How to create and use profiles in Google Chrome on Mac

Find out how to add a second, third, or more profiles to Google Chrome on your Mac to keep your internet accounts, browsing history, bookmarks, and everything else separate.

Why I use Chrome profiles

Chrome is my default web browser on Mac, and I have created these profiles:

• iDB: Signed in to my work email, and I use this profile for all office work.
• Personal Work: This is where I work on my main personal project.
• Shopping: I have signed in to Amazon and other such sites here. I have also installed a couple of price-tracking extensions here.
• Sensitive work: I usually access PayPal and my internet banking in Safari. But certain features, like my credit card points redemption site, don’t work properly in Safari for me. When that happens, I use this Chrome profile. I don’t use any extensions here, and I clear all browser data after every use.
• Other profiles: I also have a few different profiles for the remaining projects.

Having so many different profiles gives me the flexibility to:

• Log in to my different Google, YouTube, WordPress, social media, and other internet accounts.
• Have different quick website Shortcuts on the browser start page.
• See relevant bookmarks instead of everything. For example, bookmarks for image-compression sites are only visible in my work profile, not in my shopping profile.
• Apply separate themes/looks to my browser.
• Use different extensions or none at all.
• Customize each profile separately in a way that’s tailored to my different work and projects.
• Not feel hesitant before clearing browser data. When loading issues affect one or a few websites, the only way to fix them is by clearing the history and other browser data. One major downside to this is that it logs out of every account, and logging back in is a pain. Having different profiles and clearing the history of just one doesn’t affect the others.
• Save passwords separately.

I have been using multiple profiles in Chrome for several years now. And when Apple added this feature to Safari in macOS Sonoma, I instantly created several profiles there as well (I have my parents, siblings, and my wife’s email accounts logged in to different Safari profiles).

Add a new profile to Google Chrome on Mac

1) Open Chrome on your Mac.

2) Click Profiles > Add Profile from the top menu bar. Or, click the three dots menu button in the top right corner, select your current profile name, and click Add New Profile.

3) You can now set up your new Chrome Profile by signing in to your Google account. Or, if you don’t want to use a Google account for this profile, just click the “Stay signed out” button.

4) Now, give this profile a name, select a theme color, and click Done.

Repeat the above steps to add more profiles as needed.

Switch between your profiles

Once you have at least two browser profiles, click Profiles in the top menu bar and select the other one.

See or hide the profile selector when you open Chrome

Chrome lets you select a particular Chrome profile on every launch.

Or, if it adds friction, you can also hide the selector screen. Here are the steps for both:

• Open Google Chrome, and if the selector is shown, uncheck the “Show on startup” option.

• In case the browser is already open, click the three dots menu button in the top right, and select your current profile name, followed by Manage Chrome Profiles. Then, check or uncheck the “Show on startup” option.

Use different profiles at the same time

You can open multiple Google Chrome profiles in separate browser windows and use them simultaneously. Just remember that certain features like Chrome’s Split Screen only work when you have two websites open in the same profile.

Customize your profile

Open Chrome and make sure you’re in the profile you want to customize. Then, click Profiles > Edit from the top menu bar to change the name, theme color, and avatar.

Delete a profile

If you don’t need to keep a profile, open the profile selector screen (three dots menu > profile > Manage Chrome Profile). Click the three dots icon for the profile you want to remove, then select Delete.

Use the guest profile in Google Chrome

Guest profile in Chrome is fundamentally similar to the guest account mode in macOS.

What you visit in Chrome’s guest profile is not saved to your browser history. And once you close guest mode, it removes cookies and traces of other local browsing data from your computer. However, unlike macOS Guest mode, files you download in Chrome Guest mode are not auto-deleted and remain saved in your Mac’s Finder (or Windows PC’s File Explorer).

Activate guest profile in Chrome by clicking the three dots menu icon, hovering the pointer over the current profile name, and selecting Open Guest Profile.

Also, check out:

• How to transition from Chrome to Safari the right way on Mac
• How to export Apple iCloud passwords to Chrome, Edge, or Firefox

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/03/09/use-google-chrome-profiles/