Chrome is updating its security icon with a new design that’s meant to better reflect user control

Google is abandoning its long-held tradition of using a padlock security icon and replacing it with a toggle and slider circle in ChromeOS Canary 114 in LaCrOS, as first noticed by C2 Productions on Twitter. I believe the new “Security Icon” is designed to better reflect a user’s control over their own privacy and data.

This is a critical element of the Chrome browser, indicating whether the connection between the browser and the website is secure. The icon, displayed in the address bar of the browser, also lets users view a site’s certificate, make changes to notifications, change cookies and site data, and generally view more information about the website a la Knowledge Graph.

In my opinion, the new design of the Security Icon is intended to be cleaner and more visually appealing, both of which it achieves. However, the traditional padlock icon has long been associated with safety and security and screams “Hey, you’re safe!”

Over the last year or two, I forget exactly when, Google changed the padlock from green for a secure connection to a standard grey color – another step that took the magic out of the protective barrier users had emotionally and psychologically. While the new icon looks nice and is perhaps more up-to-date with iconography used over the past decade in popular software, I don’t know that it necessarily needed to be changed and may lead to less clarity for more people. Ultimately, it’s just one less way for users to have confidence in their privacy, despite Google’s good intentions. Let me know what you think in the comments, but like it or not, this is sure to roll out to you all in due time when the change hits the Stable channel.