Chrome Beta Lets iOS Users Lock Incognito Tabs With Face and Touch ID

Chrome Beta Lets iOS Users Lock Incognito Tabs With Face and Touch ID

Google appears to be testing a tool to make Incognito browsing even more private in Chrome for iOS.

The beta version of the iOS Chrome app introduced a feature to require Touch ID or Face ID to unlock Incognito tabs that you might not want others accessing. With the feature enabled, returning to Chrome after a closed session will show a blurred Incognito tab and will require verification to be accessed, per release notes screenshotted by 9to5Google. Google stated in the notes that the feature is intended to “add more security to your Incognito tabs.”

To enable the feature, head to Settings, navigate to Privacy, and select Lock Incognito tabs when you close Chrome. According to 9to5Google, the feature isn’t available for everyone running the beta version of the Chrome app on iOS. Google didn’t immediately return a request for comment about the feature and its wider rollout.

As 9to5Google noted, a version of this privacy setting is already available in the primary Google search app, though that privacy setting is triggered after you’ve left the session for 15 minutes. To enable it, open the main Google app, head to Settings, select Privacy and Security, and toggle on the option to Enable Face ID for incognito mode.


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