Fog ModeTry the tools ↗Find a tool. See how it works.
Open, close, and stop Fog Mode
- Open a regular website in desktop Chrome. Click Fog Mode in the toolbar or press Alt + Shift + F.
- Choose Declutter, Pause, Sound, or Remember. The gear opens Settings.
- Click the toolbar icon again to close the controls. Your active tools keep running.
Choose Stop all when you want to end page changes, automatic scrolling, sound, timers, and reminders. It also turns off automatic reading and hides attached notes. It keeps your saved notes and preferences.
If a tool that controls your browser interrupts the panel, Fog Mode can show Open in window. Choose it to use a separate control window for the same page.
The floating page button is off by default. To show it, open Settings → Floating button. Use Switch bottom corner to move the button, or Hide button on this site to hide it on one website.
On the page, Escape undoes reading changes when you aren’t typing in a form or editor. In the controls, Escape closes the panel.
Declutter an article
- Open an article, then choose Declutter → Read article.
- Read the article’s text, headings, and links in article view. Use its reading controls to set your pace.
- Choose Back to page, or reopen Declutter and choose Close reading view.
Article view leaves out images and other media built into the page. It needs enough article text to work with. A feed, dashboard, video page, or paywalled article may not have enough. It doesn’t remove individual ads or sidebars from every website, and it doesn’t get past a paywall.
Change text size and spacing
Open Declutter. Adjust Text size from 85% to 150%. Turn on Roomier text to add space between words, lines, and paragraphs.
Tab buttons on a website keep their original text size. Compact sections, or sections that cut text off, may keep their original spacing. Text may not change if a website draws it like a picture, or shows it in a box that holds another page. Fog Mode doesn’t currently offer a choice of fonts or a dyslexia font.
Choose Reset in Declutter to undo the reading changes. If a work app looks wrong, leave that website alone.
Use the red reading guide
- Choose Declutter → Reading guide.
- Choose Adjust. Set Height between 32 and 240 pixels to show more or fewer lines.
- Set Dim surrounding page between 0% and 60%.
- Move the guide with your pointer. Turn on Lock position to keep it still, or move it with Alt + ↑ / ↓.
The guide works as a reading ruler on the page. Turn it off before watching a video if it covers something you want to see.
Reduce webpage motion
Turn on Declutter → Reduce motion. Fog Mode shortens page animations and transitions, such as fading and sliding effects.
Reduce motion doesn’t stop video playback, every animated image, or movement that a website’s own code controls. Use the website’s own playback controls when you need to stop that movement.
Settings → Still interface is a separate choice. It keeps Fog Mode’s breathing circle still and also follows your computer’s reduced-motion setting.
Auto-scroll webpages in Chrome
- Open Declutter on the page you want to scroll.
- Under Scroll this page, choose Slow, Medium, Fast, or Very fast.
- Choose Start. Choose Pause to stop scrolling.
Scrolling manually or interacting with the page pauses automatic scrolling. Escape can also stop it when you aren’t typing in a text box. Clean article view has a separate scrolling pace.
Some feeds and work apps scroll inside their own panels or load content as you move. Scrolling may step or stop on those pages. If it jitters, pause it and leave the website alone while you report the problem.
Save a reading setup
In Declutter → Saved setups, choose Browse, Read, or My setup.
- Browse: original text size, normal spacing, guide off, reduced motion on.
- Read: 115% text, roomier spacing, guide on, reduced motion on.
- My setup: your saved combination. Adjust the tools, then choose Save as My setup or Update My setup.
There’s one custom setup. Use previous settings restores your reading choices after you turn reading tools off. Optional website access lets those choices apply as you move from page to page. Fog Mode still skips websites you’ve left alone.
Cover the page for a screen break
- Choose Pause → Screen break.
- Choose 1, 2, 5, or 10 minutes, then Start screen break.
- Use Pause break, Resume break, or End break on the cover.
The break covers the webpage. It doesn’t lock your computer. If you hide it, choose Show break screen in Pause to bring it back.
Sound has its own timer. Ending the break doesn’t stop sound that’s still playing. Use Stop sound or Stop all if you want silence.
Follow a breathing guide
Choose Pause → Breathe, select 1, 2, 5, or 10 minutes, then choose Begin breathing.
Under Adjust the pace, choose a 3–6 second inhale and a 3–8 second exhale. There are no breath holds. Turn on Settings → Still interface if you prefer a still circle.
Stop if you feel dizzy, panicky, breathless, or in pain. Choose a screen break instead.
After a session, you can choose Easier, About the same, or Harder. This saves your answer on your device and doesn’t score you.
Set a focus timer or a screen break reminder
Open Settings → Open focus sessions and reminders.
- Focus session: choose 5, 10, 15, or 25 minutes, then Begin focus session. Pause, resume, or end it when you need to.
- Remind me to pause: choose an interval of 15, 30, 45, 60, or 90 minutes.
- Later postpones a due reminder. Off today or Pause reminders for today pauses reminders for the day.
- Desktop notifications: optional, silent, and off by default. You can say no when Chrome asks to show notifications.
A reminder shows as a small mark in the toolbar. It doesn’t automatically cover the page. A screen break starts only when you choose it.
Recent sessions appear here too. Fog Mode keeps up to 100 past sessions and shows the latest 12. Choose Clear session history to remove them.
Play noise, binaural beats, or a plain tone
- Open Sound. Choose a sound and set a low, comfortable volume. The volume control runs from 0% to 50%.
- Choose Auto-stop after 2, 5, 15, or 30 minutes.
- Choose Play sound. Use Stop sound to end it sooner.
Choose brown, pink, or white noise; a 5 Hz beat with pink noise; 4, 16, or 40 Hz binaural beats; or a plain 174, 432, or 528 Hz tone. Plain tones aren’t binaural beats. Use stereo headphones for binaural beats.
Fog Mode makes all ten sounds on your device, without streaming. Sound can keep playing after you close the controls or go to another page.
Keep a note beside the page
- Open Remember and write in Note. You can use up to 1,200 characters.
- Open Title and page link if you want an optional title or a saved page.
- Leave Show on this tab checked to attach the note, then choose Save note.
Use Saved notes to edit, delete, show, or hide a note. Choose New note to start another. Fog Mode keeps up to 100 notes.
The attached note sits in the bottom-right corner. You can minimize, reopen, or hide it. You can’t drag it around the page. Hide it before watching a video or sharing your screen if it covers content or contains something private. Optional website access lets the note stay on screen as you move between pages in that tab.
Saved notes survive a Chrome restart. Tab attachments and unsaved drafts aren’t a permanent backup.
Save and pick up where you left off
- In Remember → Title and page link, check Save this page and my reading position, then save the note. Or choose Save page position.
- You can also right-click the page or selected article text and choose Hold my place in Fog Mode.
- Find the saved note and choose Return to page.
If you choose Return to page from another web address, a new tab opens. If website access is on, Fog Mode restores your saved position after the page loads and applies your reading setup. Without website access, click Fog Mode in the new tab, then press Return. On a changed page, your saved position may be approximate.
Fog Mode saves a page when you ask it to. Fog Mode doesn’t automatically save your browsing history or text from forms and editors.
Choose which websites Fog Mode can change
You can click the toolbar icon on each website for temporary access. For tools that keep working as you move between pages, open Settings → Enable page tools and review Chrome’s permission request. You can decline it and still click the toolbar icon when needed.
If a website looks wrong, open Declutter → Help & this website → Leave this website alone. To reverse that choice, open Settings → Websites left alone → Allow again.
Turn off website access removes Fog Mode’s optional website access. Chrome also has its own site-access controls. Fog Mode has limits on protected pages, the Chrome Web Store, boxes that hold another page, some PDF viewers, and text a website draws like a picture. See where page tools work.
Export, import, or delete your data
Open Settings → Your data.
- Export my data: save a backup file.
- Import a backup: select a Fog Mode backup and review the confirmation. Importing replaces your saved data, so export first if you want to keep it.
- Delete all my data: remove the extension’s saved data. Delete downloaded backup files separately if you no longer want them.
Notes, saved page details, preferences, and session history stay in this Chrome profile. Fog Mode doesn’t encrypt them. There’s no account, and Fog Mode doesn’t copy your data to the cloud. Keep passwords and private records out of Fog Mode.
Export before uninstalling. Removing Fog Mode deletes its saved data. Reinstalling can’t recover those notes without a backup.
Keyboard shortcuts
- Open or close the controls
- Alt + Shift + F
- Undo reading changes on the page
- Escape, outside a form or editor.
- Move the reading guide
- Alt + ↑ / ↓
If another app or Chrome already uses the shortcut that opens the controls, type chrome://extensions/shortcuts into Chrome’s address bar and choose another key combination. Escape won’t override an editor’s own controls.