This extension helps you avoid some incognito mode detection methods, allowing you to view certain web pages in incognito mode.

There’s little doubt in regards to the versatility that Chrome’s Incognito mode brings to the table. It automatically removes your browsing history upon exit, thus thwarting website trackers from gaining a bead on you on subsequent visits. Yet most importantly, it helps you surf in private, which is absolutely crucial on shared devices. However, there are several reasons where the presence of Incognito mode can be counterproductive.

For example, Incognito mode can foster bad habits — you may find yourself messing around aimlessly searching for stuff that you wouldn’t dare to do in a regular browsing session. Or perhaps you want to stop other users from using Incognito mode for nefarious purposes. And if you have kids around, it’s crucial that they can't browse anonymously whatsoever.

Regardless, turning off Chrome’s Incognito functionality isn’t the most convenient thing to do, and even impossible on platforms such as iOS. If you are a Windows, MacOS, or Android user, you need to make use of workarounds to stop yourself or other users from surfing privately.

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Windows

On Windows 10/8.1/8/7, you need to dive into the Registry Editor and perform a simple tweak to disable Incognito mode on Chrome. However, select devices may not have the registry keys or values required to perform the modification in the first place. If that's the case, there's an alternate method that involves running a command line via the Command Prompt.

Let's start with the Registry Editor, and then move on to the Command Prompt console if that fails.

Registry Editor

Step 1: Press Ctrl-R to open the Run box. Onto the search field, type regedit, and then click OK.

Step 2: Copy and paste the following path into the address bar on the Registry Editor window:

Press Enter and then select the registry key labeled Chrome on the left navigation pane.

Note: If you don't see the registry key labeled Chrome, exit the Registry Editor and skip to the workaround that involves the Command Prompt console.

Step 3: Right-click the registry entry labeled IncognitoModeAvailability, and then click Modify.

Step 4: Enter ‘1’ into the field under Value Data, and then click OK.

Exit the Registry Editor, restart Chrome, and then bring up the Chrome menu. And voila! The option to launch Incognito windows should be no more.

Note: If you want to re-enable Incognito mode at a later time, simply head back to the location with the IncognitoModeAvailability registry entry, and then modify the value to ‘0.’

Command Prompt Console

Step 1: Bring up the Start menu, and then type cmd into the search bar. Right-click Command Prompt from among the search results, and then select Run as Administrator to launch an elevated Command Prompt console.

Step 2: Copy and paste the following path into the Command Prompt console, and then press Enter.

Once the 'The operation completed successfully' message comes on screen, exit the Command Prompt console. Restart Chrome, and you should find Incognito mode disabled.

Note: What you did here actually involved generating the registry keys that you found missing within the Registry Editor. The command also did that with the required modifications straight off the bat.

If you want to undo your action, use the following command on an elevated Command Prompt console:

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macOS

On a Mac, disabling Chrome’s Incognito mode is much easier when compared to Windows. Simply load up a Terminal window (search for Terminal using Spotlight Search), type in the command line below, and then press Enter:

After running the command line, exit the Terminal, restart your Mac. To confirm, open Chrome, and then bring up the Chrome menu — you won’t see the New Incognito Window option anymore.

Note: If you want to re-enable Incognito mode at a later time, simply replace ‘-integer 1’ with ‘-integer 0’ and re-run the command in Terminal.

Android

Disabling Incognito mode is a tad different on Android. Since you can't make use of commands like on a desktop, you need to instead rely on a free app that blocks Incognito mode from starting up. Let’s check it out in action.

Step 1: Start by installing the DisableIncognitoMode app from the Google Play Store.

Download DisableIncognitoMode

Step 2: Launch the app, and then tap Open Settings. On the subsequent screen, attempt to turn on the slider next to DisableIncognitoMode.

Step 3: Tap ALLOW on the pop-up box that shows up — you should then see the switch next to DisableIncognitoMode turned on. Simply head back from the Notifications screen, and then exit the app.

Open Chrome, and then bring up the Chrome menu. While you should be able to see the New Incognito Tab option listed within, any attempts to open one should fail.

Note: To re-enable Incognito mode, open the DisableIncognitoMode app, tap Open Settings, and then turn off the slider next to DisableIncognitoMode.

To prevent someone else from easily re-enabling Incognito mode, consider using an app blocker such as AppLock to prevent access to the DisableIncognitoMode app.

Tip: If you are simply looking to restrict Incognito mode for a child, you can also create him or her a dedicated Google Account. That way, the specific account can automatically blocked from using Incognito mode when signed in as a separate user on Android.

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Too Much Privacy Can Be Bad

Privacy is a good thing, but not always. If you want to stop yourself or others from messing around in Incognito mode, then you know what to do now. But regardless, all browsers should offer a feature to disable private browsing easily. For example, Safari on iOS lets one do that easily using Restrictions. If so, why can't Chrome? C'mon, Google .. make that happen!

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextHow To Find and Delete the Personal Data Google Has on YouAlso See#chrome #privacy

Did You Know

You can switch manually to the tablet mode in Windows 10.

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It’s always dicey to have Incognito mode on your browsers when you have kids around. Either you switch to parental control but not all the browsers and operating system support Parental Control. Hence, your only option is to block the Incognito mode altogether. So, here is how to disable Incognito mode in Windows, Ubuntu, macOS, and Android.

The method to disable Incognito Mode is more of OS-specific rather than browser-specific. We would start off with Windows and just in case you are using Ubuntu, skip to this portion and for macOS, head over to this portion. All of these methods require you to have root or Administrator access.

Also Read: How to block NSFW content on Android & Windows.

How to Disable Incognito Mode

1. Windows

For Windows, we are considering 2 popular browsers: Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. In Windows, the easiest way to disable the Incognito mode is via the Windows command line. For that, launch the command prompt with administrator privileges

To disable Incognito Mode on Chrome browser, type the following command in the cmd and hit Enter.

For Mozilla Firefox, use the following command instead.

Restart the brower and upon the next launch, the Incognito mode will be disabled for you. To enable the Incognito mode back again, use the following command for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox respectively.

Google Chrome:

Mozilla Firefox:

2. Ubuntu

For Ubuntu, we are considering the 2 most popular browsers: Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The quickest way to do disable Private/Incognito mode on Ubuntu is via the Terminal. We will start off with Google Chrome.

Google Chrome:

Open the terminal and navigate to the following folder “/etc/opt/” using the below-mentioned command.

We need to create multiple directories here, so use the following command to create and navigate to the newly created directory.

For Chromium, the directory location to be created is “/etc/chromium/policies/managed”

Read: A Simple Trick to Bypass Google reCaptcha in Chrome’s Incognito

Next, we need to create a JSON policies file and add few lines to disable Incognito mode. To do that, use the following command.

Now, inside the vi editor, enter the following lines.

Some popular programs to choose from include FL Studios, Garageband, Logic Pro, and Ableton. There are many programs you can buy regardless of the operating system you’re using. How to open piano roll in garageband. You can make a recording studio in your own home by using a digital audio workstation.

After you have done that, press “:” followed by “wq” to save the changes in the file.

Launch Google Chrome now and the Incognito mode option will be disabled. To enable it back again, modify the text in the JSON file as follows.

Mozilla Firefox:

The method to disable Private mode in Mozilla Firefox is similar to the one mentioned above with a few changes in the text and directory location. Firstly navigate to “/usr/lib/firefox/distribution” by using the following command.

At this location, we need to create a JSON file and add few lines to it. To do that, run the following command.

Now, add the following lines of code in the file.

The file name has to be exactly policies.json.

After entering the lines, press “:” and wq to save and exit the JSON file.

Restart Firefox and you will still be able to see the private window option. However, if you try to launch the private mode, you will be greeted with the following error.

From here on, whatever you search in this window will be recorded in the Browser history. To enable Private Browsing back again, remove the lines of code we added above from the policies.json file.

3. macOS

For macOS, disabling Incognito mode is pretty simple if you are dealing with Google Chrome but quite tricky with the native Safari app. Firstly, let’s see how to do it in Google Chrome.

Google Chrome:

To disable the Incognito mode we need to run a command and for that we need the terminal. To launch the terminal, press command + spacebar to launch Spotlight search. Type “Terminal” in the search bar and then double-click on the first search result.

On the Terminal type the following command. This command will change the system policy and disable Incognito Mode.

Now, restart Google Chrome and post that you will see that the option to launch Incognito mode is invisible.

Safari:

Now, to disable Private Browsing mode for Safari, the only method is to modify the interface of Safari which involves editing the “nib” file. For that, we would need to download XCode and a nib file editor from GitHub. This change is irreversible unless you take a backup of the “MainMenu.nib” file.

There are high chances that you might break the code of Safari and hence I wouldn’t recommend going down this line. The best you can do is enable Parental Controls on Safari which inherently blocks adult websites.

4. Android

In Android, you would need a paid tool called Incoquito($1) to block Incognito mode in Google Chrome or any Chromium-based browsers. We have a dedicated article on how to disable incognito mode in Google Chrome for Android, you can read it for a detailed guide on the topic.

Closing Words

These methods work best to block Incognito across a local network or on your same PC. To learn more about website-based blocking and DNS, check out our articles on how to block a website or how to switch to a public DNS server.

For any queries or issues, let me know in the comments below and I will get back to you.

Also Read: How to Disable Incognito Mode in Google Chrome for Android