You are being tracked
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Google’s sudden confirmation that Chrome privacy initiatives “are being phased out” is bad news. But if you use Chrome on an Android phone, the search giant has some better news for you — you’re about to get a much-needed feature iPhone has had for years.
For the first time, you can conduct a private or sensitive search directly from the Google app, which will then trigger an “incognito” search in Chrome. This means your search history isn’t captured and you get the other protections from Chrome’s privacy mode.
This pre-release update is called “History Off,” and was spotted in a new beta release of Google’s app by the team at Android Authority. “If you turn it on and perform a search, the results won’t appear inside the Google app, but will open in a new Chrome Custom Tab with one interesting addition: this tab is already in Incognito mode.”
Critically, Google says “third-party cookies are blocked in Incognito by default.” This is increasingly important, given that Google’s long-promised plans to kill these tracking cookies have not been ditched. Tracking cookies are now here to stay.
Incognito mode locks tabs when you leave Chrome and you have other options in your “Privacy & Security” settings to hide and lock tabs as well. Screenshots are also blocked. “To take a screenshot, open the web page in another tab.”
The headline act here is blocking tracking cookies. Unlike Safari on iPhone, Chrome doesn’t do this in Android by default in normal browsing. Trackers are not blocked, which means if you’re hooked on Chrome, you really need to move to Incognito mode.
And most Android and PC users are hooked on Chrome. Despite privacy warnings Chrome enjoys better than 70% market share on mobiles and desktops. Users care more for features than privacy. But with this forthcoming update, you can have both.
