Microsoft plans to share browser history with Windows 10 services

A new sync item has appeared in the profile settings of the Edge browser.

In Edge Canary, there is now a new toggle called “Share browsing data with other Windows features”

According to the description Microsoft plans to use data such as your search history, regularly visited sites and tabs to improve things such as Windows Search, with Microsoft saying:

Share browsing data with other Windows features
When turned on, Microsoft Edge will connect local browsing data from this profile with the rest of Windows. Turning this feature on will help you find information from your history, favorites, top sites and recent tabs more easily using features such as Windows search box. If you turn off this feature Microsoft Edge will remove the data shared with Windows on the device and stop sharing any new browsing data from this profile.

It is interesting that the toggle is only showing up now, as I would have thought the Windows 10 Timeline feature would already be using such data from Edge. The worrying bit of course is that Microsoft uses Windows Search as only one example of how they could use your browsing data, and we could think of a number of others, such as personalized ads in your apps or the Windows user interface.

What do our readers think of this development? Let us know below.

Screenshot and story via Techdows