If we want to browse privately with our mobile, using incognito mode is one of the options, although we have already warned that it is not the only one, nor the definitive one. And even less if we talk about the incognito mode of Google Chrome, which is in question lately.
After a lawsuit that emerged in 2020 against Google for collecting data in Chrome’s incognito mode and which is coming back to the fore these days, we want to take stock everything that this modality does not hide of the browser, whether on mobile or in its desktop version for computers.
There are third parties who can access your activity as normal browsing
Following what Google itself comments on its website, Google Chrome’s incognito mode isn’t as private as it might seem on paper. The first indication is that the IP is not masked at any timewhich we could only achieve by setting up a VPN or directly using a browser with built-in VPN.
It therefore makes third parties may have a record of our activity. For example, the internet service provider or Google itself. It is precisely that it is the Mountain View company that collects the data when using the incognito mode, which is what sued the company.
Another remarkable fact is that websites can detect that it is being used in this way and therefore collect information based on the activity. It shouldn’t be like that and in fact Google itself has extended its API called FileSystem to this incognito mode, which allows websites to store temporary files and thus try to “confuse” websites without they distinguish whether they are in normal or incognito mode.
The problem is that the developers have found other methods used to detect incognito mode. For example, measure the writing speed of the FileSystem API, because if it detects that files are being written faster than normal, it can be inferred that this is due to being in this browsing mode.
Also knowing how much free space the API grants to each website is essential to know that you are in incognito mode, because in private browsing there is a limit of 120 MB. So, in the end, they can collect data in the same way as normal browsing.
What’s changing with Chrome’s incognito mode
After seeing the above, the question that probably haunts your head is what is this Google browser modality for then. Well, there are several factors that change from normal navigation and that, while not as private as one might expect, they give meaning to that “incognito” name.
For instance, does not save history and therein lies much of the essence of modality. In the same form, it also does not store files with cookies when the tab is closed, just like when we are in this incognito, it does not take into account the files already stored in the normal navigation.
In this way, you will not find, for example, advertisements or recommendations based on your activity performed normally and not even the one you perform in incognito mode. Although, as we have already stated, this does not mean that there cannot be websites that create files with your activity.
Also note the no auto-complete feature to fill out forms. Finally, in this incognito mode, you cannot store passwordsultimately being those functions exclusive to normal navigation.
The summary of everything is that in the end the incognito mode of Google Chrome, like that of many other browsers, it’s a semi-private mode. In other words, it will eventually prevent you from leaving a trace visible to you or anyone else who accesses your mobile, but not for the purpose of hiding your browsing data from third parties.
