Private browsing: What it does – and doesn’t do – to shield you from prying eyes on the web

  Many people look for more privacy when they browse the web by using their browsers in privacy-protecting modes, called “Private Browsing” in Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Apple Safari; “Incognito” in Google Chrome; and “InPrivate” in Microsoft Edge.

  These private browsing tools sound reassuring, and they’re popular. According to a 2017 survey, nearly half of American internet users have tried a private browsing mode, and most who have tried it use it regularly.