Private browsing is a term used to describe browsing the internet without providing personal information. Private browsing is first created in 2005 but becoming popular takes some time.
What Is Private Browsing?
Private browsing became popular amongst internet users because of different reasons like hiding himself, protecting personal information, etc. In general, private browsing will protect the following information and do not store it in a persistent way into the local computer system.
Browsing History contains the web sites, URLs and web applications the user browsed in the past.
Cookies are some text data which store information about the user and the web site or application used.
Passwords are generally stored inside the browser for automatic login and remember in the future.
Private Browsing or Incognito Mode or Private Window
All popular browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge (Internet Explorer), Safari, Opera, Maxthon provides private browsing with different names. The following names are used as private browsing for different browsers.
- Google Chrome calls private browsing as
Incognito Mode. - Mozilla Firefox private browsing as
Private Window. - Microsoft Edge (Internet Explorer) private browsing as
InPrivate Window. - Safari private browsing as
InPrivate Window. - Opera private browsing as
Private Window.
Google Chrome Private Browsing (Incognito Mode)
Google Chrome is the most popular browser on the planet and provides the private mode as Incognito Mode. Google Chrome can be used for operating systems like Windows, Linux, MacOS X, Android, and iPhone. All of these platforms support the incognito mode for Google Chrome.
Google Chrome Private Browsing (Incognito Mode) On Windows, Linux and MacOS X
You can open Google Chrome in incognito mode from the upper top-right menu like below. You will click to the New incognito window which will open new Google Chrome in incognito mode. Alternative Google Chrome provides the CTRL+SHIFT+N keyboard shortcut in order to open new Google Chrome in incognito mode. These instructions can be used to open incognito mode for Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows Servers, Linux, Ubuntu, Mint, Kali, Debian, Fedora, SUSE, CentOS, MacOSX, etc. as the same without a problem.
Google Chrome incognito mode is like below. In order to express this in the incognito mode, Google Chrome is opened in dark mode. We can see the message You've gone incognito . Every new tab opened in this Google Chrome will be incognito too.
By default, Google Chrome Extensions do not work in incognito mode to preserve privacy. But you can enable them to work in incognito mode from their settings by checking Allowed in Incognito setting.
In order to exit from the incognito mode just close the Google Chrome which will stop incognito mode and do not leave any private data behind.
Google Chrome Private Browsing (Incognito Mode) On Android and iPhone
Both Android and iPhone provide the same experience for Google Chrome. So we can use the following instructions for both Android and iPhone platforms for different versions to open incognito mode.
We will see the following incognito tab for Chrome in Android. We can see that the theme is dark and the message You've gone incognito message is shown.
We can close the incognito tab by pressing the tab list on the left upper corner. Then we will close the incognito tab from the list.
Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing (Private Window)
Mozilla Firefox provides private browsing with the name of Private Window . Private Window for Mozilla can be used for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Server, Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Suse, CentOS, Kali, MacOSX, Android, iPhone, etc.
Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing (Private Window) on Windows, Linux, MacOSX
You can access the private browsing similar to Google Chrome. You will click to the upper right menu. Then you will select the New Private Window like below. Alternatively, CTRL+SHIFT+N keyboard shortcut can be used to open a new private window. The MacOS X shortcut is COMMAND+SHIFT+N . These instructions can be used to open incognito mode for Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows Servers, Linux, Ubuntu, Mint, Kali, Debian, Fedora, SUSE, CentOS, MacOSX, etc. as the same without a problem.
The new private window will be opened as a separate window like below. In order to express the private browsing, the bar color of the Firefox will be dark and the tab icons will contain a mask. Also in the start a message like You’re in a Private Window will be shown.
Like Google Chrome, Firefox will also disable the Firefox extension for privacy reasons and they can be enabled for Private Windows from their settings. The private mode can be stopped just by closing the private window without extra action.
Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing (Private Window) on Android and iPhone
We will click on the right upper corner menu item in order to list the menu. Then we will click to the New private tab from the list like below.
We will see the Mozilla Firefox in private browsing mode like below. We can see that in order to express the private browsing the theme is dark.
We can close the private window from the tab list and selecting the mask which will list private windows and click to x to close the selected private windows.
Microsoft Edge(Internet Explorer) Private Browsing ( InPrivate Mode)
Microsoft provides the Edge as a new browser for the Windows users. The old name was the Internet Explorer and it has vanished. The Microsoft Edge provides the private with the name of InPrivate Window .
From the menu button which resides on the left upper corner, we will list the menu. Then we will click to the New InPrivate window in order to open private browsing. Alternatively CTRL+SHIFT+P keyboard shortcut.
We will see the following private browsing windows for Microsoft Edge. It provides the message Browsing InPrivate . If we need to close the private windows we can simply click right upper x button.
Safari Private Browsing
Safari is an Apple platform browser that is used in MacOSX, iOS/iPhone. Operare also provides private browsing with the same name Private Browsing.
Safari Private Browsing For MacOS X
In Safari we will use the File menu item and then select the New Private Window like below. Alternatively we can use COMMAND+SHIFT+N keyboard shortcut too.
Safari Private Browsing For iPhone or iOS
For mobile platforms iPhone or iOS we can open the Safari in private browsing. We will click on the tab list button from the left bottom corner like below.
In the following screen, we will select the Private and push to the + button to open a new private window.
We will see the following Private Browsing Mode .
Opera Private Browsing( Incognito Mode)
Opera provides private browsing with the name of Private Window . Private browsing can be used for all major operating systems and platforms like Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Server, Linux, Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Mint, Kali, Fedora, SUSE, MacOS X, iPhone, Android.
Opera Private Browsing( Private Window) For Windows, Linux, MacOSX
We will open the Private Browsing from the left upper corner menu which is opera icon O. Then we will click to the New private window from the menu list. Alternatively we can use CTRL+SHIFT+N keyboard short cut to open a new private window.
We will see the following private window for opera. The theme will be changed into purple to express private mode.
Opera Private Browsing( Private Window) For Android, iPhone
Opera can provide the private window for Android, iOS or iPhone platforms. We will click on the tab list from the button below.
From the following screen, we will select the Private Tab as below. Then to open new private window we will click to the + sign on the center bottom.
Below we can see the private mode for opera on the Android, iPhone or iOS.
