The Incognito mode in Google Chrome is great for browsing the web with privacy, but if you hand your Android phone off to someone, they can easily open a tab and view that content. Now, Google is readying a feature that lets users lock Incognito tabs behind fingerprint biometrics.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Google’s offered privacy and security options in several of its iOS apps for a long time. For example, you can easily lock Google Chrome behind FaceID on the iPhone.

In an upcoming release of Google Chrome (105) for Android, we’ll be able to enable a privacy mode that locks Incognito tabs behind a fingerprint or password. Then, once you leave Chrome, it instantly locks. When a user (or someone with your phone) returns to the Incognito tab, they’ll see a gray screen and be asked for a fingerprint first.

According to 9to5Google, this feature is technically available in the latest Google Chrome for Android, but it’s not rolling out to the public yet. Instead, the groundwork for such a feature is there, and you must enable the Chrome flag below to get it working.

“chrome://flags/#incognito-reauthentication-for-android”

Once you enable the flag and restart your browser, look for the option to “Lock incognito tabs when you leave Chrome” in Chrome’s Privacy and security settings menu. Once you do that, you’re all set.

Considering we’re already seeing this flag in Chrome (105) for Android, and it’s working perfectly, it’s only a matter of time before Google officially releases it to the public. It’s odd that it took so long, but better late than never.

via 9to5Google