Can Wi-Fi Owner See What Sites You Visited Incognito?
Privacy is one of the biggest issues when it comes to using the internet. Most average internet users think their internet service provider or some other party can see what they browse on the internet. Using Incognito is one solution most of them prefer to deal with this concern.
Are you one of those? Do you have this question in mind: Can Wi-Fi owners see what sites you visit even when you use Incognito? This blog post is written to address this question and provide you with peace of mind when using the internet in your day-to-day activities.
What is Incognito Mode?
The incognito mode helps you browse the internet secretly as the browser you use does not save the information regarding what you have searched on the internet. This is also called private surfing.
This means not only you, even you used some other’s internet connection, your web activities are not recorded in the browser’s history.
Most people think the incognito mode is available only in Google Chrome which is not true. This feature is available in other browsers such as FireFox and Microsoft Edge as well.
However, incognito mode is not 100% safe or secret. If your ambition is to use the internet more securely, there are other methods like VPNs or more private browsers such as Tor. Simply put, incognito mode is more suitable for temporary private browsing without leaving traces on your device.
Can Wi-Fi Owner See What Sites You Visited Incognito?
Yes, a Wi-Fi owner can see what sites you visited in Incognito Mode. Not only the Wi-Fi owner but also the ISP (Internet Service Provider) and the websites you visited can also see your interactions in incognito mode.
Simply put, although other users who use your device cannot see your browsing history when you use incognito mode, the Wi-Fi administrator can still track which sites you visited.
The owner of the Wi-Fi connection has access to the router logs and it includes the websites website names visited from the devices that used the Wi-Fi connection. If you want to hide the browsing history from the Wi-Fi owner for whatever reasons, using a VPN would be a better option rather than relying on incognito mode to do the job for you.
Related: Can You See History On Wi-Fi Bill?
What Data is Visible to the Wi-Fi Owner in Incognito Mode?
As you now know your internet history is accessible to the Wi-Fi owner even though you surfed in incognito mode, let’s take a minute to see what type of data is visible to the Wi-Fi owner.
Websites You Visited
The Wi-Fi owner can see the domain names (e.g., example.com). However, they cannot find the pages you visited on a particular website if the website you visited is equipped with an SSL certificate.
IP Addresses of the Websites
Every website has an IP address, and this data can be accessed using the router’s network logs.
Time You Spent
The Wi-Fi owner can check when and how long you stay on certain websites.
Data Used
Yes, they can note how much data you have consumed on the websites. It may help them identify if you have played games online, streamed or downloaded something.
Related: Does Using Ethernet Slow Down Wi-Fi?
How Can I Keep My Surfing History Private From Wi-Fi Owners?
As we mentioned earlier, using a VPN would be a good option to keep your internet activities hidden from the Wi-Fi owner. Let us explain some steps in detail.
VPN
A VPN prevents the Wi-Fi owner from seeing the websites you visited. You don’t have to use Incognito mode if you are able to use a quality VPN service for your internet activities. However, the Wi-Fi owner will still see that you have connected to a VPN service but not the activities you performed after connecting to the VPN.
NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and ProtonVPN are some of the popular VPN services people use for their web activities.
Tor Browser
The Tor network has the ability to send your internet traffic through multiple encrypted servers. This makes tracking your internet interactions nearly impossible to track. However, there is one renowned drawback to the Tor browser: it can slow down your browsing speed. So, keep that in mind if you intend to use the Tor browser for added privacy.
Visit only Https enabled Websites
While this does not completely hide your activity, it prevents Wi-Fi owners from seeing the content of the specific pages you visit. Look for the padlock mark in the search bar of your browser. If you see such a mark, the website is https enabled.
As mentioned, this can be handy if you are using incognito mode to keep the pages you visited private.
Use Your Mobile Network Instead of Some Other’s Wi-Fi
If privacy is critical, why not use your very own mobile network for your internet activities? Your mobile carrier can still track your activity, but the Wi-Fi owner cannot!
Other than the above methods, we recommend you consider the following steps.
- Change Your DNS Provider
- Use Encrypted DNS
- Avoid Logging into Personal Accounts
Summary
So, can Wi-Fi owner see what sites you visited Incognito? Yes, if the Wi-Fi owner wants they can see certain data of your internet activities. However, you can mitigate this issue to a great degree by using a VPN service or Tor browser.
