at chrome://flags. They can unlock features before they become regular settings, but they can also change, disappear, or cause instability, so use them deliberately and keep track of what you change.
Does this affect you?
Use this for Google Chrome on Windows, Mac, or Chromebook. Similar flags pages exist in Microsoft Edge and other Chromium-based browsers, but the exact flags may differ.
Find and enable a flag
The flags page is searchable, so you do not need to scroll through every experiment.
- Click the Chrome address bar.
- Type chrome://flags and press Enter.
- Read the warning at the top of the page. Flags are unfinished features and can break or vanish at any time.
- Use the Search flags field to search by name or keyword, such as tab, memory, GPU, or reader.
- Open the dropdown beside the flag and choose Enabled.
- Click Relaunch when Chrome shows the restart bar. Chrome restarts and restores your open tabs.
Turn off a flag or reset everything back to default
Use this when Chrome behaves strangely after a flag change, or when you do not remember which experiment you enabled.
- Return to chrome://flags.
- Search for the flag you changed.
- Set its dropdown back to Default to undo only that item.
- To undo every flag at once, click Reset all near the top of the page.
- Click Relaunch so Chrome restarts with the new flag state.
- Check whether the problem is gone.
More control
Flags are temporary by design
An experiment may later become a normal Chrome feature, in which case the flag can disappear. It may also be removed if Google drops the test. Losing a flag after an update is expected behavior, not necessarily a broken profile.
Know which flags are riskier
Visual interface experiments are usually easy to undo. Flags that affect security, networking, GPU rendering, graphics acceleration, or low-level performance can cause crashes, blank pages, slowdowns, or connection problems. If trouble starts after one of those changes, reset flags first.
Try Chrome Canary for regular experiments
If you like testing early browser changes often, install Chrome Canary separately from your normal Chrome. It is designed for experimental builds and keeps risky testing away from your everyday profile.
Flags reset separately from Chrome settings
Chrome Settings > Reset settings does not reset chrome://flags. Use the Reset all button on the flags page when you need to return experiments to default.
Sources
- Google Chrome Help – Turn on experimental features (2025)
- Chromium Project – About chrome flags (2025)
- Google Chrome Help – Fix a webpage that will not load (2025)