With the advancement in technology, privacy has become a subject of utmost importance. No individual wants to give away any information regarding which site they had visited and how many times they had visited, because there is always a risk that someone might misuse a user’s personal information. Taking this thing into consideration, every company that hosts web browsers, irrespective of the operating systems they’re used on, have come up with an in-built option called Incognito mode.
What is the Incognito mode?
Incognito is a mode that prevents the web browser from saving the local history, i.e., browsing history, cookies, site data, or any other information entered on forms by the user. On the other hand, your activity will still be able to be seen to:
- To your main network service provider.
- To your company.
- Websites that you visit on incognito mode.
This mode saves you from the hassle of deleting your browser history every time and prevents the people you know from knowing what you exactly do on your device. The fluctuations in prices on ticket booking sites and other E-commerce websites also reduce using incognito mode. It also saves you from being “phished” by any hacker.
Incognito mode, however, is often misused. Sometimes it becomes really important to track what a user is up to when he uses his/her computer or mobile phone, especially kids. Since the internet is easily accessible to everyone, kids often tend to misuse it and develop certain habits that have a long-term adverse effect on them. Porn, dark web, violent content, and other illegal websites can be easily accessed by kids who can have a psychological effect and may bring down their overall performance. Kids wouldn’t want their parents to know what sites they access as they fear their parents might overreact after looking at their activity online. Thus, they switch to incognito mode as they do not have to worry about deleting their browser history.
Below you can find how to see incognito history on android
How to see history and track activity on Incognito mode?
Normally, a parent can’t look at what sites their child accesses using incognito mode as it is designed in such a way that browser history is deleted the moment one exits this mode. However, if one wants to look at their child’s browser history in normal mode, they can follow the given steps:
- Open the browser app on your desktop or your mobile phone.
- Click on the menu option and select history.
- This forwards you to a page where you can view your child’s recent web activity.
However, every feature has its own loopholes. Your information or activity is not “COMPLETELY” hidden once you go incognito. The only way one could view private browsing history is by downloading a third-party proxy server or some parental monitoring app. These websites track the sites accessed by an individual, irrespective of whether his browsing activity was private or not. These apps also let you see the network traffic for the device on which this app is installed. Certain paid apps like pctattlettale, mSpy, etc., not only provide you with the feature of seeing incognito history but also provide the real-time GPS location of the user and gives you other parental controls. If you are looking for free options, you can always download certain browser extensions, although, they are not really effective.
Conclusion
Keeping track of your child’s web activity is important until he/she develops a sense of right or wrong. If not properly monitored, they could become victims of cyber-bullying or even be convicted for accessing illegal websites by the officials responsible for maintaining cyber laws.