Starting in 2020, a number of Google apps for iOS have added a Privacy Screen feature that requires biometric authentication via Touch ID or Face ID for access. The latest news is that Chrome on Android has also added this privacy feature, allowing users to access the Incognito tab with fingerprint verification.
After the user has left an open Incognito tab, if they wish to continue accessing it they will need to be fingerprinted to continue. Launching the browser to return to these tabs will take you to a grey screen with an incognito logo in the middle. There will also be text that says “Unlock Incognito” and clicking on it will open the system fingerprint unlock page, asking you to verify your fingerprint sensor. As expected, there will also be a PIN option in the bottom left corner.
The other available options will take you back to the General tab and the overflow function remains in its usual place. To be honest, this is a useful feature, especially if you’re handing your phone over to someone and you don’t want to snoop around. However, you can turn it off when you leave Chrome by going to Settings > Privacy and security > Lock incognito tab.
To use this feature, users need to visit the “chrome://flags/#incognito-reauthentication-for-android” page and choose to enable it. This feature is already available in Google Drive, Search, Fi, Chrome and Authenticator on iOS and is known as the “Privacy Screen”.
