Many people use incognito mode or private browsing features in their web browsers to hide their online activity from others. However, this can also pose a challenge for parents, employers, or anyone who wants to monitor or filter the content that is accessed on their devices. Fortunately, it is possible to disable incognito mode on most browsers.

Incognito mode is designed for privacy, so it makes sense that it can make monitoring websites difficult. Specifically:

1. Incognito mode (or private browsing in general) automatically deletes any browsing history from the device. 
2. In many cases, private browsing uses a proxy, which usually bypasses content filtering.
3. Other privacy features can prevent browsing history from being properly saved.

In this article, you will learn how to disable incognito mode in popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and Safari. By doing so, you can prevent users from bypassing your content filtering and traffic monitoring settings and ensure a safer and more transparent browsing experience.

Considering Other Privacy Features

In addition to incognito mode, we also recommend disabling other similar features that some browsers provide. 

For example, some browsers, like Google Chrome, sync browser settings and browsing history to user profiles.

This means that a user can add a new profile and potentially gain access to something similar to incognito mode.

That's why we provided instruction to disable the following features:

• Incognito Mode.
• Guest Mode.
• Adding new profiles.
• The Ability to deleting browsing history.
• Tor Browsing (for the Brave browser).

How Do You View Browsing History When a Computer Uses Incognito Mode?

While browsing history will be deleted on a device using incognito mode, it's still possible to view which sites have been visited:

1. You can use your home router to monitor websites visited on your home's Wi-Fi .
2. Set a DNS content policy to monitor internet traffic on a device or your home's Wi-Fi.

In both cases, you are able to view the actual traffic that a computer uses to access a website. However, monitoring your traffic logs with your router only works if your devices are home. Instead, you can install DNS filtering on your devices to always monitor its internet traffic. 

If you're using a DNS filter to view traffic logs, you also having the added ability to immediately make changes to your content policy. For example, you can add websites you don't want visited to your blocklist, which will deny access for that website on your computer:

You can also enable the filter on your home's router to monitor websites and block them across your entire home network.

Disable Incognito Mode on Windows

If you are using a Windows computer, you may want to disable incognito mode for different browsers such as Chrome and Microsoft Edge. The easiest way to do this is using the Command Prompt application and entering commands that customize your browsing experience.

In this section, we will show you how to disable incognito mode on Windows for each browser step by step.

How to disable incognito mode in Google Chrome on Windows 10/11

Open command prompt as an Administrator

In Command Prompt, copy/paste the following commands and press enter after each command:

Disable guest mode:

REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome /v BrowserGuestModeEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0

Disable adding new user profiles:

REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome /v BrowserAddPersonEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0

Disable incognito mode:

REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome /v IncognitoModeAvailability /t REG_DWORD /d 1

Prevent user from deleting browsing history:

REG ADD HKCU\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome /v AllowDeletingBrowserHistory /t REG_DWORD /d 1

Restart Chrome and open the profile section. Guest mode should no longer be an option:

You also shouldn't be able to add new profiles:

Incognito mode should no longer be an available option.

How to disable private browsing in Microsoft Edge for Windows 10/11

Type “cmd” into the Windows Search Bar, and click “Run as administrator” under Command Prompt.

In Command Prompt, copy/paste and press enter for each of the commands below:

Disable guest mode:

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge /v BrowserGuestModeEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Disable adding new profiles

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge /v BrowserAddProfileEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Disable deleting of browser history:

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge /v AllowDeletingBrowserHistory /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Disable InPrivate Window mode:

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge /v InPrivateModeAvailability /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Restart Edge, and click the three dots at the top of the screen. InPrivate Mode should be grayed out.

It is also no longer possible to delete browsing history. You should see a History is managed by your organization message as well.

How to disable incognito mode on Brave browser for Windows 10/11

Brave browser is a bit interesting, because in addition to Incognito mode, we also recommend disabling Tor browsing.

Open Command Prompt as Administrator

In Command Prompt, enter the following commands and press enter:

Disable Incognito Mode:

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser" /v IncognitoModeAvailability /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Disable Tor Browsing:

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser" /v TorDisabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Disable Guest Mode:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\BraveSoftware\Brave" /v GuestModeEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Disable adding new profiles:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\BraveSoftware\Brave" /v ProfileEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Disable Incognito mode on Mac

If you are using a Mac computer like a Macbook, you can disable incognito mode for popular browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. The fastest way to do this is using the Terminal application and entering commands that customize your browsing experience.

In this section, we will show you how to disable incognito mode on MacOS for each browser step by step.

How to disable incognito mode in Google Chrome for MacOS

Open the Terminal application

Copy/paste the following commands into terminal and press enter:

Disable guest mode:

defaults write com.google.Chrome BrowserGuestModeEnabled -bool false

Disable Incognito mode:

defaults write com.google.Chrome IncognitoModeAvailability -integer 1

Disable adding new user profiles:

defaults write com.google.Chrome BrowserAddPersonEnabled -bool false

Prevent deleting browsing history:

defaults write com.google.Chrome AllowDeletingBrowserHistory -bool false

Restart the Chrome browser, then click the user icon again. You should not see the option to switch to Guest Mode

When you open the "who's using Chrome" window, it shouldn't allow you to enter guest mode or add new profiles:

You also should not be able to open an incognito window or delete browsing history.

How to Disable Private Browsing in Safari

It's not possible to disable Apple's Safari browser private browsing features using Terminal like we did for Google Chrome and Edge.

There are two ways to disable private browsing in Safari:

1. Enabling Screen Time's web content filter
2. Using managed mode to disable private browsing in Safari

If you open Screen Time and go to Content & Privacy, you can select Limit Adult Websites, which will also turn off the private browsing feature in Safari.

Safari should no longer have an option to open private browsing mode.

If you set up your Mac as a managed device like we talked about earlier, you can configure Safari to disable private browsing in a more enforceable way.

Disable InPrivate Browsing in Microsoft Edge on MacOS

There are a few ways to disable private browsing features in Microsoft edge:

1. Using commands entered into terminal to remove the private browsing feature from Microsoft edge
2. Using device management to configure the Microsoft Edge browser without the possibility of selecting or re-enabling private browsing.

Let's start with the terminal commands.

For a Mac, start by opening the Terminal application.

Next, copy/paste the following commands into the terminal and press enter.

Disable guest mode:

defaults write com.microsoft.Edge.plist BrowserGuestModeEnabled -bool false

Disable InPrivate mode:

defaults write com.microsoft.Edge.plist InPrivateModeAvailability -int 1

Disable adding new user profiles:

defaults write com.microsoft.Edge.plist BrowserAddProfileEnabled -bool false

Prevent deleting browsing history

defaults write com.microsoft.Edge.plist AllowDeletingBrowserHistory -bool false

If you find that using terminal commands does not go far enough for your use case, consider setting your Mac up as a managed device.

Once you enable device management on your Mac, you can completely customize Microsoft edge to remove private browsing features.

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This method is difficult to bypass and is the most restrictive setup you can achieve.

Once your Mac is managed, create a configuration for Microsoft Edge and go to the Misc tab to disable the ability to delete browser history

In the same tab, scroll down and disable guest mode and adding a person as a manager

In the same tab, scroll down to the Private mode availability option and choose an option from the drop down menu.

Scroll down even further and enable SafeSearch and YouTube restricted mode

There are many other options once you manage a Mac. You can completely control and lock down the microsoft edge browser to do other things like enforce or block browser extensions. You can even convert this into a dumb browser by blocking images everywhere or on specific websites.

How to Disable Incognito Mode on Brave browser for MacOS

For Brave browser, we also recommend disabling Tor browsing, since this can be used to also hide browsing history.

Open the Terminal application

Enter the following commands and press enter after each.

Disable Incognito Mode:

defaults write com.brave.Browser IncognitoModeAvailability -integer 1

Disable Tor Browsing:

defaults write com.brave.Browser TorDisabled -boolean true

Disable Guest Mode:

defaults write com.brave.Browser GuestModeEnabled -bool false

Disable adding new profiles:

defaults write com.brave.Browser ProfileEnabled -bool false

Disable Browser Privacy features on Managed Mac

If you have set up a managed MacOS device , you can enforce disabling these privacy features so that a user cannot re-enable them.

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Enabling Managed Mode on a Mac can be difficult. That's why we've made available to our premium members  step-by-step guides that walk you through this process.

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Disable Incognito mode in Google Chrome on a managed Mac

On a managed Mac device, it is much easier to enforce browser settings using a device manager. A good example of a device manager is iMazing, which allows you to custom-configure a device.

Navigate to the Misc tab

Disable Guest Mode and adding new user profiles by unchecking both of the highlighted boxes

Scroll down to the Enable Incognito and Incognito mode availability fields and disable them.

  Scroll down and uncheck Enable deleting browser and download history

Disable Browser Privacy Features in Microsoft Edge on a Managed Mac

Here's how to configure Microsoft Edge with iMazing.

Navigate to the Misc tab

Remove the checkmark for Enable deleting browser and download history

Scroll down and find the Enable add person in user manager and Enable guest mode in browser. Make sure these are unchecked. 

Scroll down again and find the Private mode availability option. Make sure that Private mode disabled is selected.