YouTube Is Testing New Incognito Mode for Android

• A lot of Google apps allow users private access through incognito mode to allow users to access all features without being tracked.
• YouTube is the latest app by Google to get access to the feature with its latest update.
• Previously, users had the option of signing out of the app while continuing to use it. With the latest update, users can stop Google from tracking their viewing history.

A lot of Android apps allow users to use all features privately without their activity being tracked. YouTube now joins Google’s Chrome and Gboard apps in offering Incognito mode with on Android.

Before Incognito mode was introduced for YouTube, users had the option to log out of their Google account from the YouTube app to allow private content viewing. With the latest update on Android, users can go to History and Privacy settings from the Settings menu to disable tracking. A new “Pause Watch and Search History” has popped up following the latest update, which stops Google from keeping a record of your viewing history.

After enabling the setting, users will be able to see the standard Google incognito mode icon on the top right of the YouTube app. YouTube may make the process much simpler by adding an incognito mode button on the app. The new update has not yet rolled out yet in any build and was discovered by internally through a series of strings found in the app.

Image Courtesy of YouTube

Incognito Mode offers the same benefits of signing out, without having to sign out of your current browsing session. Enabling the feature prevents any activity from being saved on Google’s servers until you manually turn off the option. The high privacy mode also turns off all subscriptions temporarily, and videos from subscribed channels do not get priority over other content on the app.

The new feature is currently available server-side only and Incognito mode should also appear on YouTube Music soon. There is no confirmation on how soon an update will be pushed out with the new feature from Google, but with updated apps for Android P being released lately, we can expect an update over the coming weeks.