Starting this year, Google Chrome testing a feature to by default load the encrypted version of a website as that will do two important things. The first one is the speed to access the site will increase and the second one is one can access the secure version of the website at first.
While so far, we don’t when this feature will arrive in the Chrome, a recent Chromium Blog Google revealed Chrome 90 will access the HTTPS version of website by default. That means as soon as you type the striped version of a website address (say example.com) in Chrome’s Omnibox it directly accesses the encrypted that is the HTTPS version of the site (https://example.com) at first.
Earlier, the same was not the case, because if users feed the striped down version of a website address in the Omnibox, the browser give them the unencrypted version of the website because by default the browser has configured to access the HTTP version at first. However, if the user feed the encrypted address, the browser will give them the encrypted one.
Chrome HTTPS at First decreases the time to access the Website
A significant number of websites these days have secured their website’s address with the HTTPS protocol and has configured their website to redirect the HTTP request to the HTTPS one. However, this redirection increases some time to access the website. The upcoming update also overcomes this issue as the browser will directly access the HTTPS version at first, even though the user feed the HTTP version of the site.
Now, one question might arise in your mind, what will happen if a site is unencrypted? Well, if a website is unencrypted that means using the unsecured http protocol then, the browser first visits the HTTPS version of the website and then after not getting the HTTPS version it will fall back to the HTTP version.
Why Google Chrome is opening the website by default in HTTPS?
The HTTPS aka Hypertext Transfer Protocol secure is an extension of HTTP. The protocol is used to secure the communication over the websites. This protocol helps the user to protect their data they are feeding on a website from the interceptors and eavesdroppers. It also saves the user from Man-in-the-Middle attack. Hence, turning on the Chrome to by default access the HTTPS version of a website will not just increase the speed to access the website but will also saves user from the Man-in-the-middle kind of attacks.
The blog post says, Initially the feature is rolling out to Chrome 90 for Desktop and Android only but soon will roll out to the Chrome for iOS.