Private Browsing Mode: What It Does and Does Not Hide

Private or incognito windows are widely misunderstood. They are useful, but they are not a privacy shield.

What it does

• Does not save browsing history, cookies or form data after you close the window.
• Starts without your existing cookies and logins.
• Useful on shared computers and for testing.

What it does not do

• Hide your activity from your internet provider, employer or school.
• Hide your IP address from websites.
• Stop trackers during the session.
• Protect you from malware.

Better tools

For tracking protection use a privacy-focused browser or tracker blocking, and a VPN for network-level privacy.