Google will now honestly tell Chrome users that they are still being tracked for advertising even in incognito mode, following a legal battle that will cost the company billions of dollars.

“You are incognito. You can now browse privately. Other people using this device will not be able to see your activity.” With this announcement, Google Chrome has been pretending for years that it would stay under the radar by enabling incognito mode. This is only partially true: your surfing history remains invisible to other users of a device, but not to Google.

Google will now also make this clearer to Chrome users. According to MSPowerUser, a modified incognito window appears in the latest Canary version of the browser. From now on, the window will no longer show that you are browsing “privately”, but rather “more privately”, a small nuance that makes a big difference in this context. Users are also warned that incognito browsing does not “change the way websites and Google collect data.”

Not entirely private

Until now, Google has made these adjustments out of necessity. There’s a lawsuit against the tech giant for tracking Chrome users in incognito mode for years without them realizing it. This lawsuit could cost Google up to $5 billion.

“We are pleased to resolve this long-pending case and provide users with even more information about Incognito Mode. “Incognito Mode in Chrome continues to give people the ability to browse the Internet without their activity being saved to their browser or device,” Google would only say in a response to Ars Technica.

The new Incognito window will not be rolled out to all users immediately. After the Canary build, new Chrome features must first go through the developer and beta channels before they can be included in a stable release. Despite its dubious reputation for privacy, Chrome remains by far the most popular Internet browser: 65 percent of all desktop and mobile surfers use Google’s web browser. By phasing out third-party cookies, Chrome is trying to become a little more privacy-friendly.