[Tip] Disable Website Icons Display in Address bar Suggestions Drop-Down List in Chrome on Android

If you recently upgraded Chrome app in your mobile phone to latest version, you might have noticed the new favicons display feature in address bar suggestions drop-down list.

Newer versions of Google Chrome browser on Android mobile phones, now display website icons or small images in front of the URLs in search suggestions drop-down box when the user taps inside the address bar to move the focus.

Following screenshot shows the new favicons display feature in Chrome address bar:

In older versions of Chrome, no website icon was shown in address bar suggestions list. Chrome used to show only webpage title and URL in the drop-down list. Many users may not like this new addition.

If you want to restore previous functionality and want to disable or remove new website icons display feature in Chrome address bar, this tutorial will help you.

With the help of this tutorial, you’ll be able to prevent website icons display in Chrome’s address bar suggestions drop-down list. Following screenshot shows suggestions drop-down list without any website icons shown in Chrome’s address bar:

Fortunately, Google Chrome team has provided a hidden preference/flag to enable/disable website icons display in address bar suggestions list.

Following steps will help you in restoring classic functionality and turning off website icons display in URL suggestions drop-down list in Chrome’s address bar on Android mobile phones:

1. Open Chrome and type chrome://flags in address bar and tap on Go. It’ll open Chrome Experiments page where you can turn on/off several features.

2. Now type rich in Search flags box and it’ll show following result:

3. Tap on the “Default” drop-down box and select “Disabled” option from the list.

4. Chrome will ask you to restart the browser. Click on “Relaunch Now” button to relaunch Google Chrome.

That’s it. Now try to tap on address bar in Chrome and website icons will no longer display in suggestions drop-down list.

PS: In future, if you decide to restore the website icons display feature in address bar in Chrome, set the above mentioned preference to Default again.

Also Check:

[Tip] Restore Old Classic Long Press Context Menu in Chrome on Android

[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret “Developer Options” Menu in Chrome Settings in Mobile Phones

[Tip] Activate Hidden Secret Tab Switcher UIs in Chrome on Android

[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret “Chrome Duet” Bottom Toolbar in Chrome on Android