What is Incognito Mode – Does It Hide Your Online Activities?

February 27, 2020 By Christine Margret No Comments 6 minutes

People who like to be more secure online use incognito mode which is also known as private browsing mode.

What is Incognito Mode

Incognito mode is an online privacy setting popular for its safe browsing. When you browse through incognito mode, none of your browsing histories are recorded.

Moreover, it is also considered as one of the most secure browser settings since it hides all your online activities from other users of the same system.

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How to Go Incognito in Google Chrome

Enabling private browsing mode settings is very easy in the Chrome browser. Follow these quick steps and enjoy online privacy:

Open Chrome browser
Click the three-dot menu that is appearing at the top-right corner
Click on “New Incognito Window”
Browse safely.

Tip: You can also open a private browsing mode in Chrome with these keys “Ctrl+ Shift + N”

How to Open Incognito Mode in Safari Browser

Private browsing mode ensures that your browser is not recording your browsing history. If anyone is using the same device, they cannot access your search history with the incognito mode.

Move to the Top menu
Go to File > New Private Window

Tip: You can also use your keyboard for shortcut access. Use these commands to open a private window in Safari browser “Shift-Command-N”

How to Open Incognito Mode in Microsoft Edge

It’s very easy to launch incognito mode in Microsoft Edge. Follow the quick steps below to keep your searches safe and private:

Click at the menu thing that is appearing on the top right corner
Click at the option “New InPrivate window”
Start browsing.

Tip: If you don’t feel like going to the menu, you can also use this keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Shift+P”

How to Launch Private Browsing Window in Internet Explorer

A private browsing option is also available in the Internet Explorer browser. You can enable it by following these steps:

Go to Settings
Click on Private Window
Browse Safely.

Tip:Use these keys to directly access an incognito mode in the Internet Explorer by “Ctrl+Shift+P”

How to Open Incognito Tab in Firefox

Like nearly every other browser, Firefox also provides an incognito feature which you can enable by following the instructions below:

Click on the top right corner (Hamburger icon)
Select New Private Window
Start web browsing.

Tip: Use these keys as an alternative “CTRL + SHIFT + P”

Is there YouTube Incognito Mode Available?

YouTube for Android launched an incognito mode that allows you to browse privately. The privacy feature works well for both user search history and watch history.

Is Incognito Search History Traceable?

Unless you’re not using dedicated tools to trace incognito search history, it’s not possible to easily trace or access your privately browsed search history.

What is incognito mode good for?

Incognito mode is a purposeful privacy feature and makes your online browsing private and trouble-free. Here’s what you can expect while using an incognito mode:

Ad-free Browsing

If you are tired of customized browser ads then going incognito is the best way you can choose. When browsing through private mode, your browser doesn’t record your search history and never serves you with search-based advertisements.

Moreover, incognito mode is best for research purposes because it shows you new and versatile results rather than serving users with repetitive, past online history-based results.

Keeps your logged out every time you leave the session

Incognito mode is not 100% secure. Using private browsing mode doesn’t help you to keep your information completely private. However, it manages to prevent privacy threats to some extent.

As soon as you leave the incognito session, you automatically get logged out from every website. It means that if someone is using the same system, he can’t access your private accounts because your browser didn’t record your browsing history including emails and passwords. In this way, incognito mode keeps your private accounts safe from unauthorized access.

Doesn’t affect other users of the same system

If you’re sharing your system with one or more users then the incognito mode is a highly useful feature. It doesn’t need you to change the previous user’s settings. Moreover, it never logs out other users out of their accounts and you can easily login anywhere with your details without leaving your login details.

Why is Incognito Mode Not 100% Secure?

You cannot completely rely on an incognito mode for 100% safe browsing. There are things which private browsing mode cannot do alone.

Your new incognito tab cannot hide your IP address, so there will always be a chance to be traced online. Also, the private browsing tab cannot avert websites from tracking you and sending advertising emails. Incognito mode is even not able to stop your ISP from tracking you.

If you want to keep safe from unseen hackers on the public Wi-Fi, then it’s not wise to rely solely on the private browsing mode alone, always use FastestVPN that is capable of keeping you anonymous online.

Also, don’t forget to frequently update your device’s antivirus software to keep it free from malware, you can check the best antivirus for Android here for added security.