Every time you surf the Internet on your smartphone, you inevitably leave traces. However, there is a feature that lets you surf without saving your browsing history: private mode. On Android, this can be activated in a few seconds. We show you how it works – and how you can even surf completely anonymously if you wish.
Surfing incognito on Android: Here’s how
Suppose you want to prevent Google Chrome from storing data such as your browsing history or cookies. In that case, you should enable private browsing mode. To do this, proceed as follows:
- Open the Chrome app.
- Tap the three dots to the right of the address bar.
- Select the New Incognito Tab option.
When you successfully enable privacy mode on Android, the incognito icon, a combination of a hat and glasses, will appear at the top.
If you use Mozilla Firefox as your browser, the procedure will be as simple as that. Just open the Firefox application and click on the mask symbol in the upper right corner. You can now work in incognito mode.
Surf completely anonymously? This is also possible with Android!
Even if various browser data is not saved in private mode on Android – unfortunately, you will not be completely invisible with this practical feature. The bookmarks you create in private surfing mode do not remain hidden, nor do downloads. The latter are not visible in the browser itself, but the files are saved in a folder.
In addition, both your provider and various web services can access your IP address, which means that you cannot surf the Internet as anonymously as you would hope with private mode. If it is important to you that private matters remain really private, we recommend another alternative.
An effective way that allows you to surf anonymously on Android is the Tor browser. This disguises your IP address and thus ensures that you surf the Internet almost invisibly. However, the Tor network is a bit slower compared to classic browsers.
The use of VPN tools is much safer. A VPN service can be easily activated via the settings on your Android smartphone and guarantees anonymous surfing on the World Wide Web. The Opera browser, for example, offers a free VPN function.
Surf privately on Android: the most important things at a glance
- Would you like to surf the Internet with your smartphone without your browser history being tracked? Then simply activate private surfing mode in your mobile browser.
- However, the function does not hide your IP address; your provider and various web services can continue to see what you have been doing on the Internet.
- Suppose you want to surf the web completely anonymously and use Android. In that case, we recommend using the Tor browser or a VPN tool.
What is Anonymous Surfing?
Your Internet browsing history can be traced through your IP address, which in turn can be linked to your username and/or password.
Tor is an anonymity network that allows users to browse the Internet anonymously. Tor is a free software project run by volunteers around the world. It relies on volunteer nodes to relay anonymous traffic. These nodes are spread across many locations around the world. The spread makes it very difficult to block access to a particular node.
There are several free proxy programs for anonymous browsing, but they all rely on using “unfriendly” proxy servers. Instead, enthusiasts use port scanners and publicly post their addresses every hour.
The alternative is to use a browser extension that allows you to surf anonymously. These extensions usually use a proxy server to handle requests from paying customers first before forwarding them to the website.
Using a VPN service is the best way to browse anonymously. All your requests and IP addresses will be hidden from the websites you visit. You can also use Tor to surf the web anonymously.
A proxy is an intermediary device that acts as a gateway between two networks. A proxy server is a type of proxy that provides access to resources on another network. Proxy servers, for example, give users access to internal company networks or to the Internet behind firewalls.
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