Use Incognito Mode to Hide Where You Go on Google Maps
There are many reasons why you might want to track some of the places you visit on Google Maps, but perhaps not all of them. You may not want your friends and family (with access to your phone or account) to know that you are at the local dispensary. You may be planning a surprise party for someone and need to visit the place several times to get ready. You can also be paranoid about location tracking; that’s okay too.
Incognito mode, just like in the Chrome browser, allows you to temporarily disable the location tracking feature in the app. Although you can also disable it forever , I think that the private browsing mode is a good compromise. I like to know where I’ve been, but maybe Google doesn’t need to know wherever I am.
To get started in incognito mode, make sure you have the latest version of Google Maps installed. This feature has been missing from the Android version of the app for a while and has just started rolling out to iOS users today.
Open Google Maps and find your photo in the upper right corner. Tap it.
Once you have done this, you should see the option “Turn on incognito mode”. Click on it.
You will now see a small box at the bottom of the screen that explains what incognito mode is. Well worth a quick read.
And to make it easier to see that you are using incognito mode, find your photo again. It has been replaced by a fun little detective hat and glasses as you are all mysterious and disguised (at least for Google Maps). Your Google Maps will also indicate that you are using incognito mode at the top of the app.