How Chrome Incognito keeps your browsing private
Incognito mode can help keep your browsing private from other people who use your device.
When you first open a new Incognito window, you’re creating a new Incognito browsing session. Any Incognito windows you open after that are part of the same session. You can end that Incognito session by closing all open Incognito windows.
In Incognito, none of your browsing history, cookies and site data, or information entered in forms are saved on your device. This means your activity doesn’t show up in your Chrome browser history, so people who also use your device won’t see your activity. Websites see you as a new user and won’t know who you are, as long as you don’t sign in.
If you’re browsing in Chrome Incognito mode, you are, by default, not signed into any accounts or sites.
Your school, Internet Service Provider, or any parental tracking software may be able to see your activity. You can check if your Chrome browser is managed.
You can choose to block third-party cookies when you open a new Incognito window. Learn more about cookies.
What Incognito mode does
- Browsing in Incognito mode means your activity data isn’t saved on your device, or to a Google Account you’re not signed into.
- For example, you may use Incognito mode to shop online for a birthday gift for a family member who shares your device. If you don’t sign in to your Google Account, your shopping activity will not appear in your Chrome browsing activity and won’t be saved to your Google Account.
- Each time you close all Incognito windows, Chrome discards any site data and cookies associated with that browsing session.
- Chrome doesn’t tell websites, including Google, when you're browsing privately in Incognito mode.
What Incognito mode doesn’t do
- Prevent you from telling a website who you are. If you sign in to any website in Incognito mode, that site will know that you’re the one browsing and can keep track of your activities from that moment on.
- Prevent your activity or location from being visible to websites you visit and the services they use, your school, employer, or your Internet Service Provider.
- Prevent the websites you visit from serving ads based on your activity during an Incognito session. After you close all Incognito windows, websites won’t be able to serve ads to you based on your signed-out activity during that closed session.
While Incognito mode provides local privacy on your device, it does not affect how Google collects data when you use other products and services, as described in the Privacy Policy.
- Close all Incognito windows and tabs when you're done browsing. You end a session when you close all Incognito windows, so closing a single tab won’t discard your data. If you see a number next to the Incognito icon on your desktop or at the bottom of your browser on a mobile device, you have more than one Incognito window or tab open.
- You can choose to sign in to any account when in Incognito mode. If you sign into a Google service, like Gmail, or a site, that site may remember your activity.
- Delete any downloads and bookmarks you don't want your device to remember. Files you download and bookmarks you create are saved in any mode.
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