Install a user agent switcher on Chrome (and derivatives) - Random User Agent

In this guide, you'll learn how to install Random User Agent on Chrome (and derivatives), an add-on to periodically change your browser's user agent and make it harder for trackers to fingerprint you.

Last modified
8th October 2021
Guide level
Guide Browser
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Guide Device

When you access a website, your browser sends a string called the User Agent containing your browser's name, operating system, and other technical metadata of your device. Unfortunately, this metadata is often abused by trackers to build a fingerprint of your system and uniquely identify you throughout the web. To limit the efficiency of fingerprinting you can install a random agent switcher which periodically changes your browser's user agent, making it harder to uniquely identify you.

Warning: Using an agent switcher may cause some pages to display incorrectly or not at all. To prevent this behaviour, we show how to disable the extension in such cases.

Installation

Like any other add-on, install Random User Agent by visiting the Chrome Web Store and clicking on Add to Chrome (Fig. 1) and then clicking on Add extension when prompted (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1: Download Random User Agent
Fig. 2: Add Random User Agent to Chrome

Upon successful installation a notification appears on the top-right corner, and the Random User Agent icon is added to your toolbar (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Notification of successful installation

To check you currently assigned user-agent, click the icon (Fig. 4). If you stumble on a page which breaks when you have Random User Agent enabled, you can either disable it for that domain, clicking on Enabled on this domain, or pause the switcher temporarily, clicking on Pause Switcher.

Fig. 4: Random User Agent pop-up interface

Random User Agent is configured by default to change the user agent every 10 minutes, although you can configure this in the settings (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5: Random User Agent settings page

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