Google’s search app now sports an incognito mode – TechCrunch

Looking to surf the mobile web privately, but generally prefer the Google Search app over standalone browsers like Safari or Chrome? Then you’ll appreciate the latest update to the Google Search app for iOS, which now introduces an “incognito mode” that you can further protect using Touch ID, along with a host of other changes.

While private browsing has long been an option in most browsers, Google’s search app has been without the feature, despite the fact that many mobile consumers today use Google’s app as their main entry point to the web on their iPhone.

The app today is ranked slightly higher than Google’s Chrome browser, in fact, as the #2 Utility and #30 Overall app on the iTunes App Store, versus Chrome’s #3 and #34 slots in Utilities and Overall, respectively.

To use the new private search feature, you simply toggle on the incognito mode option in the Settings, when you don’t want your search and browsing history saved. In addition, you can also switch on Touch ID for incognito mode, which means that no one but you can re-enter your existing incognito session.

Once enabled, you can even kick off a new incognito mode session via 3D Touch on the app icon.

The addition of incognito mode is the biggest new feature in the updated app, but Google says there have been other tweaks as well, including performance improvements and increased stability on iOS 10, making the app twice as reliable as the earlier version.

Another notable feature is the ability to watch YouTube videos right in the search results. Before, you would have to open a new page or visit the YouTube app.

The update is live now on the App Store.