Google Maps is Getting an Incognito Mode

Google Chrome’s incognito mode is seemingly as old as the browser itself. Nobody remembers when it was first rolled out, but I doubt that there is anyone out there who is not familiar with it. We also have the incognito mode in Chrome mobile and YouTube.

Google, a company that relies on collecting personal information is taking the next step towards privacy by announcing that Google Maps and the Google search app will soon get an incognito mode of their own.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said,

Incognito mode has been a popular feature in Chrome since it launched, and we are bringing this to Maps.

Akin to the privacy feature in Chrome that allows the users to safely browse without having to worry about search history and cookies, Google maps will also allow users to prevent their location information from being saved. This was announced at the on-going Google I/O developers conference.

How to Activate it

Users will be able to activate the incognito mode by just tapping their profile picture in the search bar on Google Maps.

In the menu screen, you can activate the incognito mode, very much like the previously announced auto-delete feature. Once selected, all your data being tracked will come to a halt. Just like chrome, the maps will show a dark diagonal bar to notify incognito mode has been activated.

We don’t know for sure when the update will be rolled out but apparently, it’s coming soon. The profile picture icon is also not available in the search bar yet.

Eric Miraglia, Google’s director of product management, privacy, and data protection office explained,

Today you’ll see your Google Account profile picture appear in the top right corner across products like Gmail, Drive, Contacts and Pay. To quickly access your privacy controls, just tap on your picture and follow the link to your Google Account. The prominent placement of your profile picture also makes it easier to know when you’re signed into your Google Account.

Apart from this, Google also showed off 4 major updates to its futuristic lens technology.


  • Lol privacy!
    to be clear, this means location history will not be saved on your mobile. it will only be saved by Google itself

  • Joke of the century, Google is running with help of this data which they are stealing silently from their users. Google can’t exist without stealing. They are just trying to fool people who are understanding this all phenomenon.


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