If you ever want to go incognito on Google you may have to do with your face or touch ID.
Chrome will now allow users to ‘Lock Incognito tabs’ so that they will be blurred in the tab switcher until the user confirms that he/she is the person using Touch or Face ID. According to Google, this is a way to add more security as one multitasks across apps. The report states that the feature is useful when allowing someone else to use one’s iPhone or iPad to perform a new search.
The report adds that the ability to lock Chrome’s Incognito tabs is similar to a feature in the main Google Search app that uses biometrics to confirm it’s the user when returning to an incognito session after a span of 15 minutes.
Google also has a similar feature that requires a fingerprint.
Google Drive has a similar ‘Privacy Screen’ that requires a fingerprint or face confirmation every time one opens a file storage app. However, there is an option to delay the authentication by 0 seconds, one minute, or 10 minutes when multitasking.
Available for beta users.
However, the ‘Lock Incognito tabs’ feature is yet to be available for all beta users. It seems that there is a server-side component, while the public launch of Chrome 89 is expected next month. Once it is made available, it will be controllable in Settings > Privacy > Lock Incognito tabs when the user closes Chrome.
If you’d like to keep the tabs you search private then it would be advisable to use this new feature, however others believe that this could be a strategic move to collect more of people’s data all in all many people are already using fingerprints however in the Kenyan market a facial recognition will be an extra step.