Chrome Incognito Tabs Disappear: How to Prevent it

Often Chrome incognito tabs disappear on Android, and this can be a problem since you’ll lose your entire session. However, there might few ways to circumvent this issue.

Why do my incognito tabs randomly disappear?

This happens if your device is low on memory or your phone is optimizing performance by freeing up your memory.

How do I stop Chrome from closing incognito tabs?

1. Ensure Google Chrome is in focus before you lock your phone

1. Start your private browsing session.
2. Now switch back to regular Chrome without closing incognito tabs.
   
3. Do not close or minimize Chrome.
4. Lock your device.

After doing that, your incognito tabs should still be there once you unlock your phone. Keep in mind that this isn’t the most reliable solution, but it’s worth trying out.

2. Lock your Incognito tabs

1. In Chrome, tap on three dots and choose Settings.
    
2. Next, head to the Privacy and security.
   
3. Enable Lock Incognito tabs when you leave Chrome.
   

This is also another workaround that might help you if Chrome Incognito tabs disappear on your device.

Do Incognito tabs close by themselves?

No, they will remain open as long as the Chrome process is running in the memory. But if your memory is cleared or you close the browser, the Incognito tabs will disappear.

So if you’re low on memory, sometimes Incognito tabs will close automatically on Android as your device tries to optimize its performance.

How do I make Chrome always open Incognito?

You can make Chrome open in Incognito by default simply by making a few changes to its shortcut. We have an entire guide on Chrome Incognito shortcut, so check it out to see how to do this.

How to recover incognito tabs in Chrome?

This isn’t possible natively, but it can be achieved with extensions. We wrote about this in our guide on how to export Incognito tabs in Chrome, so feel free to visit it.

This is a peculiar issue, but if Chrome Incognito tabs tend to disappear, it’s most likely that your device is doing memory optimization in the background and it’s ending certain processes while doing that.

Speaking of Chrome, a few users reported that Chrome Incognito keeps popping up, and we have a special guide that addresses this, so don’t miss it.

For users who want to learn more, don’t miss our latest guide on how to start Chrome Incognito from the command line.