Private browsing, also referred to as privacy mode or incognito mode, is consistently recommended for individuals who value their privacy. With modern web browsers, users can browse the web incognito without leaving a trail of their previous visits. You may want to revisit an anonymous website for a different purpose. Even though the browser does not store browsing activity, methods exist to retrieve it. 

The purpose of this article is to explain how we can view and delete incognito mode history.

How to see incognito history

Using a Windows or Mac computer, you may be able to view your incognito history by examining the DNS cache. Additionally, you can record your incognito history using a browser extension. Here are the steps involved in each of these methods.

On Windows PC

Windows users may see their incognito history in their DNS cache after surfing. Using the DNS cache, you can view your browsing history:

1. Go to the Start menu
2. Open Command Prompt by typing cmd in the search bar and click the Run as administrator.
3. Enter the command: ipconfig/displaydns
4. Press Enter, and your DNS cache history will be displayed.

On macOS

Apple computers also keep a DNS cache of incognito history. To find out how follow these steps.

1. Open Console under Applications > Utilities
2. Under Devices, select your Mac
3. Type any:mdnsresponder in the search box
4. Press the Start button in the toolbar, and Go back to Applications > Utilities, and open Terminal
5. In Terminal, type sudo killall -INFO mDNSResponder
6. Press Enter and type in your admin password
7. In the Console app, you can see the cached DNS records

With browser extensions

There are Chrome browser extensions available that guarantee to save the entire browsing history, including incognito history. However, Off the Record History is worth trying. Using this feature, you can preserve your data for a few days and manually remove it sooner. Apply the extension to Chrome and change its settings to “Allow in incognito.”

On Android and iOS devices

Incognito history cannot be retrieved via the DNS cache. Third-party tracking applications may, however, be used to configure your phone to capture incognito browsing history.

How to delete incognito history

Since your browser does not keep incognito history, you don’t need to do anything to remove it. So, if you have been chatting with strangers on Bazoo cam, or the likes of CooMeet.com your history is not saved. However, you can locate it using the above techniques. Here’s how to wipe your DNS cache on different devices if you want to clean up your incognito browsing history.

On Windows

You can clear your DNS cache by following these steps:

1. Open the Start menu and enter cmd in the search bar to open Command Prompt
2. Select Run as administrator
3. Type the command: ipconfig/flushdns and press Enter.

On macOS

You can flush your DNS cache on macOS by following these steps:

1. Click on Applications > Utilities and open Terminal
2. Enter the following commands into Terminal: sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
3. Click Enter and type in your admin password