Chrome to Let You Hide Email IDs on UI for Privacy

Google is working on a new privacy feature that will let you hide your Google account ID on various UI elements.

Let’s start with the experimental flag that I spotted today:

Hide non-displayable account email: Hide the Google account email that should not be displayed on various UI surfaces.

This is not a feature where Google gives you a dummy email address so that websites won’t have your original address. Instead, you can hide your email address showing up on different forms and Chrome screens.

For example, imagine you open the Gmail sign-in page while working from a cafe. If configured, Chrome can display your name, instead of showing the email address on the screen.

Here is another code comment that makes this clear:

For fields that typically display the email address,

Replace with the user’s display name (First Last) if available. Otherwise, use fallback string.

https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/4055858

When will this be ready?

The flag is not available in the Canary channel for testing yet. I am hoping to see this in action in the coming days. Bookmark this page and come back in a week to see screenshots and more details.

Questions? Thoughts? Let me know in the comments section below.

Source: Chromium Gerrit.