YouTube rolls out ‘Incognito Mode’ for Android users

YouTube has rolled out a new ‘Incognito Mode’ feature for Android users, which had been in testing since May.

The famous video streaming app YouTube has rolled out a new feature called ‘Incognito Mode’ that will let users watch whatever they can in private without keeping any search history, similar to what incognito for Google Chrome. However, this feature is applicable for Android users only.

In order to access the feature, the user would just have to tap on their avatar and a new option will be added labeled ‘Turn on Incognito’, replacing the ‘Sign Out’ button in the drop-down menu. However, when the user switches on the incognito mode, they will get a notification that their school, employer and internet service provider will still be able to see their activities, reported Engadget.

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Just like Chrome, the similar incognito icon with a hat and glasses will be shown instead of the user’s avatar, with a notification bar at the bottom stating, ‘You’re incognito’. Moreover, the user can only access the ‘Home’ and ‘Trending’ options on YouTube; tapping on the ‘Subscriptions’, and ‘Inbox and Library’ will show a blank screen with a notice that they will only be visible when the incognito mode has been turned off.

If the user wishes to add video to a playlist while in incognito, a button will appear to quickly ‘Turn off Incognito’ while keeping their position watching the clip. After turning off the incognito mode, the activity from that session will be cleared and the user will return to the last account used. Apart from being able to manually turn it off, the incognito mode will be turned off automatically after a period of inactivity, reported 9to5Google.

The feature has been in testing phase since May, until YouTube finally decided to roll it out publicly. It is available for download in the latest version of the app, thus, existing users would only have to update their YouTube.