You may have used the “Incognito Mode” when surfing the net with the navigator on duty. Google is the browser par excellence and the “Incognito Mode” one of the best-known options. A formula that promises some privacy when it comes to moving around the network.

The “Incognito Mode” what it does is to prevent them from being saved in the browser history, and nor usually cookies or searches are saved. This is at least what the theory says, since in fact, some websites have the ability to detect if we use this mode when perceiving differences in the file system API. At Google they know and want to remedy it.

Before continuing, clarify how this mode works in the browser. When browsing, Chrome and other browsers store cookies, session data, histories, forms information, keys or temporary information. The objective is to have it safe for future use.

The difference is that when using the “Incognito Mode”, the browser keeps this information but does it in a different place and temporarily, so that it eliminates it when closing the window. It does not remain in local but for the rest, there is no difference with a normal session.

In fact, knowing if a user makes use of the “Incognito Mode” is relatively easy and you can check browsing and looking for a bit on the network. But let’s go back to Google’s improvements in Chrome.

An improved “Incognito Mode”

The problem lies not only in that the websites can detect if we use the “Incognito Mode”, but in doing it, when perceiving that we are trying to deceive them (if that expression can be used), they can block the access until we leave said navigation mode.

For this, Google has released version 76 of Chrome that can be downloaded on the web. An improvement in the “Incognito Mode” that reaches all users after passing through the Canary version and the Beta version of Chrome. Just go to the section “About Chrome” to update the browser.

Once we have Chrome 76 (the full version number is 76.0.3809.25), the websites can not detect that we are using the “Incognito Mode”. For this, the developers have opted for the creation of a system that temporarily stores files in the RAM, just enough time to avoid the work of the “Incognito Mode” alert systems of said websites.

On the other hand, Chrome 76 also adds other improvements. On the one hand it will allow the installation of Progressive Web Applications (PWA) from the address bar and in the same way, it will block websites that use flash by default.

You can try the “Incognito Mode” by downloading Chrome in the Canary version or in the traditional version. Also, if you want privacy and you use your mobile, you can always opt for alternatives such as Duck Duck Go, Brave or even Firefox Focus.

Source | Paul Irish on Twitter