They can also do it to help make their sites easier to use. Most do it to understand if you’re interested in purchasing a product or clicking on an article. Incognito or private browsing mode is made for any of these scenarios.Ī lot of sites keep track of your browsing activity. Or maybe you just want to limit the amount of data companies collect about you and you value privacy. You could be shopping for a gift and you don’t want anything to spoil the surprise. You might share a computer or device and you don’t want your siblings snooping. Perhaps you want to keep your work and personal life separate. Just because you’re using private browsing mode doesn’t mean you’re up to something nefarious. And any bookmarks you save while in private browsing or incognito mode won’t disappear when you switch it off. It won’t stop websites from seeing your physical location. It won’t keep your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing where you’ve been online. It won’t protect you from viruses or malware. What Incognito/Private Mode Doesn’t DoĪ 2018 survey of 460 internet users by the University of Chicago found that there are a lot of misconceptions out there about private browsing or incognito mode. Incognito or private mode keeps your browsing history private.
