Home/Answers/Privacy

Privacy · Plain-English answer

Does incognito mode hide your IP address?

No. Incognito or private browsing does not hide your IP address at all. It only stops your browser saving history, cookies, and form data on your device. Websites, your ISP, and network owners still see your real IP and your activity exactly as they would in a normal window.

What incognito mode actually does

Private browsing is local housekeeping. When you close the window, the browser discards the session's history, cookies, and cached files, so the next person using your device cannot see what you did. It also starts you signed out of sites, because existing cookies are not loaded.

That is the entire feature. Nothing about your network connection changes, and Chrome's own incognito screen says as much.

What still sees you in incognito

Your IP address is attached to every request as usual, so websites can log it, your ISP still sees the domains you visit, and a school or office network still records your activity. Signing in to any account identifies you instantly, and fingerprinting techniques can often recognise your browser across incognito sessions too.

If hiding your IP is the goal, that is a VPN's job. You can see the difference yourself at /tools/my-ip/, where an incognito window shows your real address and a VPN connection shows the server's instead. The two tools solve different problems and work well together.

Related questions

Can my ISP see incognito browsing?
Yes, completely. Incognito only affects what is stored on your device. Your ISP sees incognito traffic exactly like normal traffic unless you also use a VPN.
Should I use incognito and a VPN together?
It is a sensible pairing. Incognito limits cookies and local traces while the VPN hides your IP and encrypts traffic. Together they cover more than either alone, though neither defeats logging in to accounts.

Keep reading

More from the ROOT VPN answers hub.

Private in one tap.

ROOT VPN is free to start with unlimited data, no card needed, and no activity logs.

Get ROOT VPN, free