Summary
Chrome is one of the most resource-intensive consumer apps and the most-used desktop browser in the world. Two things can be true at the same time. But when I say “resource-intensive,” I don’t just mean its high memory consumption, even though that’s what it’s infamous for. A lot of people don’t know Chrome runs in the background even after you’ve closed the app. And it’s no secret that background processes put a lot of workload on system resources, which can drain the battery much faster. My laptop’s battery isn’t exactly in the best shape, so I take every chance I get to boost its runtime, even for a couple of minutes. Chrome doesn’t actually quit when you close it One setting keeps it alive, and it’s on by default You might assume that clicking the X button on Chrome means Chrome has completely stopped running. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that’s not the case. Chrome has a setting that lets it keep working even when no Chrome window is open, and it’s on by default. Some extensions need to perform background tasks, and Chrome can keep them running so they’re ready to work without requiring you to have the browser open. For example, a Chrome extension might need to send notifications or synchronize information. Keeping Chrome running lets those processes keep working instead of shutting down every time you close the browser. Turning the setting off gave me some battery boost My laptop finally caught a break My laptop is five years old, so of course, its battery health isn’t in great condition. Under normal use, I can get anywhere from two to three hours on a full charge, but realistically, it’s usually closer to two hours and a couple of minutes. That’s why I was stoked when I started getting closer to three hours more consistently after stopping Chrome and some other processes from running in the background. I made the Chrome change through Settings → System and toggled off Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed. You can also type chrome://settings/system in the address bar to go directly to the System page. Obviously, I didn’t suddenly transform my old laptop into an all-day machine. Also, the battery improvement may vary, so yours might be different from mine. My laptop’s battery health, the apps I run, screen brightness, power mode, Wi-Fi usage, and plenty of other factors affect how long it lasts. Someone with a newer laptop and a healthy battery might barely notice a difference. For me, though, my battery already struggled to last long, so even a small boost matters. What you actually give up is pretty minor Background notifications and sync, and not much else The only downside to stopping Chrome from working in the background is that anything that depends on Chrome running in the background won’t continue working after you close the browser. Yeah, that’s it. It can include notifications and background activity from Chrome extensions. If you’ve installed something that needs to stay active even when Chrome is closed, disabling the feature can prevent it from doing so. To be fair, that’s not really a trade-off if you ask me. Not many people actually need web extensions to run all the time. Besides, I don’t even want Chrome to keep doing things when I’ve deliberately closed it. Like, what’s the point of closing it if it’s just gonna keep working behind my back? The same principle applies to every other application I stopped from running in the background. There’s almost no reason Chrome should be running when I’m not using it Chrome is still my browser of choice, and I’m not pretending that turning off background activity suddenly fixes all of its resource usage. But if I’m not using Chrome, I don’t see much benefit in letting it continue consuming resources in the background. The extra battery life means more to me than getting background notifications from a browser I’ve already closed. And since my laptop’s battery is already in a not-so-great shape, I’ll take every bit of additional time I can get. Again, your results may differ, but if you’re dealing with poor battery life, checking which apps are allowed to run in the background is a simple place to start. You might find that some apps don’t need to run in the background after you close them.