Private access on your computer. How to quickly enable or disable private browsing in Safari

Private access in Safari is an enhanced security mode that excludes the storage of any information related to the resources you visit, text fields you fill in, and downloaded files. And, although every user of the iOS operating system and the Safari browser is able to personally clear the history of visits and any activity on the Internet, “Private Access” is necessary not so much for the sake of hiding information on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, but for protecting confidential data - web resources will not be able to collect information, display targeted advertising and remember recent actions (especially when making purchases).

How do I enable or disable Private Browsing?

  1. Open the Safari browser (the tool is preinstalled in the operating system and is located by default on the quick access panel at the bottom of the interface; another option is that the launch shortcut is hidden on the first desktop);
  2. On the screen that appears, click on the button responsible for displaying open tabs;
  3. When the current pages are displayed in miniature, you must click on the “Private Access” menu item;
  4. The system will immediately warn you what actions in this mode will lead to and why it is important to take care of your own security on the Internet.
  5. To disable the mode, you must open the tabbed menu again and click on “Private Access”. It is important to remember that pages that have not been closed will appear again when you access the confidential protection mode. Therefore, for additional security, after completing the current session, it is better to “erase all evidence.”

    Features of the mode

  • Complete isolation. Each open tab is not associated with other open pages and allows you not to worry about transferring data from “neighboring” sources;
  • No "memory". The pages you visit are kept strictly confidential, including no one will know about recent queries in search engines, downloaded files (information is never added to the “Downloads” section, but files are saved on the Mac OS hard drive or on the internal memory of the iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone). Additionally, the Handoff mode will not work (again due to the peculiarities of the mode), tabs will never be saved to iCloud, even with the full synchronization option enabled. And one more thing - login and password data does not remain in memory and is entered anew each time.

    Recently, Apple has strongly recommended that third-party resources not track the actions of users surfing the network in private access mode. Of course, not everyone fulfills the requirements, and therefore it is worth combining forces by also using VPNs (virtual private networks). It is truly impossible to find data in such a bundle! True, you will have to pay for a high-quality VPN, otherwise the speed will be low or access will be interrupted frequently. An alternative option is to use a third-party browser like Tor.

The “Private Access” mode is officially available starting from version 7 of iOS. If a similar function is not found in the Safari browser, it is recommended to download updates for your smartphone, tablet or player (“Settings”, “General” menu, item – “Software update” - the search will take a few minutes). If the required button is found, but there is no question of the required confidentiality “clearing” of recent actions, then you should restart the equipment and again go through the steps of the instructions described above. The problem is definitely temporary and can be fixed in just a few seconds. Did not work out? .

With the release of macOS Mojave, we received a brand new Safari, which also has many interesting changes. I will not describe in detail how the browser works, but will only tell you about seven useful tricks.

With the release of macOS Mojave, we received a brand new Safari, which also has many interesting changes. I will not describe in detail how the browser works, but will only tell you about seven useful tricks. Some of them are completely new, and some are well-forgotten old ones.

1. How to enable incognito mode

During incognito mode in Safari, your Mac doesn't save your browsing history, cache, or passwords. Also, in incognito mode, sites cannot track what is open in neighboring tabs.

To enable it, just go to File ▸ New private window, or use the keyboard shortcut Shift Cmd N. A new window will appear, the address bar of which will be colored black. That's it, now your privacy is protected.


A black box in Safari's address bar indicates that Incognito mode is enabled

2. How to add a link to favorites


Add the current website to your Safari Favorites

3. How to view bookmarks and favorite links

All the links you bookmark can be viewed in the Safari sidebar. To do this, you need to open it and go to the tab Bookmarks. You can also open the sidebar using the Cmd Ctrl 1 combination.


Saved bookmarks are visible in the sidebar

4. How to clear your browsing history

To open your browsing history in Safari, you need to press Cmd Y and then click the button.

Please note that you can clear your entire history, as well as for the last hour or day.


Clearing history of visited pages

5. How to close all tabs except the current one

Sometimes there are so many open tabs that you are simply too lazy to close them one by one. To close them all in one fell swoop, just press Cmd Alt W. All Safari tabs except the current one will close.

6. How to view the full link address

To make the browser interface a little cleaner, Apple is shortening all the links in the address bar. If you open a page, you will see only the domain in the search address bar.

Safari ▸ Settings ▸ Add-ons ▸ Show full website address


Enable a full address link in the address bar
Full link in Safari address bar

7. How to open windows from the last session

When you close Safari, all open tabs are also closed. If this happens by accident, you can quickly open the last open tabs:

History ▸ Reopen all windows from the last session

The Safari browser has many hidden features. But some of them are available on the very first browser screen.

This is, for example, the ability to view pages in Private Access. In some cases, it can actually be useful, for example, if you are looking for a gift for a loved one, but don’t want him to somehow find it later.

True, if you were not looking for information in this mode, then you can view the history. Fortunately, you can remove it yourself. We'll tell you how to do this.

How to use Private Browsing

Step 1. Click the open tabs button in the bottom right corner of Safari.

Step 2. Click the Private button in the lower left corner of the screen. The interface will change to dark gray.

Step 3. Tap the + icon to create a new tab.

In this mode, the history of search queries is not saved.

How to Delete Search History in Safari

In this case, there are two ways to clear your web surfing history. Note that history deleted on one device will not be displayed on all others connected to iCloud.

Method 1

Step 1. Tap the book icon at the bottom of the screen.

Step 2. Go to the section with the clock icon, the full browser history is stored there.

Step 3. To delete individual pages, swipe from right to left and tap Delete. If you want to delete everything, either for a certain period (hour, today, today and yesterday, all time), click Clear and select the desired item.

Method 2

The second method allows you to clear all history, cookies, and website data on this device. Moreover, regardless of when the sites were opened.

Step 1. Go to section Settings -> Safari.

Step 2. At the bottom of the list, click on the button Clear history and data.

Please note that these methods will only help you hide safely from strangers within your immediate vicinity.

If you need to be anonymous on the Internet, .

The issue of online privacy is increasingly becoming a concern for Internet users. There are many ways to protect your privacy online, and the simplest of them is to run your browser in private browsing mode. This article will talk about how to launch Safari by default on a Mac, iPhone or iPad in incognito mode while browsing the Internet.

What is Incognito Mode (Private Browsing) in Safari on iPhone and iPad?

Whenever you open Safari in private mode on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, the browser automatically prevents websites from tracking your browsing activity, and no browsing data is saved. In addition, Safari includes a number of privacy-focused features to enhance security.

How to Set Safari to Run in Private Mode (Private Browsing) on ​​Mac by Default

You probably already know how to open a private window in Safari on Mac, but in your browser settings you can set Safari to run in incognito mode by default.

1. Open Safari on Mac;

2. From the menu bar, open Safari → Preferences → General, or use the keyboard shortcut that opens Preferences in any app on your Mac;

3. Under Open when Safari starts, select the New private window option.

Now every time a new window will be launched in private browsing mode. The settings are saved even after restarting the Mac.

How to Set Safari to Run in Private Browsing Mode by Default on iPhone and iPad

1. Open a new private tab in Safari on your iPhone or iPad (launch the browser, then click Tabs → Private Sharing → Done);

2. Leave this tab in the foreground in Safari, that is, do not disable private mode.

The next time you launch Safari, this tab will appear and each window will launch in private mode.

Based on materials from yablyk

Incognito is also commonly called private or private mode, and this depends on the operating system and browser. It is present in every Internet browser, and allows you to create complete privacy on your computer, namely:

  • Visit any sites without recording its links in your browsing history and cookies (cache) memory;
  • Open any information anonymously, without saving it to a computer database;
  • If privacy is turned on, the program will not display that you used it at all during that period of time.

It should be noted that this does not mean complete privacy, but only secrecy on your computer. Other systems, such as the site server and information from the search engine and provider, will be known to their administrators, so when you visit dubious resources, you can soon receive similar advertising in search engines. Be careful, or change your IP address.

Incognito in Safari browser

By default, Apple's browser has built-in private tabs on both personal computers and smartphones. In both the first and second, it is built into Safari and is called under the “Private Mode” item.

It is known that the history of visited sites in Apple is saved and distributed to all devices linked to the account via ICloud. Any user wants to hide some information from prying eyes, which is why this function was created. Therefore, if you do not want the data to be distributed, use it. This will also prevent sites from searching for your data from Cookies and will disable the function of remembering entered data and auto-filling.

Activating incognito on PC version of Safari

There are two ways to activate this feature.

The first way is by pressing the hotkey combination:


To stop surfing sites in this situation, just close the tab and reopen the browser. When it is opened again and without a hot combination, all data that will be recorded during its operation will be saved in the history, filling out forms and in the list of downloaded cache materials and files.

The second option is standard and is performed in the following way:


To disable this feature, simply close all sites open via private and reopening the program will launch Safari in its normal state.

In older versions, to return to the public position, you need to go back to the settings and turn off the active “Private Mode” tab.

Private in a browser on a smartphone

The private state function in mobile Safari is no different from the computer one, except perhaps in the way it is launched and in the absence of hot combinations to activate it.

To open, do the following:

  1. Open the browser on the iOS device.
  2. Click “Tabs” (it is located at the bottom of the screen on the right and resembles two squares combined with each other).
  3. From the list, look for the “Private” item and select it.
  4. After – the browser will switch this mode and you can press “+” (plus) to open new private tabs.
  5. To switch between private and regular pages, you can click on the existing mode and the program will switch between them itself.

To close, just click on the cross or separately on each private tab so that the usual ones remain.