1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Guides

How to send webpages from Google Chrome to your Android phone

By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world, and there’s a high chance it’s your browser of choice on both your PC and your phone. But what do you do if you want to send links between your phone and your computer? Here’s our guide on how to send webpages from Google Chrome on your desktop to your Android device, and then back again. Now you’ll be able to pick up right where you left off, no matter what device you’re using.

Before we start, you’re going to need Google Chrome installed on both your PC and your smartphone. Head over to the Chrome download page on the web, and the Chrome for Android page on the Google Play Store if you haven’t already. Download both of these, and sign in to your Google account.

Recommended Videos

Using Google’s inbuilt syncing options

Google unfortunately shut down the Send to Mobile Chrome extension a few years ago, and there’s no native support to send a single page across platforms, even if both devices are running Google Chrome. But that doesn’t mean all is lost. Tucked away inside the Settings options are a couple of little tools that should help you out.

First of all, make sure that your devices are synced to your Google account. On the PC, hit the three vertical dots in the top right, then click Settings to open your settings menu. From there, tap Sync to open your sync settings. On an Android device you’ll open your Chrome settings the same way, but once you’re in the options menu, tap your Google account’s name, then hit Sync on the next menu to access the sync options.

From the sync options you can change your synchronization settings however you like, so if you don’t want your passwords to be remembered between devices, then just untick Sync all and untick Passwords. For now, have everything ticked with the Sync all button, and you can change whatever you like later.

Using recent pages

So you’re in the middle of reading a very interesting article — perhaps on a certain tech website — but suddenly you have to drop everything and zoom out of the house to get to an appointment. Now you’re sat in a waiting room bored, wishing you could quickly refind that article on your phone.

Thankfully, you can. On your Android device, open Chrome, then tap the three dots in the top-right corner. Then hit Recent tabs to get a list of the last tabs open, listed under each device. Just tap the page you want, and you’re away. If you’ve chosen to keep your history synced, then you can also access your full history from here too, making it even easier to get back to whatever you were up to before. Keep in mind it won’t track Incognito Mode. 

The other way around is just as simple. To access a page you’ve had open on your Android device, again click the three dots in the top-right corner of Chrome. Then navigate down the menu to History and scroll down until you find the listing for your Android device. Keep in mind that the history title may be marked with the device’s model number, so it may not be immediately recognizable.

Using your bookmarks

It’s probably been a while since you bookmarked anything. The venerable bookmark seemed to be all the rage when the internet was fresh and new, but now it seems that we all collectively use about five different websites, making the idea of bookmarks something we sometimes remember to do, rather than being a necessity. But they’re still fantastically useful when you need to quickly swap between devices.

To make sure this works, you’ll need to have your bookmarks synced between devices. If you left your sync settings set to Sync all then you’re fine, but if you turned off Bookmarks then you’ll need to be sure to go back and flip that back on.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

To bookmark a specific site on the PC, you can either click the star to the right of the address bar, or press Ctrl+D. A pop-up will ask you to choose a bookmark folder, but then hit Done and you’re finished. To then access that bookmark on your Android device, open your Chrome browser, then — you guessed it — tap the three dots in the right-corner. Hit Bookmarks, then select the folder you placed the bookmark in earlier, and tap your bookmark to open it up.

If you’re doing this the other way around, hit the three dots in the top-right, then tap the little star icon at the top of the menu. Then go back to your computer, hit the three dots in the top-right, then navigate to Bookmarks > Mobile bookmarks, then find your site in the list. The Android version of Chrome saves bookmarks to Mobile bookmarks by default, but you can move bookmarks in Android by tapping the (now blue) star in Chrome to edit or remove it.

Sending pages with third-party apps

Chrome’s inbuilt options work well for people who don’t need to use the service often, but if you’re constantly changing between devices and need something a little more powerful, then something a little more heavy-duty might serve you better. We’ve covered a bunch of the best read-it later apps that can work for this, but we’re also going to highlight how you can use Pushbullet to share links between devices.

Pushbullet is a service that delivers notifications and shares links between a Chrome extension and an Android app, and it’s extremely good if you want to reply to text messages on your computer or be immediately alerted to phone notifications on your PC. For this guide, we’re just going to focus on the sharing feature, which shares links between your devices.

To use it, you’ll need to download the Pushbullet Chrome extension and the Android app so that both devices can talk to each other. Then sign up to Pushbullet — you can do so with your Google account to save time.

Setting Pushbullet up

Installing the Chrome extension is easy, and as long as you’ve signed up and signed in the Pushbullet website, the extension should log you in without much issue.

Setting up the Android app is a little bit more intensive, and requires allowing the app access to a couple of permissions on your phone. Don’t worry, it’s safe and the app needs those permissions to send you certain types of notifications. Following the setup instructions shouldn’t be too time-consuming and should have you up and running in no time.

Using Pushbullet

Once you’re set up, it’s time to send your first link. From the page you want to send, hit the Pushbullet icon in the top-right corner of Chrome on your desktop — it should be a little white bullet with a green background. From there, you’ll be able to hit the send arrow to fire off your link. Your link will then appear in the chat-style stream, and you’ll receive a notification on your phone that you’ve received a link.

Pushbullet is set up to send to all linked devices by default, but you can change that by clicking the little bubble marked All Devices and selecting a specific device.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sending a link from your phone to your PC is a similar process. Open the page you want to send, tap the three dots in the top right, and then hit Share. Select the Pushbullet icon from the sharing options given to you — you may need to scroll through the list. Once the Pushbullet popup has opened, tap either the Chrome icon or the All Devices icon to send to everything. If you have a Chrome window already open then the page will automatically open — otherwise you can access the link through your Pushbullet extension at a later date.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Jansen
Contributor
Mark Jansen is an avid follower of everything that beeps, bloops, or makes pretty lights. He has a degree in Ancient &…
When is my phone getting Android 14? Here’s everything we know

Android 14 is out now, and as usual, the first to get it was Google's own Pixel phone family. Not to be undone, Samsung pushed out its version of Android 14 — One UI 6 — after a relatively short beta period and has seemingly now completed its Android 14 rollout. Nothing, the new phone company on the block, has done the same. Now, we're just waiting for more news from Motorola, who has become the stick in the mud holding everyone up.

If you're rocking an Android phone that is still stuck on an old build, here's everything we know about official Android 14 rollout plans for all major brands available in the U.S. market. We recommend using your device's Find on page function to pinpoint your device on this list.

Read more
iPhone not holding charge? How to replace an iPhone battery

When smartphones were in their infancy, battery packs were easy to replace. Most products let users open a flap on the back of the device to easily remove the battery, giving them a quick way to ditch a dead battery and install a new one. Fast forward to 2024, and that's a rarity. Replacing batteries is much more difficult today than it was a decade ago, and that's especially true for all iPhone models.

Whether you're working with the new iPhone 15 or an old iPhone 12, you can't just run out to the store and snag a new battery for your smartphone. Instead, you'll need to contact Apple directly or go through elaborate workarounds to install the battery yourself.

Read more
The 10 best apps for a second phone number in 2024

Having a second phone number can be handy for a variety of reasons. Perhaps you want to separate your business and personal calls, or you want a junk second number that you can use to sign up for services so you can avoid giving out your personal number to so many places. That's particularly importance with the frequency of annoying spam calls and messages that can pile up when your phone number is made public. You might also want a second number to use in situations where you want to be able to contact people occasionally but you don't necessarily want them to be able to reach your personal device directly, like when internet dating or using an app like AirBnB. Whatever the reason, there are many situations where having a number that you can give out which you can make use of but isn't directly tied to your personal life like your main phone number is can be important for safety and security.

While you could get a second SIM card (or even an eSIM), an easier option for casual use is to use an app that lets you set up a second phone line. Whether you're after an Android app or an iPhone app, you'll find plenty of options to get a second phone line, including some which are free to use. We've hunted down some of the best options for apps that will give you a second phone number for whatever reason you need it, and we're sharing them with you below.
Vyke

Read more