Does Incognito Mode Hide Your IP?

People believe that if they use ‘Incognito Mode’ or ‘Private Browsing,’ their ISP can not track their web activity. 

That is a false claim; even if you use ‘Incognito Mode’ or ‘Private Browsing,’ your ISP can track all your web-based activity. You are on a network using your local IP Address and no third-party application to become anonymous.

Many Browsers have now developed the feature of ‘Incognito Mode’ or ‘Private Browsing,’ but how secure and anonymous is Incognito Mode?

What is the Incognito Mode?

Incognito Mode is described as the feature to conceal one’s true identity from the application. Yes, you heard it right; it hides your true identity from only the application but not your ISP.

Incognito Mode gives users a feeling of privacy, but it does not make you anonymous on the internet.

Incognito Mode is associated with Google Chrome’s Private Browsing feature by many users, but the general term is actually ‘Private Browsing.’

What Does Incognito Mode Do?

Incognito Mode conceals your true identity from the browser and the OS by not recording the search terms, deleting the history of the websites you visit, and deleting any cookies that you might have collected while using it. 

Incognito Mode deletes everything after the session finishes except for bookmarks and downloads. There would be no browsing history available for someone who uses your device if you were using the Incognito Mode. 

But your ISP, Operating System, and the government will track your browsing history with the help of the ISP.

How to Access Incognito Mode?

All the browsers nowadays include Incognito Mode. But, the names would be different, like InPrivate Windows, Private Browsing, or Private Window.

Incognito Modes shortcut keys for some well-known web-browsers around the world:

How to Browse Anonymously on the Internet?

If you want to be anonymous on the internet means you don’t want to be tracked by your ISP or the government or don’t want someone to breach your privacy while managing your finances on your device sipping coffee and using the coffee shops free WiFi. 

You will need to make sure that your online activities are Incognito. Here is how you can become anonymous on the internet:

VPN

VPN provides the best protection from the ISP or that guy who is always sitting at the coffee shop with a laptop, acting strangely. 

A VPN encrypts all the traffic that is being sent by the user. The ISP might know that the user is using a VPN, but they can not see what activity you are doing after being connected to a VPN as all your moves are encrypted.

The same encryption keeps that guy with the laptop at the coffee shop away from your personal and financial information.

Combining Incognito Mode with a VPN will make you anonymous on the web and the local device. The VPN will make you anonymous over the network, while the Incognito mode will hide your activity from the device.

Make sure that you are using the VPN’s application, not any web browser extension. It is because the extension will only keep your browser anonymous, not your whole device.

Private Search Engine

All the search engines keep track of your activity, but few keep your searches hidden.

Google, Yahoo, Bing, and many others keep track of your search, whereas DuckDuckGO keeps all your searches undercover.

DuckDuckGo has a strict provider policy not to save the search terms and track the usage.

The search provider’s search results from 400+ sources, including Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and its search engine but not Google, so it keeps your search results secured and hidden from everyone.

Using DuckDuckGo as your search engine while being Incognito and utilizing a VPN secured device will make it impossible to know about your activity on the web unless you start using your credentials for sign-ups.

Tor Browser

Tor browser makes you anonymous over the web through a series of distributed nodes or relays and runs by thousands of volunteers worldwide.

Your encrypted web activity travels through 3 different nodes before decrypting into the server—all this while using a dummy IP Address.

Tor browser opens up access to blocked websites, making it a particularly famous tool for journalists and activists in restrictive areas worldwide.

The Tor browser’s only drawback is that it is slower than all the other browsers because it routes your connections through different relays.

Conclusion

While your browser’s Incognito Mode provides some kind of anonymity over the local device, it is not best suited for keeping us away from the prying eyes of ISP, the government, or that guy from the coffee shop.

We have learned a few new methods of being safe, enhancing its protection if used with Incognito Mode. 

Using a VPN with the DuckDuckGo search engine, all of which will ensure that you are Anonymous over the internet and on your local device while being on Incognito mode.