open safari in private window

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How to go incognito in Safari on Mac

There may be times when you want complete privacy while browsing the web. Maybe you don’t want others to know which websites you visit or what items you download, or you may also just want to prevent sites from tracking you across browser tabs. The best way to achieve that is by learning how to go incognito in Safari on a Mac.

How to go incognito on Mac with private browsing in Safari

What happens when you use private browsing, how to exit private browsing in safari, how to always use private browsing in safari, what you need.

Mac computer

Safari browser

When you want to initiate a private browsing session in Safari on Mac, you have a few easy ways to do it.

• Use the Safari menu: With Safari open and active, select File from the menu bar and choose New Private Window .
• Use the Safari icon in the Dock: If you keep the Safari icon in your Dock, right-click it and select New Private Window .
• Use a keyboard shortcut: With Safari open and active, press Shift + Command + N on your keyboard.

Once you open a new private window, you’ll notice the appearance is slightly different. The Smart Search field (URL bar) has a dark background with white text.

You’ll also see a message letting you know that private browsing is enabled. Select the X on the right side to dismiss the message and then visit the websites you want.

Although you can browse the web as you normally would in Safari, there are some differences when you use private browsing.

• Any sites you visit, AutoFill details you use, or changes you make to cookies or website data are not saved.
• Your recent searches are unavailable in the Smart Search field.
• Items you download do not display in the Safari downloads list. However, they are still viewable in your Downloads folder.
• You cannot pass private windows using Handoff to your other devices.
• Any webpages you visit are not stored in iCloud and therefore unavailable when viewing Safari tabs on your other devices.
• Websites cannot track your browsing across tabs in Safari because each private browsing tab is isolated from the next.

When you finish using private browsing, you can simply close the Safari window. You can then select File > New Window or use the keyboard shortcut Command + N to initiate a non-private browsing session.

One additional way to go incognito on Mac is to always use private browsing in Safari. With a simple setting adjustment, you can have Safari open in a private window every single time.

Step 1: Open Safari and select Safari > Preferences from the menu bar.

Step 2: Go to the General tab.

Step 3: Pick the drop-down next to Safari opens with and choose A new private window .

Step 4: Close the Preferences using the X on the top left corner.

Once you change this setting, you’ll use private browsing each time you open Safari. If you change your mind later, you can follow the same steps and select a different option in the Safari opens with drop-down list.

It’s easy to go incognito on a Mac, whether you go once in a while or all the time. Will you?

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Tips and tricks for using Private Browsing on Mac

Private Browsing is a useful mode on Mac with Safari. It means websites you visit aren’t saved in your history, with iCloud, Smart Search, and more. Follow along for a look at how to use Private Browsing, the keyboard shortcut to quickly open a new private Safari window, setting it as your launch default, and more.

Table of contents

Keyboard shortcut for private browsing on mac, set private browsing as your default safari startup page, going further.

Using a Private Browsing window includes a number of privacy features. In a support document , Apple details how a Private Browsing window works as of macOS Big Sur and Safari 14.

• Browsing initiated in one tab is isolated from browsing initiated in another tab, so websites you visit can’t track your browsing across multiple sessions.
• Webpages you visit and your AutoFill information aren’t saved.
• Your open webpages aren’t stored in iCloud, so they aren’t shown when you view all your open tabs from other devices.
• Your recent searches aren’t included in the results list when you use the Smart Search field.
• Items you download aren’t included in the downloads list. (The items do remain on your computer.)
• If you  use Handoff , Private Browsing windows are not passed to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or other Mac computers.
• Changes to your  cookies and website data  aren’t saved.

Below we’ll look at how to use Private Browsing on Mac but also a few extra tips and tricks to make it faster and easier to use.

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• Private Browsing on iPhone and iPad here .

How to use Private Browsing on Mac

• To open a new Private window, click Safari in the menu bar > New Private Window
• There’s also an alert near the top that you’ve enabled Private Browsing (disappears when you start browsing)

Here’s how it looks:

• You’re probably used to the command + N shortcut for a new Safari window
• Just add shift to that to get a new Private window – command + shift + N
• If you like to use Private Browsing regularly, you can make it your default when Safari launches
• Click Safari > Preferences in the menu bar
• Select the General tab at the top
• Next to Safari open with click the dropdown and choose A new private window

• If you want to tweak the default settings for normal Safari windows, check out the options at the bottom of the Safari > Preferences > General
• At the bottom of the window, you can adjust the settings for when history and downloads are removed and more
• Also, head to Safari > Preferences > Security or Privacy to tweak your fraudulent website warnings, and settings for cookies, website data, and more.
• To clear your Mac’s cache, history, and cookies head to Safari > Clear History (read more in our full guide on that here )

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How to turn on private browsing on a Mac computer in Safari

• You can turn on private browsing on your Mac computer in a Safari browser to use the internet without having your activity catalogued by your browser. 
• Private browsing is a good option to keep sensitive information from living in your web history or being saved to your iCloud account. 
• Here's how to turn on private browsing on a Mac computer by opening a new private window or using a keyboard shortcut. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

A private browser is a useful way to navigate the internet with minimal tracking, although the exact functions may vary slightly depending on which browser you are using. 

On Safari, private browsing means that websites won't be able to track your activity across sites, your visited websites aren't saved or stored on in iCloud, and your recent searches won't appear in the Smart Search field. 

You also won't have access to any saved AutoFill information when you visit websites, so keep that in mind if you need to log into a site.

With that in mind, here's how to open a private window on a Mac using the Safari web browser: 

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Macbook pro (from $1,299.99 at best buy), how to turn on private browsing on a mac in safari.

1. Open your Safari browser.

2. In the top toolbar, click "File."

3. Select "New Private Window."

The smart search field will show up with a dark background, which will signal that you are in private browsing mode. 

Alternatively, you could use the keyboard shortcut to open a private window in your Safari browser. To do that, you'd open a window in the browser, then press the shift, command and "N" keys.

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• Main content

How to Use Private Browsing in Safari

Private browsing, also known as incognito mode, lets you surf the web without storing your browsing or search history. Here's how to quickly turn private browsing on or off in Safari.

It's worth noting that private browsing won't disguise you from the sites you visit. They could still record your IP address and any information you enter into their sites, such as search terms. Additionally, private browsing won't protect you from web-based malware attacks, so you'll still need to be careful about what you click on whether you're in private or normal browsing mode.

Private browsing mode is helpful when you don't want other users to discover (accidentally or not) the sites you've been looking at. Apple iCloud syncs your browsing history between the Mac and the iPad and iPhone , so if you share devices, you can protect your privacy with private browsing mode. This also comes in handy if you're using a public computer and don't want to leave any AutoFill information behind.

Turn on Private Browsing on the Mac

In OS X, the quickest way to open a new private browsing window is with the keyboard shortcut.

1. Hold down Command+Shift+N. This will open a new window with private browsing enabled. Alternatively, go to File > New Private Window.

2. Search or browse the web as you normally would. The web pages you visit, your search history, and AutoFill information while you use the private browsing window won't be recorded.

3. Close the window when you're done with private browsing.

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Note that private browsing is OS X applies only to the private browsing window you have opened. If you open a new window with Command+N or File > New Window, that window will save your search history and other private browsing information.

Turn on Private Browsing in iOS

Safari on the iPad has a private browsing mode as well.

1. Tap the Pages button , which is shaped as two squares in Safari's menu.

2. Tap Private.

3. Tap the Search field to search for a site to visit.

4. Tap Pages then Private again to turn off private browsing mode.

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How to always open Safari in a private window

With privacy becoming a hotter topic these days, web users are becoming more and more wary about what they share online. While there are many different steps that can be taken to increase your online privacy , a very simple way to get started is to use a web browser in Private mode.

In this post, you will learn about what Private mode means in Safari, and you will find out how to always open Safari in a private window to make this simple precaution an automatic way of accessing the web on your Mac, your iPhone, or your iPad.

What is Private mode?

Anytime you use Private browsing on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, Safari automatically prevents websites from tracking your activity, and the browser will not save any of your browsing data.

Additionally, Safari enables a bunch of privacy-oriented feature to increase your security. To read a comprehensive list of things Safari does when using private browsing, make sure to refer to our post about  how to use private windows in Safari for Mac .

How to always open Safari in Private mode on Mac

You likely already know  how to open a new private window in Safari on Mac , but there is also a setting that can be activated to make this the default mode for web browsing.

1)  Launch Safari on your Mac.

2)  In the Menu Bar, go to Safari > Preferences , and click on the General tab.

3)  Look for the top menu that read Safari opens with and select A new private window .

Going forward, any time you launch a new window, it will open in Private mode. This preference will stick even if you quit Safari or reboot your Mac.

How to always open Safari in Private mode on iPhone or iPad

Things are slightly different on iPhone and iPad since there isn’t an actual setting you can enable to always launch Safari in Private mode. However, a simple trick will allow you to do just that.

1)   Open a new private tab in Safari on your iPhone or iPad.

2)  Leave that tab in the foreground in Safari, meaning, do not disable Private mode.

Next time you launch Safari, it will show that private tab. And if you decide to open a new tab, it will open that tab in Private mode as well. If you exit Private mode though, the next tab you open will not be private.

For more privacy tips on iOS, make sure to read our post about  how to increase privacy in Safari for iPhone and iPad .

How-To Geek

How to always start any browser in private browsing mode.

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Private browsing mode doesn't offer complete privacy , but it does prevent your browser from saving your history, searches, cookies, and other private data between browsing sessions. You can have your browser always start in private browsing mode if you prefer it.

Most people won't want to use private browsing mode permanently. You will have to log into the websites you use each time you open your browser, as your browser won't save the  cookies  that keep your login state.

To activate Google Chrome's incognito mode by default, you must add a command line option to its shortcut.

First, locate the shortcut you use to launch Google Chrome---either on your taskbar, desktop, Start menu. Right-click it and select "Properties".

If you're using a taskbar shortcut, you'll have to right-click the Google Chrome shortcut on your taskbar, right-click "Google Chrome" in the menu that appears, and then select "Properties".

 to the end of the text in the Target box. That's a space, one dash, and then the word incognito.

Click "OK" to save your changes after adding this option.

Google Chrome will now start in incognito mode when you launch it from this shortcut. If you use other shortcuts to launch Google Chrome, you will also need to modify them.

To undo this change in the future, edit your shortcuts and remove the 

 text you added.

Related: How to Delete Your Google Chrome Incognito Browsing History

Firefox allows you to automatically enable private browsing mode via its options window. Click menu > Options to open it.

Click the "Privacy" tab at the left side of the window to access your privacy settings. Under History, click the "Firefox will" box and select "Never remember history". You'll be prompted to restart Firefox.

Firefox will now always use the same settings it uses in private browsing mode, although it won't display its normal private browsing interface. It will just look like a normal Firefox browser window.

To undo this change in the future, return to this pane and tell Firefox to remember your history again.

The Safari browser on macOS includes an option that allows you to always open it in private browsing mode. To find it, open Safari and click Safari > Preferences.

On the General pane, click the "Safari opens with" box and select "A new private window". When you open Safari in the future, it will open in private browsing mode.

To undo this change in the future, return here and tell Safari to open with "A new window" instead.

The ability to always open Edge in InPrivate Browsing mode is one of the many features Microsoft Edge doesn't yet offer. Microsoft may one day add this feature to Edge in a future update to Windows 10.

Update : The new version of Microsoft Edge based on Chromium now offers this feature. You can activate it just like in Google Chrome.

First, right-click your Microsoft Edge shortcut and select "Properties." On the Shortcut tab, add

to the end of the Target box. That's a space, one dash, and then "inprivate".

Click "OK" to save your changes. Edge will always open in InPrivate Browsing mode when you launch it from this shortcut.

If you're using Internet Explorer, you will need to add a command-line option to your Internet Explorer shortcuts to activate InPrivate Browsing by default.

Locate the shortcut you use to launch Internet Explorer, right-click it, and select Properties. If you're using a taskbar shortcut, you'll need to right-click Internet Explorer on the taskbar, right-click "Internet Explorer" again, and select Properties.

 to the end of the Target box. That's a space, one dash, and then the word private. Click OK to save your changes.

Internet Explorer will now start with InPrivate Browsing enabled when you launch it via this shortcut. If you use other shortcuts to launch Internet Explorer, you will need to modify each one.

To undo this change in the future, edit your Internet Explorer shortcuts and remove the 

 text you added from the target box.

Remember that your browser won't be able to save login states, websites preferences, or any other type of data if you do this. This can be both a blessing and a curse.

Use Private Browsing windows

When you use Private Browsing windows, Safari doesn’t save your browsing history, and it asks websites you visit not to track you.

Use Private Browsing: Choose File > New Private Window, or switch to a Safari window that’s already using Private Browsing. A window that’s using Private Browsing has a dark address and search field with white text.

When you use a Private Browsing window:

Each tab in the window is isolated from the others, so websites you view in one tab can’t track your browsing in other tabs.

Safari doesn’t remember the webpages you visit or your AutoFill information.

Safari doesn’t store your open webpages in iCloud, so they aren’t shown when you view all your open tabs from other devices.

Your recent searches aren’t included in the results list when you use the address and search field.

Items you download aren’t included in the downloads list. (The items do remain on your computer.)

If you use Handoff , Private Browsing windows are not passed to your iOS devices or other Mac computers.

Safari doesn’t remember changes to your cookies or other website data. Safari also asks websites and others who provide those sites with content (including advertisers) not to keep track of your browsing, although it is up to the websites to honor this request.

Plug-ins that support Private Browsing stop storing cookies and other tracking information.

Websites can’t modify information stored on your device, so services normally available at such sites may work differently until you turn off Private Browsing.

Note:   None of the above applies in other Safari windows you may have open that don’t use Private Browsing.

Stop using Private Browsing: Close the Private Browsing window, switch to a different Safari window that isn’t using Private Browsing, or choose File > New Window to open a window that doesn’t use Private Browsing. To further enhance privacy:

Delete any items you downloaded while using Private Browsing windows.

Close any other Private Browsing windows that are still open, to prevent others from using the Back and Forward buttons to see pages you visited in them.

Besides using Private Browsing windows, you can manage cookies and data stored by all websites and have Safari ask all websites not to track you .

If you forget to use a Private Browsing window, you can clear your browsing history .

Turn Private Browsing on or off on your iPad

When you use Private Browsing, the details of your browsing aren't saved, and the websites you visit aren't shared with your other devices. Safari won't remember the pages you visit, your search history, or your AutoFill information.

How to turn on Private Browsing

Open Safari on your iPad.

While Private Browsing is on, the Safari address bar appears black or dark instead of white or gray, and the buttons are black instead of blue.

How to turn off Private Browsing

Learn how to use Private Browsing on iPhone or iPod touch .

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