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Screenshots are a super convenient way to remember something for later, or to share stuff with friends, but it’s easy to take that kind of ubiquitous functionality for granted. Sometimes software doesn’t want to play nicely, and along the way, we’ve seen plenty ofcreative workaroundsfor when screen captures aren’t available. Now Google Chrome is taking steps to become more screenshot-friendly, as a new Canary flag enables screenshots even when browsing in Incognito mode.
Normally, when users take a screenshot in Incognito, they get a black screen full of nothing. It’s been possible to work around this with the chrome://flags/#incognito-screenshot, first introduced in Chrome 88, but activating this flag also makes the preview of the Incognito tab visible in your phone’s Recents overview. This offers shoulder surfers a way to see your browsing habits while you scroll through your recent apps.
A new flag fixes this. Android expert Mishaal Rahman explains:
Techdowsfirst spotted the change, which arrives followingyears-long debate on the Chromium bug tracker. The initial screenshot restrictions appear to have been put in place to protect against passive snooping while you’re in the Recents overview, with a full restriction being the only option to fully block previews in Recents. With this new system in place, Incognito tab content still won’t appear in a screen as you scroll through your recent apps, but you are able to manually capture screens.
Give it a short for yourself by installing Chrome Canary and setting the Improved Incognito Screenshots flag, as the video demonstrates.
UPDATE: 2025-06-14 03:38 EST BY MANUEL VONAU
Updated to mention current workaround
It’s already possible to manually activate screenshots in incognito with a flag. We’ve included this workaround in the article and expanded on why the new solution is better.
