Why you need Incognito mode on iPhone — and how to turn it on

Incognito mode has long been a standard browser feature, but many still treat it as a way to disappear completely online. In reality, this mode only removes local traces of activity on the device and does not make the user fully anonymous.

Novyny.LIVE explains how to use this mode on an iPhone.

What incognito mode actually does

Incognito mode (called Private Browsing in Safari on iPhone) is primarily intended to temporarily avoid saving local data about your online activity. During such a session, the browser does not store browsing history, search queries, cookies, or form data. As soon as you close the window or tab, this information disappears from the device.

This is convenient when you need to perform an action that should not affect your main browser history — for example, searching for gifts on a shared phone, accessing personal services that shouldn’t be visible to other users, or viewing materials that should not remain in the browsing log.

An additional advantage is the ability to sign in to another account without logging out of the main one. In incognito mode, you can open email, YouTube, or another service under a second profile while keeping your primary login active and unchanged.

In some cases, incognito mode is helpful when comparing prices. Certain online services adjust prices for returning visitors or, conversely, offer special conditions for "new" users. By opening a page in private mode, you may see prices unaffected by your previous online behavior. It is also useful for one-time queries that should not be saved in the general browser history.

How to turn on incognito mode on iPhone

Private browsing is built into all major browsers, including Safari and Google Chrome on iPhone. Each enables it slightly differently, but the principle is the same.

To enable private browsing in the default iPhone browser:

• open Safari;
• go to the tab overview screen;
• in the tab group selector at the bottom, swipe the "Start Page" area and switch it to Private;
• tap + to open a new private tab and begin browsing in this mode;

All pages opened in this mode will not appear in your browsing history, and form data and cookies will not remain on the device after closing the tabs.

In Chrome on iPhone, turning on incognito mode is even simpler:

• open Google Chrome;
• press and hold the tabs icon until a menu appears;
• select New Incognito Tab.

You will then switch to a separate browsing space where history, cookies, and other local data are not saved once the session ends.

In Safari, the mode is called Private Browsing, but it works essentially the same as incognito. In other iPhone browsers, it is enabled similarly — through the tabs menu or an option like "Private Tab" / "Incognito." This makes it easy to use regardless of the browser.

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