How to Turn Off or Disable Incognito Mode

Incognito Mode, also known as Private Browsing and InPrivate Browsing, is a nifty feature you can find on a variety of web browsers. This feature lets you browse the web and download items without leaving a trace on your computer. While it is useful, there are potential misuses of the feature, and you may have to disable or turn off Incognito Mode on your system. This guide will help you do that.

Disabling Incognito Mode Permanently

You can disable Incognito Mode by changing Windows Registry settings on Windows and using a Terminal command on Mac. For browsers like Firefox, you can disable the option via internal settings. iPhone does not let you disable private browsing unless you enable parental controls.

An Introduction to Incognito Mode (Private Browsing)

Even though it uses different names, Incognito Mode is available on most web browsers. However, the term became popular through Google Chrome, which introduced the feature under the name Incognito Browsing. After that, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Arc, and Brave have also introduced these private browsing modes.

The basic idea behind Incognito Mode is to protect your privacy by rejecting cookies and history tracking. It means the websites you visit will not become part of your browsing history. Nor would these sites be able to store cookies on your system.

Differences between Turning Off vs. Disabling Incognito Mode

Before we move further, let me highlight the differences between turning off Incognito Mode and disabling it.

• Turning Off: This means you are ending a private browsing session. You can do this by closing the Incognito window on most browsers.
• Disabling: When you disable Incognito Mode, the feature will become permanently unavailable. It means you (or anyone) cannot start an Incognito browsing session in the first place.

You don’t need our help to turn off an Incognito window. Therefore, we will talk about disabling this feature for (almost) infinity.

Importance of Controlling Incognito Mode

Multiple instances may compel you to control and disable Incognito Mode. Here are some of them.

• You do not want your kids to use Incognito Mode; as a part of parental controls, you may want to disable the option.
• You run a company where the employees must not use private browsing. In these instances, you can also disable Incognito Mode.

You may also have additional reasons not to allow this mode on a system. Regardless of that reason, I will help you do it.

#1 Disable Incognito Mode in Chrome (for PC and Mac)

You can disable Incognito Mode in Chrome on both PCs and Macs in some easy steps. Windows requires the use of Registry Editor, whereas macOS can do it with the help of Terminal.

Step-by-Step Guide to Disabling Incognito Mode on PC

As I said, you need a Registry Editor to get this done. The steps are:

• Open Registry Editor on your PC using the Run command
• You can do it by opening Run and entering regedit, followed by the Enter key
• Once you open Registry Editor, navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesGoogleChrome

• On the right side, click the button to Create A New DWORD, and name it IncognitoModeAvailability.
• Make sure you set the value to 1
• Close the Registry Editor to save the changes
• Now, completely close Google Chrome and open it again.

Now, the Incognito Mode option will be gone, and you can enjoy the convenience of parental control.

Step-by-Step Guide to Disable Incognito Mode on Mac

To do the same on a Mac, you need the power of Terminal. The steps are:

• Open Terminal using Spotlight Search or Launchpad
• Paste the following command, followed by the Enter key

defaults write com.google.chrome IncognitoModeAvailability -integer 1z

• Close the Terminal window and reopen Google Chrome.

You won’t be able to see the Incognito Mode option on Chrome. By the way, if you ever want to get back its Incognito Mode feature, you can use the same command. Make sure you change the integer value to 0.

#2 Disable Private Mode in Firefox

In Firefox, the same feature is known as Private Mode. However, you can use the following steps to disable the Firefox option on both Windows and macOS.

• On your PC/Mac, open Mozilla Firefox and enter the following command in the URL bar:

about:config

• When asked, proceed with Yes to accept the Risk.
• Use the Search function to locate privacy.firstparty.isolate and choose False.
• Now, locate browser.privatebrowsing.autostart and choose False as the value.
• Reopen Firefox, and the Private Mode will be unavailable.

These steps are easy compared to what you have to do on Chrome and Edge.

#3 Disable InPrivate Browsing in Microsoft Edge

It is a little tricky to disable InPrivate Browsing in Microsoft Edge, mainly if you use a Mac. Anyway, here are the methods to help you out.

Step-by-Step Guide to Disable InPrivate Browsing on PC

We can use the Group Policy editor to make this change to Microsoft Edge. The steps are:

1. Use the Run utility to launch Group Policy Editor. You can do it by using the gpedit.msc command.
2. Locate Administrative Templates and move to Microsoft Edge.
3. Double-click on the entry called Allow InPrivate Mode.
4. Choose Disabled from the available options.
5. Restart Microsoft Edge, and InPrivate Browsing will be disabled.

This entire process is straightforward, and it should work since Edge is also made by Microsoft.

Step-by-Step Guide to Disable InPrivate Browsing on Mac

Like we did in the case of Google Chrome, Terminal can help you disable InPrivate Browsing in Edge on your Mac. The steps are as follows:

• Open Terminal on your Mac via Launchpad or Spotlight Search
• Paste the following command and press Enter

defaults write com.microsoft.Edge InPrivateModeAvailability -integer 1

• Quit and reopen Edge, and InPrivate Browsing will now be faded.

Once again, if you ever want to revert this option, you can use the same command by turning the integer to 0 instead of 1.

#4 Disable Incognito Mode in Chrome on Android Phones

You may also want to disable Incognito Mode on your Android phone. You do not have many options in this case, though. Instead, you have to work with what you got.

Option 1.

You cannot permanently disable Incognito Mode on Chrome for Android, but you can lock it. To do this, go to Chrome Settings > Privacy and Security > Lock Incognito Tabs when you leave Chrome.

This option ensures that no one will have access to Incognito tabs when your device is locked. However, anyone can bypass this option by authenticating it via passcode or biometrics.

Option 2.

You can find many third-party apps that claim to disable Incognito Mode on Chrome for Android. You might want to check out Incognito Away, for example.

Unsurprisingly, this app is not available on the Google Play Store. Instead, you need to get an APK file and install it at your own risk. So, this may not be an option for many.

Option 3.

The most effective option to disable Incognito Mode on Chrome for Android is to set up parental controls on the smartphone. Doing this will give you control over what your kids can access and what not. Of course, there is no stealthy way to do this.

Following this method means you have to download Google Family Link manually and set up a complete parental control system on the target device. Then, you can keep track of what your kid can browse.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

While a little complicated, you can disable Incognito Mode on your desktop and mobile devices as you wish. I have covered the best options for popular browsers as well. But disabling Incognito Mode is a half-measure at best. It may not serve the purpose you expect.

So, if you want to prevent your employers or kids from accessing content privately, you might want to check out dedicated solutions. Fully-fledged parental control systems and device management suites are available for Windows, macOS, and Android, among other platforms.

I have had better success with those dedicated tools than I have had with browser-specific fixes.