If you’ve kids at home then you should keep a close watch on them especially if they’re glued to your mobile phones. Kids usually use smartphones to either play games or watch entertaining videos but that doesn’t stop them from various other activities such as browsing the web. As a parent, you can install a parental control app or web monitoring software to keep a track of your kids’ web surfing activity.
However, that isn’t the most convenient approach. Those worried can rather choose to block incognito mode on Google Chrome for Android. That’s because Chrome’s Incognito mode allows users to browse the web privately. As a result, the browser history, search history, cookies and site data isn’t saved for web pages opened in Incognito mode. Perhaps, kids aware of Incognito aka private browsing can use it to watch inappropriate content or something that you don’t want them to access.
Android smartphone users can get through this problem by disabling Chrome’s Incognito feature instead of blocking access or password-protecting the Chrome app. Though kids can still delete the browsing history when surfing the Internet through the standard mode but you can easily make out if that happens. Here we’re emphasizing on Chrome browser because it comes pre-installed on most Android devices and it can’t be uninstalled. Without further ado, let’s see how to block Incognito browser on Android.
Disable Incognito browsing in Chrome on Android without Root
To do so, install Incoquito from Google Play. This is a free app that allows you to completely block access to incognito browsing mode in Chrome for Android version 51.0.2698.0 or later. The app requires notification access in order to work. It comes with two modes – prevent tabs from opening and automatically close tabs (when the screen is turned off or after a set delay time).
We prefer the prevent tabs one in which you can also display a popup message with custom text that appears on switching to Incognito mode or tab. A settings lock option exists that lets you set a Pin lock to prevent unauthorized changes. There is also a 1-click toggle to enable or disable the Incoquito functionality.
After setting up, whenever you open a new incognito tab, Chrome will simply show a popup message (if enabled) and won’t switch to Incognito mode. The “New Incognito tab” option will normally appear in Chrome though.
Note: It’s advisable to hide the app or prevent Incoquito from being uninstalled to make sure it works actively. A paid version of the app is also there with additional features such as uninstall detection and prevention, Android settings guard, block access to YouTube app, and a monitoring mode.
How to Enable or Disable Extensions in Incognito Mode in Google Chrome
You can customize Google Chrome and add features and functionality by adding extensions from the Chrome Web Store.
If you don’t want Google Chrome to remember your activity, you can browse the web privately in
Incognito mode.
Allow in incognito is turned off (disabled) by default for extensions.
This tutorial will show you how to enable and disable allow in incognito mode for extensions in Google Chrome for your account in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
If an extension has been turned off, it will not be available in incognito mode (even if you have turned on (enable) allow in incognito) until the extension is turned on.
- Option One: Enable or Disable Allow in Incognito for Extension in Google Chrome from Extension's Icon
- Option Two: Enable or Disable Allow in Incognito for Extension in Google Chrome from Extensions Page
Enable or Disable Allow in Incognito for Extension in Google Chrome from Extension's Icon
1. Open Google Chrome.
2. To the right of the address bar, look for the icon of the extension you want to turn on or off allow in incognito. Right click or press and hold on the icon, and click/tap on Manage extensions. (see screenshot below)
The extension's icon will only be available if the extension is currently turned on (enabled).
3. Turn on (enable) or off (disable) Allow in incognito for what you want for this extension. (see screenshot below)
Enable or Disable Allow in Incognito for Extension in Google Chrome from Extensions Page
1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Click/tap on the Customize and control Google Chrome (More) button, click/tap on More tools, and click/tap on Extensions. (see screenshot below)
If you like, you could also enter chrome://extensions into the address bar of Chrome and press Enter to directly open to the Extensions settings.
3. Click/tap on the Details button for the extension you want to enable or disable allow in incognito. (see screenshot below)
4. Turn on (enable) or off (disable) Allow in incognito for what you want for this extension. (see screenshot below)
That's it,
Shawn
If you want to prevent the use of Incognito Mode in the Google Chrome web browser, you can disable the feature using these steps.
Windows
- Hold down the Windows Key and press “R” to bring up the Run box.
- Type “regedit“, then press “Enter“.
- Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” > “SOFTWARE” > “Policies” > “Google” > “Chrome“.
Note: You may have to create the “Google” and “Chrome” folders. - Right-click “Chrome” and select “New” > “DWORD 32-bit value“
- Give the value a name of “
IncognitoModeAvailability
“. - Double-click on “
IncognitoModeAvailability
“. A box will appear where you can set the value data to “1“. - Restart the computer, and the option to select “Incognito Mode” in Google Chrome will be gone.
Alternatively, you can download this registry import file and run it to set the changes for you.
MacOS
- From the Finder, select “Go” > “Utilities“.
- Open the “Terminal” application.
- Type the following, then press “Enter“:
defaults write com.google.chrome IncognitoModeAvailability -integer 1
- Restart your Mac. The Incognito Mode option will no longer be available
If you want to revert this setting and allow Incognito Mode again, perform the same steps, only change the “1” to a “0”
I use this extension called Website Blocker to discourage me from checking Gmail/Reddit. However, it is easy and tempting to open a New Incognito Window; since extensions are disabled in Incognito Mode, I'm still able to browse Gmail/Reddit while in Incognito.
Is there any way to disable Chrome's Incognito Mode in Ubuntu? Ideally, this would encourage me to use my smartphone as a dedicated Gmail/Reddit checker.
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Jason TuJason Tu
2 Answers
To disable incognito on chrome/chromium you need to edit the policies. Doing this will prevent you from opening an incognito window via Ctrl+Shift+n, and will also grey out the incognito window option in the options tab in the corner.
If you're using chrome, create the folder
/etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed
. Or if you're using chromium, create the folder /etc/chromium/policies/managed
.Then create a file in that directory named
test_policy.json
. It can have any name you want, but it needs the extension to be .json
. Open it in your favorite editor and put:
That should do it!
Source: http://www.chromium.org/administrators/linux-quick-start andhttp://www.chromium.org/administrators/policy-list-3
How To Get Rid Of Incognito
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RyanRyan
This doesn't directly answer your question, but rather than disabling incognito mode, you can instead enable the extension in incognito mode windows:
- Click the spanner icon and then pick
Tools -> Extensions
from the menu. - Next to the extension you're interested in, click the expander arrow.
- Check the 'Allow in incognito' check box that is revealed.
Now the extension will be active in future incognito mode windows you open. Area 51 download pc.
The caveat is that if the extension stores any information about your browsing history, your incognito browsing habits may not be as private as before. If the extension simply blocks certain URLs from loading though, this might not be a concern.
How To Deactivate Incognito On Chrome
James HenstridgeJames HenstridgeHow To Turn Off Incognito On Chrome
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