How to See Incognito History on Your Child's Device

Sometimes, it feels like Incognito Mode was created specifically to help your kids hide things better! As a parent, trying to keep an eye on every one of your child's online activities can be a daunting task.

With most browsers offering private browsing features like Incognito Mode, tech-savvy kids are better able to bypass parental controls. This leaves you wondering how to see Incognito history, causing more anxiety as you constantly wonder what you could be missing.

Does this then mean that parents are helpless here? Of course not. There are various third-party monitoring apps that can let you see your child's online activities, even when they're using Incognito Mode.

Today, I’m going to help you step by step how you can have real-time access to your kids' smartphone activities and give you peace of mind.

Incognito Mode is a privacy feature found in most modern browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

The job of this feature is to prevent the browser from storing certain information during a browsing session, like the browsing history, cookies, and site data. This way, the phone or computer on which the browsing was done cannot remember or reproduce the activity.

At first glance, this might seem like a foolproof way for children to hide their browsing activity from their parents. It can make monitoring challenging, as it leaves no direct trace of browsing activity.

However, Incognito Mode does not provide complete anonymity. Internet service providers and websites can still see the activity. The best part? You, too, can still see the activity with your parental control app.

Although Incognito Mode is meant to lock you out and put a limit on what you can track directly from your kids' browser, you can still monitor browsing activity using parental control apps.

Here's how to see Incognito history on different platforms:

Unfortunately, iOS doesn't store a lot of browsing data when Incognito Mode is active in browsers like Safari or Chrome.

So, for parents wondering how to see incognito history on an iPhone, parental control apps are your best bet. They work by monitoring network traffic. You can also set up screen time restrictions and set limits on web content.

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your device.

Step 2: Scroll down and select Safari.

Step 3: Scroll to the bottom and tap on Advanced.

Step 4: Tap on Website Data.

Step 5: View the list of websites visited, including those from private mode, by tapping Show All Sites.

While these steps may not give you direct access to your kid’s browsing history, they can help manage and control the types of sites your child can access.

Android devices are more flexible when you need to monitor your child’s device. For example, they allow you to use a combination of built-in features and third-party apps.

You can use Google Family Link to set up rules for your child’s device, including tracking web usage. You can also install monitoring apps like FamiSafe or Qustodio. These apps offer features like web filtering, activity reports, and real-time notifications, even for Incognito Mode.

Another advantage of Android is that it allows more detailed control over app permissions and settings. This can be helpful in restricting certain types of browsing.

Figuring out how to see incognito history on Chrome can be tricky. This is because browsers like Chrome and Firefox don’t store browsing data. However, there are a few ways to go around it.

A router-level parental control tool like Open Domain Name System (DNS) can monitor all traffic on your home network, including browsing activity carried out in Incognito Mode. Windows allows you to check DNS cache records, which store information about the websites visited, even when in private mode.

Another easier way is installing browser extensions designed for incognito browsing monitoring. These extensions can keep logs of all internet activity.

Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge

Step 1: Go to Chrome Web Store and install the Off The Record History extension.

Step 2: Go to chrome://extensions/ and toggle on Allow in Incognito.

Step 3: Access your incognito history through the extension's shortcut.

Mozilla Firefox

Step 1: Firefox does not store incognito history directly, but you can check the DNS cache via Command Prompt or Terminal.

Step 2: On Windows, open Command Prompt as an administrator and type ipconfig/displaydns to view cached DNS entries.

Now, you can check incognito history without hassle. Besides, if you need, you can learn how to get out of incognito mode here.

Parental control apps, especially in modern times, have served to bring parents some peace of mind. Being able to monitor your kids' smartphone activities not only helps you protect them but lets you stay in charge without being in their faces.

However, while these measures are useful for monitoring a child's online activity, they have their limitations, particularly when it comes to tracking browsing done in Incognito Mode. While some advanced apps attempt to monitor browsing by capturing network traffic, this method may not always be reliable or provide complete visibility into a child's Incognito activity.

Additionally, there may be certain limitations placed by the device's operating system. For instance, iOS has stiff security protocols that restrict the extent to which apps can monitor network activity or capture data from other apps, including browsers. So it can be challenging figuring out how to see incognito history on iPhone Safari, for example.

This means that even with a parental control app installed, kids may still find ways to bypass monitoring through private browsing. This brings us to FamiSafe. It is a top-rated solution for parental control that also helps with tracking Incognito browsing. This parental control app provides 2 features to check incognito history, including Browser History and Screen Viewer.

• Browser History: It allows parents to view kids' browsing history and check private or incognito internet history remotely. And it supports storing up to 3 months of browser history for parent's review.
• Screen Viewer: It can capture real-time or scheduled screenshots on a kid's Android/iOS device. Whether your child is browsing in incognito mode, chatting with social apps, or playing games, FamiSafe can record it all with screenshots.

Monitoring your child’s online activity can be challenging, primarily when they use features like Incognito Mode to hide their browsing. However, with the right tools and knowledge, you can get around it.

Whether you’re using iOS, Android, or desktop browsers, parental control apps like FamiSafe offer excellent solutions to track internet usage, including during private browsing sessions.

So, if you're wondering how to see incognito history on Android and iOS devices, FamiSafe allows you to capture screenshots of your child's browsing activity in real-time. This way, you never have to worry about checking their browsing history. It will all be saved on your device.

1. Is there a way to completely delete incognito history?

Incognito history is designed to be temporary, so once the session is closed, the browser doesn’t store any record of it. However, you can still see data like DNS logs or network traffic through your parental control app or network logs.

2. Can I see my incognito history on a shared device?

Yes. It is possible to retrieve some history, especially from network logs. However, it

depends on whether parental control tools or network-level monitoring are in place. It also depends on the device and browser setup.

3. Does incognito mode prevent tracking?

No. Incognito Mode prevents the device being used from saving the browsing history. However, it doesn’t stop websites, ISPs, or parental control apps from tracking the device’s activities.

4. Can I recover deleted incognito history?

Recovering incognito history directly from a browser is not possible once the session is closed. However, you can get this information through parental control apps that monitor and record screen activity during browsing sessions. You can also retrieve them from external sources, like DNS caches and network traffic records.

Moly Swift

staff Editor