In an official blog, Google has announced something that will make the incognito tabs on its Chrome browser a bit more secure from everyone’s prying eyes. Apparently, Google is rolling out a feature to let Galaxy and other Android phone users unlock Google Chrome incognito tabs using their fingerprint.
Even though Google owns Android, the feature has been available for iOS since early 2021. According to 9To5Google, the feature simply requires you to unlock the Google Chrome incognito tab with your fingerprint after reopening the browser on your Android phone. You will find a new option ‘Lock Incognito tabs when you leave Chrome: Use screen lock to see open Incognito tabs’ inside the ‘Privacy and Security’ settings of the app.
When you toggle this feature on, the next time you open the Chrome incognito tab after leaving Google Chrome, the browser will show you a button ‘Unlock Incognito.’ There’s also a ‘See other tabs’ button on the Incognito screen and an overflow menu to close all the other Incognito tabs or settings. To get rid of all the open incognito tabs, force close Google Chrome.
Enabling or disabling the feature requires verification on your end. You can also make use of your PIN. The unlock appears immediately after you exit Google Chrome and return. This feature could come in handy when you are handing over your phone to others. The Google Chrome incognito tab fingerprint unlock feature is rolling out to Android users as part of Data Privacy Day.
While the feature is rolling out gradually, you can enable it immediately by using the Chrome flag: chrome://flags/#incognito-reauthentication-for-android. You can enter this code in your URL bar and activate it once the option appears on the screen.
