Google Search users on mobile have been able to make their embarrassing or simply private queries vanish from the service's search history without hopping through hoops thanks to a handy button that lets them delete their last 15 minutes of activity. The feature first arrived for iOS in 2021 before making its way to Android early last year. As part of its continuing quest to convince users that it takes their privacy very seriously, the search giant appears to be working on the same auto-delete control for browsing history in Google Chrome on Android.
A feature flag has been spotted in a new, merged commit in the Chromium repository which suggests that you could soon remove your most recent searches with a single tap (via ChromeStory).
Currently on Android, you would have to tap the ⋮ icon on the top-right corner of Chrome and select "History" from the drop-down menu before hitting "Clear browsing data..." in order to toggle how much of your activity you'd like to remove — options include all-time, four weeks, seven days, 24 hours, or one hour. You can also remove individual sites you've visited from your timeline. Tapping the option for clearing browsing data will allow you to scrub your activity in the last hour or from the very start.
That kind of operational sequence is only a minor inconvenience in theory, but can present roadblocks in pure cognitive recall to make it something you won't do. Having a button to poof away the last 15 minutes of your life on Chrome — it's a kind of panic button that you can quickly tap after searching for something that sounds innocuous before realizing how awful the results are. Or maybe you've done something more with those 15 minutes than you'd like to admit (your secret's safe with us!)
If you'd rather keep your searches hidden from third-party prying eyes than delete them entirely, you can open an Incognito tab, instead Google has a way to help you lock those tabs behind your fingerprint sensor or faceprint.