You're reading something on your iPhone's Chrome app, open the share menu to send it to your computer, and either the option isn't there at all, or you tap it and the page never shows up on your PC. This feature is genuinely useful, but it depends on a handful of conditions being met behind the scenes. Here's how to work through the causes one by one, along with a fallback for when it just won't cooperate.
Chrome's "Send to your devices" is built entirely on top of Chrome Sync. Before anything else, three conditions all have to be true at once:
If even one of these is missing, you'll either not see the option in the menu at all, or you'll send successfully but the page never arrives. Start by checking whether your setup actually satisfies all three.
This is by far the most common cause: the phone you're sending from and the PC you're sending to are signed into different Google accounts. Maybe you're using your personal account on your phone but a work account on your PC, or you juggle multiple Google accounts and only have sync turned on for one of them.
Fix: On both your phone and PC, tap or click the profile icon in the top corner of Chrome and check that the signed-in email address is identical on both. If they don't match, sign in again with the same account on whichever device is off.
Being signed in and having sync enabled are two separate settings, and it's easy to assume one implies the other. If sync itself is off, "Send to your devices" won't work no matter what account you're signed into.
Fix: Open Chrome's settings and check "Sync and Google services" (on iPhone, this lives inside the Chrome app's settings menu). Turn sync on if it's off, and confirm that "open tabs" is included in what's being synced. On managed accounts issued by a company or school, IT administrators sometimes disable sync entirely through policy — if that's the case, there's nothing to fix on your end.
Sending can succeed on your end while the page still doesn't show up right away, simply because the receiving PC is asleep or Chrome isn't running there. Delivery usually happens the moment Chrome comes back online, which can feel like the feature "didn't work" when really it just hasn't caught up yet.
Fix: Open Chrome on the receiving PC, make sure it's connected to the internet, and give it a few minutes. If the page still isn't showing, click the profile icon in Chrome and open "tabs from other devices" to check whether the sent page is listed there directly.
Company-issued laptops often block or restrict signing into a personal Google account, as a matter of IT policy. In that case, the PC's Chrome simply can't meet the sign-in requirement that "Send to your devices" depends on — it's a structural limitation, not a settings issue you can work around. If nothing you try fixes it, a locked-down account policy is a likely explanation.
"Send to your devices" only exists inside Google Chrome's menus. If you're reading a page in Safari, Firefox, Edge, or any other browser on your iPhone, that browser's share sheet simply won't have this option. To send a page you found in Safari, you'll need to reopen it in the Chrome app first.
If you don't have the Chrome app installed, or you mostly browse in Safari, this limitation rules the feature out fairly quickly.
Sometimes the send genuinely succeeds and the only problem is that you never saw a notification about it. If Chrome notifications are disabled at the OS level, or a focus/do-not-disturb mode is suppressing them, delivery can complete silently.
Fix: Click the profile icon in Chrome and open "tabs from other devices" to check directly whether the page arrived, rather than relying on a notification to tell you.
On a work computer that blocks personal account sign-in, or a shared family PC where you'd rather not switch accounts, meeting the prerequisites above may not be realistic at all. Here's how the main alternatives stack up, with account requirements front and center.
| Method | Google account needed | Works on locked-down PCs | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emailing yourself | No (work email is fine) | Yes | A bit repetitive |
| Apps like Pushbullet | Usually needs its own account | Can be hard to set up | Some initial setup |
| QR Send | No (just scan a QR code) | Yes | Low (one-time only) |
QR Send skips the Google account sync that "Send to your devices" depends on entirely — pairing happens by scanning a QR code shown by the Chrome extension on your PC. That makes it work in places where signing into an account simply isn't practical, including work or shared computers. To be upfront about the trade-off, it doesn't have anything like Chrome's "tabs from other devices" list for reviewing send history — it's a straightforward, one-URL-at-a-time tool, nothing more.
When Chrome's "Send to your devices" isn't working, the cause almost always comes down to one of four things: mismatched accounts, sync turned off, the receiving device being offline, or an environment where signing in isn't possible at all. Start by checking your sign-in and sync status on both devices, then check whether the receiving PC is online and whether notifications are actually reaching you. On a work computer where personal accounts aren't an option, it's more practical to reach for a tool that doesn't depend on this feature in the first place.
For a step-by-step walkthrough of sending URLs with no account required, see the full QR Send setup guide. If you're specifically looking for something to replace Pushbullet, our comparison of Pushbullet alternatives covers five options side by side.
A. In most cases, either you're not signed into a Google account or sync is turned off. Check both from the profile icon. If it's still missing after confirming both are correct, try updating the Chrome app — an outdated version can also be the cause.
A. The receiving PC's Chrome likely isn't running, or isn't connected to the internet. Open Chrome on the PC, get it online, wait a few minutes, and then check "tabs from other devices."
A. If your employer's policy blocks personal Google account sign-in, there's no technical workaround for that. It's more practical to use an alternative that doesn't depend on a personal account, such as emailing yourself or using QR Send.
A. Yes. Regardless of OS, "Send to your devices" works the same way underneath, requiring a Google account sign-in and sync. Everything covered here applies equally on Android and iPad.