Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and also for Android, where it is the default browser. The browser is also the main component of ChromeOS, where it serves as the platform for web applications.
Most of Chrome's source code comes from Google's free and open-source software project Chromium, but Chrome is licensed as proprietary freeware. WebKit was the original rendering engine, but Google eventually forked it to create the Blink engine; all Chrome variants except iOS used Blink as of 2017.
As of April 2024, StatCounter estimates that Chrome has a 65% worldwide browser market share (after peaking at 72.38% in November 2018) on personal computers (PC), is most used on tablets (having surpassed Safari), and is also dominant on smartphones. With a market share of 65% across all platforms combined, Chrome is the most used web browser in the world today.
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt was previously involved in the "browser wars", a part of U.S. corporate history, and opposed the expansion of the company into such a new area. However, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page spearheaded a software demonstration that pushed Schmidt into making Chrome a core business priority, which resulted in commercial success. Because of the proliferation of Chrome, Google has expanded the "Chrome" brand name to other products. These include not just ChromeOS but also Chromecast, Chromebook, Chromebit, Chromebox, and Chromebase.
Chrome is the most popular web browser worldwide as of mid-2017, made by the tech company Google. It's available for most operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux and on multiple platforms such as the desktop, phones, and tablets.
Chrome boasts a minimalistic UI and was the first browser to feature “tabs” above the address bar, a convention that was later implemented in other browsers. Other popular features include things such as Incognito mode, tab sandboxing, and a Web Store with extensions and themes.
Although Chrome is not open source, the majority of the source code is available under the Chromium moniker.