Incognito mode in Chrome for Android can now be password protected

Today, January 27, developers from Google released a fresh update to the Chrome browser for the Android operating system, which implements the ability to block sessions in Incognito mode using a password or user biometric data when exiting the application. It is worth noting that a similar feature was already implemented in the Chrome browser on the iOS operating system some time ago, but only now Google has decided to release it for users of its own mobile operating system.

To activate this feature, the user needs to go to the Chrome browser settings item, then open the “Privacy and security” tab, and then activate the “Lock tabs in incognito mode when Chrome closes” switch. After the user activates this feature, the next time they log out of Chrome, the current Incognito session will be automatically locked. And in order to unlock previously launched tabs in this mode, you will need to use a password, or biometric unlocking of the device.

The innovation is extremely useful in those scenarios when the user is exploring or looking for information that they do not want to be displayed in the browsing history or recommendations in the future. At the same time, no one will be able to access what the user was viewing in Incognito mode if the owner of the device forgot to close the tabs, and the gadget fell into the hands of third parties. However, it is worth noting right away that at the moment, Google has just started rolling out this feature, so even users of the latest version of the Chrome browser may not have it. If you do not want to wait, just go to chrome://flags/#incognito-reauthentication-for-android and activate the instant unlock feature flag.