Chrome Update to Secure Private Browsing With Biometrics

Google will soon let iOS users lock their Incognito tabs with biometrics, according to a report from The Verge.

The company’s Incognito feature offers a way for users of its Chrome browser to have more privacy, allowing them to browse the web without creating a record of what they’ve looked at. Now, Google is beta testing a feature that would require a Face ID or Touch ID scan on an Apple device in order to unlock any open Incognito tabs. The tabs would be blurred when locked, preventing unauthorized users from even getting a glimpse at their content.

The new feature is a reflection of a larger trend toward biometric security on mobile devices. Late last year, new code emerged for the Google App indicating that Google was working on essentially the same feature that’s now being tested on iOS; and in the summer Google brought a password autofill feature to its Android mobile OS that was based on biometric authentication.

On iOS, Google’s addition of biometric authentication to the Incognito feature would add particularly sophisticated security with respect to devices that support Face ID. Apple’s facial recognition system is one of the most advanced on the consumer market, using laser grids to generate a 3D map of a user’s face. Touch ID, meanwhile, is still considered a high-quality fingerprint recognition system, and certainly offers better security than a PIN.

The new Incognito lock feature has been introduced to some (but not all) users of the Chrome 89 beta on iOS. The operating system update is anticipated to arrive to all users next month, but it isn’t yet clear if the biometric lock will be part of the package.

Source: The Verge

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(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)