Your Google and Safari Incognito mode is EXPOSING you online – here’s how

IF YOU’RE trying to stay private online, Incognito Mode might seem like the perfect move.

But Incognito Mode exposes a lot more information than you probably realise.

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GoogleIncognito Mode isn’t a catch-all privacy solution[/caption]

What does Incognito Mode hide?

Incognito Mode is extremely useful, because it can stop your browser saving information about what you do online to your computer.

For instance, any websites you visit while in Incognito Mode won’t show up in your browsing history.

You also won’t store any new cookies (read our cookies explainer here), which are small computer files that let websites know if you’ve been on their page previously.

It also won’t save any site data – for instance, if you’re logged into a website, you’ll be logged out in incognito mode.

And information won’t be stored for later use in web forms that you fill in.

This makes Incognito Mode really useful, particularly if you’re trying to hide what you’re doing from other people in your household.

If you’re looking for a birthday present for your partner, using Incognito Mode will mean they won’t be able to see what you’ve been looking at.

Or if you want to search for something on the internet, but don’t want websites to constantly serve you ads for that product in the future, Incognito Mode will prevent those sites from knowing you were interested in an item.

What doesn’t Incognito Mode hide?

We’ve established that Incognito Mode stops Google Chrome from saving your browsing habits on your own computer.

What it doesn’t stop is everything else.

Anyone on your Wi-Fi network could potentially use special spy software to view what you’re browsing, regardless of Incognito Mode.

And your employer will be able to use similar technology to see what you’re browsing at work, too.

It’s entirely possible that your employer logs every website you visit while at work.

Your internet service provider (so BT, Virgin, and so on) will also be able to see what you’re doing online.

That means the police can also get access to what you view in Incognito Mode, simply by requesting that information from your internet provider.

The websites you’re using will also be able to track that you’re online on their page, too.

For instance, Google will know where you’re browsing from, and what you’re looking at.

And if you log into a website, they’ll also be able to keep track of information about you.

So when you log into Facebook in Incognito Mode, details about what you do on the site will be recorded – just the same as if you were using it in a normal web browser.

The key point is that Incognito Mode is not a great method of ensuring privacy, because it’s still very easy to track what you’re doing online.

It’s only really useful for keeping websites out of your browsing history, or logging into a single website on multiple accounts in the same web browser.

The good news is that Safari has some optional protections you can turn on to limit tracking.

You can find these in Safari settings.

Importantly, these are browser-wide and aren’t linked to the private browsing mode.

GoogleBe careful how you browser in Incognito Mode[/caption]

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