Tab Hider

Stash distracting tabs, secure your privacy, and restore them instantly.

Do you work in shared spaces, present your screen on Zoom calls, or frequently find yourself overwhelmed by a cluttered tab bar? Tab Hider is the ultimate privacy vault and tab organizer that puts you in absolute control of your browsing session.

With a single keystroke, you can hide active tabs, clear them from your browsing history, and lock them in a secure local vault. When you are ready, restore them exactly where you left off—no lost draft forms, no wasted bandwidth, and zero trace.

Core Features (Free Tier)

Instant Single Tab Hide (Alt + H): Press a quick hotkey to instantly stash the current tab. It vanishes from your screen and browsing history in milliseconds.
Panic Button (Alt + P): Instantly hide all open tabs in your active window and immediately redirect to a customizable Safe-Page Decoy (like Google or a work document) to blend into your environment.

Stealth History Eraser: Automatically wipes hidden URLs from Chrome’s native browsing history to prevent trace footprints (can be toggled in options).
Quick Search & Filter: Navigate a busy session easily using the search bar within the popup to locate and hide specific open tabs.
One-Click Restore (Alt + S): Reopen stashed tabs chronologically or bulk-restore all unlocked tabs at once.

Incognito Mode Support: Safely stash private windows. Reopened incognito tabs will launch straight back into private browsing mode.
Session Durability: Built-in local index databases keep stashed tabs safe from sudden browser crashes, computer restarts, or Chrome updates.

Premium Features (Pro Tier)

Upgrade to Tab Hider PRO to unlock advanced protection and productivity tools:

Passcode Vault Lock: Secure the extension popup and stashed URLs with a 4-digit PIN. Prevents shoulder-surfers and snooping eyes from seeing what tabs you have stashed.

Individually Locked Tabs: Encrypt specific stashed tabs. Locked tabs mask their URLs and display as "Protected Tab" with generic icons until you enter your PIN.

Smart Auto-Hide on Idle: Automatically triggers the Panic Hide routine if you step away from your computer for a set duration (configurable between 1 to 60 minutes).

Whitelist (Safe-List) Domains: Specify domains (e.g., Spotify, Slack, Gmail) that should never close or hide when you trigger the Panic Button.

Why Tab Hider is Different
Unlike basic tab managers or history sweepers, Tab Hider is built for extreme privacy and state-preservation:

State Retention (Advanced Suspends): Other extensions simply close and reload your tabs from scratch, wasting bandwidth and causing you to lose unsubmitted form inputs, scroll positions, or text drafts. Tab Hider uses advanced suspension logic to retain your active page state and restore tabs seamlessly.

No Cloud Tracking (100% Local): Your stashed URLs, vault codes, and domains never touch a remote server. Everything is stored on your device's local database.
Brute-Force Attack Prevention: If someone tries to guess your 4-digit PIN, the extension locks the numpad for 5 full minutes. This lock is written into background memory—refreshing or restarting Chrome will not bypass the countdown.

Quick Start Guide

Install the extension and pin it to your toolbar.

Use Shortcuts to Stash:
Alt + H: Hide the tab you are looking at.
Alt + S: Bring back the last hidden tab.
Alt + P: Trigger the Panic Button decoy.

Customize Hotkeys: Chrome manages shortcuts globally. To bind keys that fit your fingers, go to chrome://extensions/shortcuts in your browser.
Set Your Decoy: Open Options to set a "Safe URL" decoy and customize history deletion preferences.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Are my hidden screens or personal URLs saved or sent over the internet?
A: Absolutely not. True privacy requires absolute independence. Everything you hide is stored completely on your computer's local memory storage card. There are zero remote cloud servers tracking your activity, meaning your data never leaves your personal device.

Q: Does this extension actually hide tabs, or does it just close them and reload them from scratch later?
A: Unlike competitor extensions that simply close your tabs and force a complete reload when restored—wasting tons of bandwidth, slowing your browser down, and causing you to lose unsubmitted form inputs or draft data—Tab Hider utilizes advanced background suspend states. Your page is suspended safely, retaining scroll positions and form progress, and is instantly restored without unnecessary server reloads.

Q: Will I lose my hidden tabs if I close my browser or if it crashes unexpectedly?
A: Absolutely not! Basic tab hiders will forget your open sessions if the browser is closed or crashes. Tab Hider is built for extreme durability; we save your exact session state to a secure, persistent local index database. Even if your computer restarts or the browser shuts down unexpectedly, your tabs are 100% safe and will be restored as soon as you enter your secure 4-digit PIN.

Q: What does the browser display after I trigger the panic key? Can I choose my own "safe page"?
A: Yes! We call this the "Panic Safe-Page." Instead of showing a highly suspicious blank screen or screaming "Some tabs were hidden here!", Tab Hider instantly redirects your visible screen to a normal-looking page of your choice (like a boring search engine, a corporate spreadsheet, or a news website). You can customize this target URL in the settings to perfectly blend into your current workspace.

Q: What happens if someone tries to brute-force or guess my code to spy on me?
A: If someone inputs an incorrect PIN passcode 5 times in a row, the app completely freezes the keypad for 5 full minutes. This cooldown is locked into the background app memory, meaning refreshing the display, closing the window, or resetting the page will not remove the lockdown safety block.

Q: Does the extension show an indicator of how many tabs are hidden?
A: Yes, there is a subtle indicator badge on your extension toolbar icon showing the exact count of tabs currently secured inside the vault. This helps you remember exactly what session state you have saved, without calling any unwanted attention from shoulder surfers.

Q: Does it support incognito windows? Will hidden incognito tabs reopen in incognito mode?
A: Yes, we have full support for incognito private browsing. If you hide tabs while working in an incognito window, Tab Hider respects your privacy settings and will automatically restore them in a new incognito window, ensuring your secure workflows remain strictly within Chrome's private sandbox. (Ensure you have checked "Allow in incognito" in your extensions settings pane to grant permission).

Q: I find the default shortcut keys difficult to trigger. How can I change them?
A: Chrome manages all extension shortcut key combinations globally to prevent conflicts. If the default Alt + P shortcut is too far apart for comfortable single-handed trigger, or doesn't seem to work, you can bind it to any custom hotkey in seconds. Just navigate to chrome://extensions/shortcuts in your browser address bar and choose a shortcut combination that fits your setup perfectly.