TECHWEEK
A programmer with the nickname matan h has discovered a secret browser that is hidden deep in the Google account settings in the Android operating system. It is not easy to get to it, but the browser is quite working, although it still cannot be called full-fledged. And the most interesting thing is that it is confidential and bypasses parental controls.
How to find Google’s secret browser on Android?
The first thing to do is go to system settings and go to the “Google” section. Next, select “Google Account Management” and go to the “Security” tab. There, scroll down to “Password Manager”, click on the gear and select “Set up encryption on the device.” At the bottom there will be a “Learn more about device encryption” link, clicking on which actually launches the Secret Browser. However, it does not have a search bar, so to use the search, you need to go to google.com. To do this, you will need to perform the following steps:
- click on the hamburger menu (three bars in the upper left corner) and select “Privacy Policy”;
- click on the Google services menu (nine dots in the upper right corner), wait until it loads and select “Search”;
- sign out of your Google account;
- you can use the secret browser, open links and go to any sites.
The advantages of this browser include its privacy. It has no history and automatically logs out of all Google accounts at the end of the session. There are more cons. Firstly, there is no search bar here, so before you go to the site, you need to run a Google search. Secondly, the back button or gesture returns you to the password manager, although some may consider this an additional privacy step.
matan h also states that the browser has one weird JavaScript thing. This makes it unsafe. He contacted Google and reported his find. The company responded that this is not a vulnerability, but “intended behavior.”
