Google Chrome on iOS will soon let you make Incognito tabs a lot more private

Incognito tabs in Chrome are a nice privacy feature. If you’re not careful, however, you could hand your phone to someone who might see exactly what you didn’t want them to see. 

Google has fixed this in the latest Google Chrome beta on iOS, 9to5Google reported Thursday. 

The new version of the app lets you add Touch ID or Face ID security to your Incognito tabs. Once you do that, whenever you open an Incognito tab, it will be blurred until the phone confirms it’s you, either via a face or fingerprint scan. 

The feature can be turned on and off by going to “Settings” -> “Privacy” -> “Lock Incognito tabs when you close Chrome.” 

As noted by 9to5Google, Google Search and Google Drive already have a similar privacy-protecting feature on iOS. 

Incognito on Chrome lets you browse fairly (but not completely) privately, with the browser not leaving any local traces of the websites you visited. 

Google Chrome hasn’t officially been updated on iOS since December, likely due to Apple’s new privacy requirements regarding iOS apps. Despite the delay, it’s reasonable to expect that the new version of Chrome will come soon, bringing the new Incognito privacy feature with it.