Google’s got more powerful ‘private’ browsing tools on the way
There’s a hell of a lot of reasons you might want to use a private browser that aren’t the as-advertised ‘buying a gift for a loved one’ scenario. And yes, one of the most obvious is your ‘alone time’ with your browser.
Soon, Google will start offering its users a more granular level of control over what’s kept in your browsing history, and what’s not, according to comments from CEO Sundar Pichai.
The “off the record” mode, which doesn’t have a set launch date, is more aimed at things like keeping control of voice control records (all of which are stored in your Google account if you use Voice Search on any devices or use Google Home) but Pichai also said that he’d like to see broader privacy controls across the whole of an Android device, and to be able to do things like selectively delete just a few hours of browsing history without losing everything else.
Of course, if you’re a Firefox user, that’s already had a ‘forget’ button that lets you selectively delete your history for a while now.
It’s an interesting – if somewhat slow – move towards giving Chrome and Android users better control over their browsing and history. For a company that makes the bulk of its money from targeting ads at your eyeballs, private browsing doesn’t really align with its goals.
