Have you ever wanted to watch YouTube videos privately without your viewing history being saved? Maybe you’re searching for gift ideas and don’t want your recommendations flooded with those products. Or perhaps you want to check out some new music artists without committing to having them influence your future video suggestions. Luckily, YouTube offers an easy way to browse privately right in its mobile app – Incognito Mode.
Incognito Mode on YouTube mobile allows you to watch videos and search for content anonymously. When enabled, the videos you view won’t be saved to your watch history and your searches won’t be remembered. It’s a handy privacy feature that lets you use YouTube without leaving digital footprints or impacting your carefully curated recommendations.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the simple steps to turn Incognito Mode on and off in the YouTube app on both iPhone and Android devices. Let’s get started!
Enabling Incognito Mode on YouTube Mobile
Follow these quick steps to start browsing YouTube privately:
- Open the YouTube app on your iPhone or Android phone. Make sure you are signed into your YouTube/Google account.
- Tap on your profile picture icon in the top right corner of the screen. This will open a menu with several options.
- Look for the option labeled Turn on Incognito and tap it. You’ll see a message explaining that Incognito Mode is now enabled and your activity from this session will be cleared once you turn it off.
- You’ll know Incognito Mode is active when you see the Incognito icon (hat and glasses) in place of your profile picture. There will also be a black bar at the bottom of the app indicating you are incognito.
That’s it! You can now use YouTube as you normally would by browsing the Home feed, searching for videos, viewing your Subscriptions, etc. However, your activity is now private and won’t be saved to your history or used to influence your future recommendations.
A few things to keep in mind while using Incognito Mode on YouTube mobile:
- Your Subscriptions will not show up on the Subscriptions tab
- You cannot save videos to playlists or your Watch Later list
- Comments and chat are disabled
- You won’t see your viewing progress on videos
Incognito Mode is best used for short private viewing sessions. For normal usage where you want to retain your history and have full functionality, simply turn it off.
Disabling Incognito Mode on YouTube Mobile
To turn off Incognito Mode when you’re done with your private browsing session:
- Tap the Incognito icon (hat and glasses) in the top right corner where your profile picture normally displays.
- Select Turn off Incognito from the menu that appears.
- You will automatically be signed back into the YouTube account you were using prior to going Incognito and the app will return to normal functionality.
Note that as soon as you disable Incognito Mode, YouTube will clear all activity from that private session. The videos you watched and the searches you performed will be erased and will not influence your recommendations going forward.
Conclusion
YouTube’s Incognito Mode on mobile provides an easy and convenient way to watch videos privately without leaving a digital trail. Whether you want to discretely search for something or check out content without it impacting your carefully honed recommendations, this handy privacy feature has you covered.
By following the simple steps outlined above, you can quickly toggle Incognito Mode on and off right in the YouTube mobile app on both iPhone and Android devices. While in Incognito Mode, you can browse and search as you normally would, knowing your activity is not being tracked or saved.
So next time you need a private viewing session on YouTube mobile, go incognito! It’s a useful tool to have at your disposal to maintain privacy when needed while still enjoying all the entertaining, informative and engaging content YouTube has to offer.
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