Private browsing, also referred to as privacy mode or incognito mode, is consistently recommended for individuals who value their privacy. With modern web browsers, users can browse the web incognito without leaving a trail of their previous visits. You may want to revisit an anonymous website for a different purpose. Even though the browser does not store browsing activity, methods exist to retrieve it.
The purpose of this article is to explain how we can view and delete incognito mode history.
How to see incognito history
Using a Windows or Mac computer, you may be able to view your incognito history by examining the DNS cache. Additionally, you can record your incognito history using a browser extension. Here are the steps involved in each of these methods.
On Windows PC
Windows users may see their incognito history in their DNS cache after surfing. Using the DNS cache, you can view your browsing history:
Go to the Start menu
Open Command Prompt by typing cmd in the search bar and click the Run as administrator.
Enter the command: ipconfig/displaydns
Press Enter, and your DNS cache history will be displayed.
On macOS
Apple computers also keep a DNS cache of incognito history. To find out how follow these steps.
Open Console under Applications > Utilities
Under Devices, select your Mac
Type any:mdnsresponder in the search box
Press the Start button in the toolbar, and Go back to Applications > Utilities, and open Terminal
In Terminal, type sudo killall -INFO mDNSResponder
Press Enter and type in your admin password
In the Console app, you can see the cached DNS records
With browser extensions
There are Chrome browser extensions available that guarantee to save the entire browsing history, including incognito history. However, Off the Record History is worth trying. Using this feature, you can preserve your data for a few days and manually remove it sooner. Apply the extension to Chrome and change its settings to “Allow in incognito.”
On Android and iOS devices
Incognito history cannot be retrieved via the DNS cache. Third-party tracking applications may, however, be used to configure your phone to capture incognito browsing history.
How to delete incognito history
Since your browser does not keep incognito history, you don’t need to do anything to remove it. So, if you have been chatting with strangers on Bazoo cam, or the likes of CooMeet.com your history is not saved. However, you can locate it using the above techniques. Here’s how to wipe your DNS cache on different devices if you want to clean up your incognito browsing history.
On Windows
You can clear your DNS cache by following these steps:
Open the Start menu and enter cmd in the search bar to open Command Prompt
Select Run as administrator
Type the command: ipconfig/flushdns and press Enter.
On macOS
You can flush your DNS cache on macOS by following these steps:
Click on Applications > Utilities and open Terminal
Enter the following commands into Terminal: sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
Click Enter and type in your admin password