Disable “Close all incognito tabs” notification on Chrome for Android

Question

Recently, Chrome for Android changed a feature to add a notification on the lock screen and on the notification bar any time there are incognito tabs open.

I don't want a large notification on my lock screen telling everyone I have them open.

Is there a way to disable this?

Answer 1

If you go to the Application Manager in Settings and find Chrome, there should be an option to disable notifications. Doing so will block all notifications, even the important ones. You may even forget to close your pages.

Answer 2

I have a Google Pixel 3 XL.

You can do it this way:

1. go to Settings
2. click Apps & Notifications
3. find and click on Chrome
4. click on Notifications
5. and uncheck Incognito

This will have the effect of deactivating any Incognito notifications that may occur until you check Incognito back.

Alternatively:

1. do steps 1 to 4
2. Click on Incognito
3. Click on Behaviour
4. And choose Show silently and minimise

This will have the effect of displaying the notification when your phone is unlock, but you won't see the text only the little man with a hat icon thingy. On the other hand, on the lock screen you will see nothing at ALL, not even the icon thingy.

In conclusion, I thought bringing this answer up was necessary because previously given options may deactivate important notifications you may not want to miss. My solution brings an alternative, though it only works on devices that support Android 8.0 and above. (Kudos to @Firelord for pointing that out)

Answer 3

You can install the Xposed module XNotifications (you will need to be rooted and have Xposed framework installed) and set a rule to not display notifications from Chrome with the content filter for incognito. This will only block this particular notification from showing. All other Chrome notifications will show.

This is important because downloads being done through Chrome will set a persistent notification so that Android does not kill Chrome, and subsequently, your download, when in want of resources. Disabling notifications will disable the persistent notification too.