Why Chrome Is Hiding Full URLs and What It Means for Users

Google has repeatedly removed "www" and the "https://" prefix from Chrome’s address bar, a change that many long‑time users have complained about, yet the company continues its effort to prevent overly long URLs from being displayed.

Now Google plans to hide the entire detailed URL, leaving only the registered domain visible.

An issue on the Chromium source tracker shows engineers proposing to simplify the address bar display: when the user hovers the mouse over the bar, the full URL appears; otherwise, only the domain is shown regardless of the specific page.

In Chrome’s Dev and Canary channels (v85), a new flag called “Multi‑Function Box UI Hide URL Path, Query and Reference” has appeared, which hides everything after the domain. For example, the URL

https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/06/07/lenovo-ideapad-flex-5-chromebook-review/

would be displayed simply as androidpolice.com.

Google explained that showing the full address can make it harder for users to determine whether a site is legitimate.

Hiding the full URL path is already common in current browser versions; Google aims to make its browser more ergonomically friendly.

Safari also hides the full URL path, requiring users to click the address bar to see it. In Chrome 85, users can hover over the address bar to view the complete address.

Google has not publicly announced the release date for the Chrome 85 update.