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Andy Wolber is a former Lifewire writer who has been writing about technology for 15+ years. His focus is G Suite, iOS, and nonprofit sector apps.

Nadia Baloch is a fact checker, researcher, and writer with a background in psychology.

Lifewire is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

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You can take several steps to protect your privacy as you browse—but when we use the word privacy, we need to clarify what we mean. Most people can quickly identify at least four different types of privacy that may be a concern.

First, privacy may mean privacy from other people with access to your device . You might not want the fact that you searched for a gift for someone in your household to be discovered by someone that shares access to your computer. More concerning is the scenario where a person in an abusive relationship, for example, may not want someone else in the household to know they’ve searched for help.

Second, you could mean that you want privacy between sites you visit . At one point or another, you might have noticed that advertisements for an item you’ve searched for now appear on several sites you visit. That’s because activity and ad trackers often operate across multiple sites.

Third, you likely also want privacy over the connections from your device to a website . Your browser relies on your local network connection (often over Wi-Fi), which is routed through your internet service provider, then over the internet to a destination website. Each step in that process represents a potential place your privacy might leak information.

Fourth, many people also prefer privacy from governments . In some countries, government agencies actively monitor and/or restrict access to information on the internet. Human rights activists, academics, and innovators may wish to keep internet browsing activity unknown to officials.

But a fully private web browsing experience that reveals no information whatsoever about you as you browse can be difficult to achieve. Most web browsers reveal at least some basic information to sites you visit. To get some sense of what a site might “know” about you, visit What every Browser knows about you by Robin Linus and Cover Your Tracks from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. You’ll soon see that your browser may reveal your location, device hardware, software, and connection speed. These sites also can show whether or not your browser protects you from tracking ads or invisible trackers.

As of 2021, many people use Chrome on desktops, Safari on macOS and iOS, and either Chrome or Edge on Windows systems. While each of these companies takes steps to secure these browsers, people are not able to fully audit the code in these browsers. And since Google, Apple, and Microsoft do not provide access to all of the code, many computer privacy professionals reasonably consider these browsers to be less trusted than browsers for which all of the code is publicly available.

The five browsers featured below rely on open source code, with specific customizations and configurations made (or available) in favor of privacy. If you search a bit, you’ll find many more customized versions of browsers built from either the Firefox or Chromium code. The selected browsers are relatively widely used and frequently updated.

A long-established, widely-trusted, privacy-focused project
Versions available for all common platforms
Tor connections available for many major websites
Relies on a modified and customized Firefox code base
Slower than with a mainstream browser
You can’t use every site or service with the Tor Browser

Tor Browser optimizes for privacy at the cost of speed. Available for Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux on the desktop, with versions also available on Android ( Orbot: Tor for Android ), iPhone, and iPad ( Onion Browser ), the app relies on a system of relay requests to make it difficult to detect and track information about your location and system. Because these requests route information to distinct locations, pages take longer to load than with a conventional browser that optimizes for speed.

You can also connect specifically to sites intended to be used with Tor. These sites, identified with a .onion suffix, are intended to permit people secure and private access to services that might not otherwise be feasible. For example, someone might use Tor to connect to DuckDuckGo.onion or Facebook.onion sites from within a country where access to these services is blocked for most browsers.

A fast browser with default settings configured for privacy
Best daily-use, privacy-oriented browser
Developers are technically very strong
Company behind the browser is relatively new

A comparatively new project, Brave takes the Chromium core code and customizes it with several private-by-default choices. For example, by default Brave blocks advertisements and trackers, and also strengthens the security of connections to sites from http:// to https://. That last change wraps the traffic from your browser to the website you’re visiting with encryption.

Brave also gives you simple sliders to block scripts and enable fingerprinting protection. Fingerprinting refers to the way that sites combine general information about you to create a profile. As a simple example, your location and the number of apps you have installed might be enough to uniquely identify you.

Brave is available for all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, as well as Android and iOS.

Extremely well established and widely used
Full-featured browser with support for extensions
Customization required to optimize privacy
Additional customizations and extensions add complexity

One of the oldest and most well-established browsers, Firefox, can be configured for privacy and is available for all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, as well as Android and iOS. You may need to spend some time, however, adjusting settings to ones that, for example, block third-party cookies (that track you), clear your history when you close, and enable private browsing by default. (For some additional changes to improve privacy, see Protect your privacy .)

Firefox also lets you add extensions, which can add functionality as well. For example, you might add the Privacy Badger and HTTPS:// everywhere extensions, both from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to block ads and encrypt the connection between your browser and websites, respectively.

A focused, privacy-oriented mobile browser
Automatically displays number of ads and trackers blocked when Tracking Protection is on
One tap to erase your browsing history
On iOS, several steps to enable content blocking in Safari

While versions of Firefox are available for Android and iOS, a mobile-only app, Firefox Focus, gives you fast browsing with privacy preferred by default. Firefox Focus automatically blocks ads as well as ad trackers, website analytics trackers, social trackers, and content trackers. Optionally, you may choose to block web fonts. And, of course, you can change the default search engine.

On an iPhone or iPad, Firefox Focus can also serve as a content blocker for Safari . If you enable this option, the app will block ads and trackers as you browse with Safari.

Firefox Focus prominently displays a trash can icon on both Android and iOS. Tap the trash can and the app immediately erases your browsing history. When Tracking Protection is turned on, the app also shows a shield that displays how many trackers Firefox Focus has blocked from a site.

A focused, privacy-oriented mobile browser
One tap to see number of ads and trackers blocked, along with a privacy policy rating
One tap to erase your browsing history
Privacy practice information not available for many sites

You might know of DuckDuckGo.com as a “search engine that doesn’t track you.” Many people set DuckDuckGo as the default search engine in desktop and mobile browsers, instead of less privacy-focused alternatives.

But DuckDuckGo also offers dedicated Android and iOS apps. The apps block ads, analytics, and social trackers. Wherever possible, they also encrypt the connection from your browser to your destination website. DuckDuckGo also lets you bookmark sites.

Similar to Firefox Focus, DuckDuckGo displays a fire icon on both Android and iOS. Tap the fire icon and confirm, then the app will immediately erase your browsing history. Any bookmarks you’ve saved, though, will remain, so you can still access those sites.

DuckDuckGo also displays a Privacy Grade. Tap the grade to see what the grade would be without tracking blocking (e.g., “D”) along with the grade as a result of tracking blocking (e.g., “B”). DuckDuckGo draws from the TOSDR.org site, also known as Terms of Service: Didn’t Read, to evaluate each site’s privacy policies. These policies, along with the quantity of trackers blocked, and availability of an encrypted connection, factor into the grade.

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Updated
Jul 5, 2017, 11:35 am EDT
| 4 min read

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Private browsing has been around in one form or another since 2005, but it took some time for every browser to get behind it. Now, no matter what browser you use, you can surf the internet without leaving behind a local trail of history, passwords, cookies, and other assorted bits of information.
Private browsing is useful for covering your tracks (or rather, preventing any tracks from being made in the first place), among other things . It isn’t infallible , however, and while it will prevent information from being stored on your computer, it won’t prevent your employer, Internet service provider, websites you visit, or the NSA for that matter, from collecting any information you transmit beyond your computer.
Every browser has their own name for private browsing, and while accessing it is accomplished in practically the same way, there can be subtle differences from product to product.
Google Chrome remains the most used browser on the market, and calls its private browsing mode “Incognito Mode”.
You can spawn an incognito window by clicking the special menu in the top-right corner of the browser window. On Windows, it will be three line and on macOS, it will be three dots. Then, choose “New Incognito Window”. (You can also access this option from the File menu on a Mac.)
Alternatively, press the keyboard shortcut Control+Shift+N on Windows or Command+Shift+N on a Mac.
Incognito mode is unmistakable: just look for the man-in-a-hat icon in the upper left-hand corner. On a Mac, this will be in the upper-right corner. (On some systems running the newest version of Chrome, the window will also be dark grey.)
Keep in mind that even while in Incognito mode, you will still be able to bookmark sites and download files. Your extensions, however, will not work unless you’ve marked them “Allowed in Incognito” on Chrome’s extensions settings page.
To exit incognito mode, simply close the window.
If you use Chrome on a mobile device such as an Android phone, iPhone, or iPad, you can tap the three dots in the upper-right corner of the browser window and select “New incognito tab” from the dropdown menu.
The browser will then tell you that you’ve gone incognito with all the requisite warnings as to what that means.
To close out of incognito, tap the box with the number in it (indicating how many tabs you have open) and go back to a non-private tab, or simply close the incognito tab(s).
Firefox simply calls their mode “Private Browsing”. Like Chrome, it can be accessed from the menu in the upper-right corner. Just click “New Private Window”. (You can also access this option from the File menu on a Mac.)
Alternatively, press the keyboard shortcut Control+Shift+N on Windows or Command+Shift+N on a Mac.
Your private window will have a purple band across the top of the window and an icon in the upper-right corner.
From this window, you can also turn tracking protection on or off. Tracking protection is intended to guard you from being tracked across multiple websites. The problem is, any website can simply ignore this request and track you anyway–so while tracking protection can’t hurt, it may not help either.
To exit private browsing, simply close the window.
While its popularity is on the wane, Internet Explorer is still used by quite a few people. To access its private browsing mode, called InPrivate Browsing, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner then Safety > InPrivate Browsing, or simply press Ctrl+Shift+P on your keyboard.
IE will indicate it’s in InPrivate mode from the blue box next to the location bar, which also bears the label “InPrivate”.
When InPrivate is enabled, not only will your browsing history be ignored, but toolbars and extensions will be disabled.
To exit InPrivate browsing, close the window.
Edge is Microsoft’s new browser that comes included with Windows 10. Like IE, it retains the InPrivate nomenclature to designate when a private browsing window is open. To open a new InPrivate window, use the menu from the upper-right corner or press Ctrl+Shift+P on your keyboard.
Once open, the entire browser window will be grey and each tab will say “InPrivate”.
Once you’re done with InPrivate mode, close the tab or window to exit and return to regular browsing mode.
Safari is the original purveyor of private browsing and as such, will also let you surf in a private window just like the others.
The Private Window option is accessible from the File menu or by pressing Shift+Command+N on your keyboard.
While private browsing is enabled, the location bar will be greyed out and a band along the top of the new tab window will indicate that you’re in private browsing mode.
Extensions in Safari will continue to operate while in private mode, unlike Chrome and Internet Explorer.
To exit this mode, as usual simply close the window.
Finally, if you’re using an iPhone or iPad and surfing with Safari, then you can use private mode on it as well. To do so, first tap the new tab icon in the lower-right corner of the new tab screen.
Now, tap “Private” in the lower-left corner.
Once activated, the browser screen will turn grey and will tell you that you’re in private browsing mode.
To exit, simply tap the “Done” button in the lower-right corner of the screen.
As you can see, every browser has more or less the same procedure for going into private browsing mode, and most operate in the same way (with a few occasional differences). Additionally, you can expect to hide similar types of information from prying eyes when using browsing mode.
And remember, private browsing is useful for more than just privacy . It also allows you to log into the same site from different accounts. Say for instance you’re logged into your Facebook account and your friend wants to check their real quickly, simply open a private window and let them at it.
You can also use private browsing to troubleshoot potentially problem extensions. Imagine something isn’t acting right, is it your computer or is it a problem extension? Since private mode typically disables all extensions and toolbars, you can use it to see if the problem is replicated, if it is isn’t, then you have a pretty good idea where to start.
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RestorePrivacy Checklist

Secure browser : Modified Firefox or Brave VPN : NordVPN ( 68% Off Coupon ) or Surfshark Ad blocker : uBlock Origin or AdGuard Secure email : Mailfence or Tutanota Secure Messenger : Signal or Threema Private search engine : MetaGer or Swisscows Password manager : NordPass or Bitwarden

Resources to stay safe and secure online
This guide aims to be the most in-depth resource available on private search engines. For this 2022 update, we examine the best private search engines, search results censorship, and how to keep your data safe and secure when searching online.
In today’s world, search engines are a necessity to find what you’re looking for online. Unfortunately, however, there are two big problems you will likely encounter:
This private search engines guide will thoroughly examine both of these problems and provide you with the best reliable solutions and alternatives we can find. So let’s begin by examining the first problem with search engine privacy.
It is sad to say, but most of the big search engines today serve as data collection tools for advertising companies . That’s right, they collect your private data and use it to make money with targeted ads. This is a booming industry where your data ends up in the hands of third parties and you are the product .
Here is the information being collected by some of the larger (not private) search engines:
As you may know, the items you enter into a search engine can disclose highly personal information about you. Things like as medical conditions, employment status, financial information, political beliefs, and other private details. This data can be collected, stored, and linked to detailed digital profiles which can even contain your real identity. The only way to ensure that your data is safe is to keep it out of the hands of the data collectors. To do that, you need to use a private search engine .
Many people are getting fed up with online censorship, particularly when trying to find specific information that was previously available. Censorship can take many forms. With search engines today, censorship can come from filtering, manipulating, and/or blocking certain search results from appearing.
Unfortunately, the censorship problem affects many of the private search engines for these two reasons:
An exception to this may be with independent search engines that deploy their own crawlers , such as with Mojeek , or Brave Search . Additionally, with Searx , you can select which engines it uses.
So let’s examine some alternative private search engines you can start using today.
Finding the best private search engine for your needs is a subjective process. Your circumstances and goals are unique, meaning there’s no one-size-fits-all. Things to consider include:
In a perfect world, a search engine would give you great results while also respecting your privacy. Unfortunately, this isn’t a perfect world. Any of the private search engines in this guide could be the best solution for you. But you will need to test drive the ones that look the best to you to see which is really the best fit. Before we start, there is one issue you need to be aware of:
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