Good old YouTube is always there to entertain us with endless videos, but sometimes we’d like to take a little incognito tour, just to watch whatever we want without it sticking to us forever. You know what I mean? You watch an artist’s interview or a few cat videos, and BAM, your homepage is almost entirely filled with recommendations for more of the same! Or you get tempted by some DIY tutorials, and then disaster strikes: YouTube thinks you’re MacGyver and starts spamming you with suggestions to build a palace with three bricks and a paperclip… Talk about anxiety!
But don’t worry, I’ve got the solution to your problem! Let me introduce you to… drumroll please… YouTube Incognito Mode! Thanks to this wonderful Chrome extension available on GitHub, you can now browse YouTube like an internet ninja, without leaving a single compromising trace behind.
Once the extension is installed, just go to YouTube and click on the YouTube Incognito Mode icon in your browser. And there you’ll be, in a new window where you can go about your business without worrying that your little secrets will be exposed to the world.
And not only does it offer you private browsing worthy of the name, but this extension even goes so far as to block ads for you!
In short, a pretty cool little extension. You can download it here.
How to use YouTube Incognito Mode
On Mobile Devices (Android and iOS)
- Open the YouTube app on your mobile device.
- Tap on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.
- In the menu that appears, tap on “Turn on Incognito“.
- A confirmation screen will appear. Tap “Got it” to proceed.
- You’ll see a black bar at the bottom of the screen indicating you’re now in Incognito mode.
When in Incognito mode:
- Your profile picture will be replaced with the Incognito icon.
- Your activity won’t be saved to your account history.
- Your subscriptions and personalized recommendations won’t be affected.
To turn off Incognito mode, simply tap the Incognito icon and select “Turn off Incognito“.
On PC/Desktop
YouTube doesn’t have a native Incognito mode for desktop, but you can achieve similar results by:
- Using your browser’s Incognito/Private mode:
- Open a new Incognito window in your browser.
- Go to YouTube.com in this window.
- Pausing your YouTube watch and search history:
- Go to YouTube.com
- Click the hamburger icon (three lines) in the top left corner.
- Select “History”
- Click “Pause Watch History” and “Pause Search History”.
Remember that while Incognito mode provides some privacy, your activity may still be visible to your internet service provider, employer, or school.
See you soon on Tech To Geek.
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