Incognito mode unmasked - What it does and what it doesn’t do - Android

Smartphones are a vital life tool and yet also a privacy nightmare. If you don’t take the proper precautions, you can quite literally expose yourself to unwitting friends or family members who pick up your device and stumble into the wrong app or folder. Thankfully, phone makers offer a plethora of ways we can protect ourselves, such as the mysteriously-named incognito mode.

But first let’s back up a second: Use a screen lock. Pick whichever works for you, be it PIN, password, pattern, print, or face. A screen lock provides a first layer of defense and should be (almost) all you need to protect yourself. There are, however, those with whom we share our screen locks, such as partners or trusted family members or friends. (If you’re a parent, don’t believe for one second that your kids haven’t figured out your password. They have.)

Since some people may be able to get past our screen locks, a second line of defense against undue embarrassment is required. One such bulwark is Google Chrome’s incognito mode, or private browsing. Incognito mode isn’t infallible, however, and in fact has limitations you should know about.

Here’s what Google incognito mode does and what it doesn’t do.

What is incognito mode?

The word incognito means to hide one’s true identity. The hero in a story might “travel incognito” so as to not be discovered. Incognito mode on Android devices is similar; it’s a way to hide yourself as you travel the web. Incognito mode as realized in Google Chrome on Android basically hides your browsing history so others can’t see the web sites you’ve visited. In effect, it masks your footprints across the web.

How to turn on incognito mode

Incognito mode is available in the Chrome browser app on Android phones and tablets, as well as the Chrome desktop browser for Macs, Windows machines, and of course ChromeOS.

On your Android device, open Chrome and tap the three-dot menu button in the address bar. A drop-down window appears with a number of actions available, such as starring the page or opening a new window. One of the options is “new incognito tab.” Tap that and Chrome will open a new, private tab. You’ll see the little spy-like icon with a fedora and glasses and a confirmation that “you’ve gone incognito.”

Congrats, you are now browsing privately. You can jump between incognito tabs and regular tab by tapping the tab tool in the address bar. You’ll only be browsing privately when you’re in an actual incognito tab.

What does it mean to browse privately?

Incognito mode, or browsing privately, is a device-specific safeguard. If you use incognito mode on one device, but not another, that second device’s browser history is still vulnerable.

At its most simple, incognito mode prevents others who pick up the device from seeing your browser history. In this mode, Chrome itself does not save your browser history, nor any data you type into web forms. Google Chrome will not sync your private browsing history across your account, if signed into Chrome. Chrome will remember cookies, site data, and permissions granted while you’re browsing, but this information is deleted upon closing the incognito tab. (Of course, you can always delete your browsing history manually any time you choose.)

If you use private browsing, no one who picks up your device will know you visited your bank’s website or, ahem, PornHub or other sites that might cause embarrassment.

See also: Google Maps adds incognito | Google Play Store adds incognito

Some information is still visible to others

As stated, incognito mode prevents Chrome from logging your surfing sessions on your phone. It doesn’t prevent a whole range of others from seeing your online activity.

For example, any website you visit will know you visited, as will its advertisers. Any website you sign in to will know you browsed to that site, because it logged the sign-in. If you’re at work or school, whoever runs the network will have access to your browsing history. Same goes for your internet provider at home. That means AT&T or Verizon Wireless if you’re out and about, or Comcast or Verizon FiOS in your house. Search engines, too, will have access to your browsing history and may even show search suggestions based on where you are or what you are up to.

What can these entities actually see? Your IP address, which is a way of identifying your basic location. Your actual, real-time activity as you use a web site or service. Also, and this is key, your identity if you sign in to any web service. That includes Google-owned sites such as Gmail.

Incognito mode does not hide you from law enforcement.

Incognito mode does not hide you from law enforcement, which can task your wireless or wired internet provider to locate your IP address and reveal your history (provided a warrant is issued).