Now You See Me, Now You Don't – New QBO Privacy Mode

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As more users open their QuickBooks Online in public spaces, QBO has improved the Privacy Mode – nicknamed "Starbucks Mode." The improvements have resulted in less personal and sensitive data visible on your QBO dashboard.

Think of Privacy Mode as your Cloaking Device, so that if you're working in social settings and a person walks up behind you, no sensitive details will be shared when you flip to the QBO Dashboard.

Here are my suggestions if you have to work in a public area:

  1. Turn on Privacy mode while working
  2. If someone walks up behind you – flip to Dashboard for privacy
  3. If an employee steps into your office – flip to Dashboard for privacy

Prior to this update, enabling Privacy Mode made bank register balances invisible, but all other dashboard information was still visible. The new QBO Privacy Mode removes all sensitive information that normally appears on the dashboard.

The New Privacy Mode is designed like a company force field – those on the outside see nothing, but once you get past the force field, all other Dashboard information is visible. That means no other navigation setting or displayed screen is protected.

It’s like wearing an invisibility cloak – once you're on the other side of the cloak, everything is visible.  

Personally, I think users are more mobile than ever. One reason people choose QBO is mobile access. As a result of this mobility, QBO is apparently considering the availability of future options for cloaking other financial information.

I honestly keep debating with myself over whether other screens in QBO should be impacted by the Privacy setting. Would such an expansion of this cloaking capability be valuable or cumbersome?

I believe it might be better to wait and do your work, rather than do it in a public setting and risk exposing confidential financial information?

So maybe the current functionality of the Privacy setting is just enough.

What are your thoughts? Should we hope for more QBO Privacy capabilities, potentially involving other windows, or is the recent update the perfect amount of "hide and seek?"

Let me know your thoughts by posting your comments below. I look forward to hearing from you. I'll will also try to pass along your comments to Intuit at QuickBooks Connect, if not before.

Either way, it seems really cool that QBO has given us a force field like the Death Star or an invisibility cloak like Harry Potter.