How to browse Privately in Chrome?

When you access the internet on Chrome or any other web browser, all your activities, such as the page you visit, the cookies you accept, the form you fill, and others, get recorded. They all get stored in the browser in the form of browsing history, saved cookies, and others. 

However, you often might not want your Chrome browser to remember and save your web activities for various reasons. That’s where Incognito Mode or Private Browsing comes into play.

In this post, we will discuss different ways to browse privately on Chrome Desktop, Mac, Android, and iOS versions.

What is Private Browsing?

While browsing the internet on any web browser, all your activities, such as the website you visit, the search queries, and everything, are stored by your browser so that you can easily revisit the websites in the future. The browsers can also save your login credentials so that you don’t have to enter them again and again on your every visit. All these are done to make your browsing experience smooth and hassle-free.

However, in the name of making your browsing experience easier and better, the browsers are actually playing with your privacy. Your browsing data is accessed by third-party websites through cookies. Based on your browsing data, the companies target you with ads and more, ruining your privacy and browsing experience. Though you have all the control to delete or save your browsing data, with time, so much data get accumulated, and it becomes challenging to manage it.

The Private Browsing or the Incognito Mode in Chrome browser lets you browse the internet without allowing the browsers to store your browsing information. That means after enabling the Incognito Mode and browsing the internet through it, your search queries and the website you visit won’t be stored by the browser. Additionally, you won’t be able to save your login credentials while browsing in the Incognito Mode. By default, you won’t even be able to access the Chrome extensions and add-ons in the Incognito Mode, but that can be configured.

In simple terms, private browsing is wandering in the internet world without letting your browser trace you.

When should you use Private Browsing?

If you are a privacy freak, you should always browse the internet in Incognito Mode. However, that might be too much, and most of you might not want that. However, there are certain instances when private browsing becomes essential.

Here are the top occasions where private browsing will aid you:

• When you have to use the computer kept at a public place like a library, internet cafe, and others. Private browsing will let you hide your search history, login credentials, and other data on such devices.
• Sometimes you might have to open emails or browse the internet on your friend’s or colleague’s system. So, if you don’t want to save your data on that device, you should use incognito mode.
• If you want to access multiple email accounts, you can use incognito mode to open another email account without signing out from the current one.
• While purchasing a ticket for a flight or booking a hotel room, always use the incognito mode so that the sellers cannot track your search history and modify the price. Incognito mode disables the trackers.
• When searching for a delicate topic or browsing something private, always use private browsing to hide your activities from others.

How to browse Privately in Chrome?

You can browse the internet privately using Incognito Mode in the Chrome browser. Here is how you can enable incognito mode on Chrome:

Use Incognito Mode on Chrome Windows and Mac:

Use Incognito Mode on Chrome Android:

To access incognito mode on Chrome Android, follow these steps:

1. On your Android Phone, tap on the Chrome icon to launch it.
2. Tap on the three-dot and select the New Incognito tab option from the menu.
3. Browse the internet in incognito mode.

Use Incognito Mode on Chrome iOS

1. On your iPhone or iPad, tap on Chrome’s icon to launch it.
2. Tap on the three-dot icon to expand Chrome Menu on the bottom-right corner.
3. Select the New Incognito tab option to launch the Chrome Incognito tab.
4. Browse the internet privately and open more incognito tabs.

Bottom Line

Chrome Incognito mode is an excellent way to browse the internet privately. However, you must know that you are not entirely private even on Incognito mode. Your activities on the website you visit will be hidden from the browser but not the website owner. The downloads and bookmarks will remain, so be careful. Also, even on Incognito mode, your browsing activities can be traced by your ISPs or school administrator.