Chrome is rolling out an update for Android users that will let them lock their incognito sessions with a passcode or biometric information when they exit the app. The feature has been available to iOS users for some time now, but is now being made available to people using Chrome on Android.
Users can activate this feature by going to Chrome Settings > Privacy and Security and turn on the “Lock Incognito Tabs When You Close Chrome” switch. So the next time a user exits Chrome, the incognito session will automatically be locked. To unlock the incognito tabs, you can use the biometric unlock on the phone, such as a fingerprint unlock or lock code.
Image Credits: Chrome
This feature works well when searching for a topic that you don’t want to appear in your recommendations or history.
Since Google has just started rolling out the feature, the update may not be available to you even if you’re running the latest version. In that case, you can type “chrome://flags/#incognito-reauthentication-for-android” and enable the flag to unlock the feature immediately.
As part of a wider update, Google said it’s also updating its Safety Checkup feature to send users more personalized recommendations about permissions they’ve shared with specific sites. For example, if a site sends too many notifications, Security Checkup prompts you to change the notification access settings.
Image Credits: Google