How to browse privately on your smartphone

Worried about your privacy? Here's how you browse privately on your smartphone

By GizBot Bureau

| Updated: Tuesday, June 5, 2018, 12:31 [IST]

Browsing provides ample ways for anyone to retrieve your information. Anything you do on the internet leaves behind a footprint. We all know the most obvious footprint - browser history. But the browser and web pages interact in different ways and your information can be compromised through caches, cookies, browser extensions, and autofill info.

How to browse privately on your smartphone

It’s important to understand that your online activities are never completely secure. However, there are ways to control certain sectors in our browsers that try to limit data tracking. You’ll need to adjust the browser’s privacy settings.

CHROME

On Chrome, you can do this by visiting ‘Settings'. Scroll through to find ‘Privacy'. Upon opening it, you'll see a list of options.

‘Safe Browsing' - As the name suggests, your browsing will be protected by Chrome, which notifies you regarding any phishing scams or malware the website supports.

‘Do not track' - When you activate this, Chrome sends a request. However, this isn't foolproof. Websites can choose to ignore your request and continue tracking you.

You can also browse in private mode, where your browser won't save your browsing history. Open the app and tap the drop-down menu. Choose New Incognito Tab.

There's one more thing to do. Visit 'Privacy' again by going to 'Settings' and click on 'Clear Browsing Data.' Here, you'll find a list of data that you can choose to delete.

FIREFOX

Tap the drop-down menu, go to ‘Settings', and enable the following -

Tracking Protection - This feature is enabled primarily for private browsing, but one can use this for normal browsing as well. A shield icon appears in the address bar, denoting that Firefox is blocking the trackers on the page.

‘Clear private data on exit' can be ticked to erase your browsing data upon closing Firefox.

Uncheck ‘Remember Logins' if you don't want Firefox to store your passwords.

SAFARI

In ‘Settings', go to Safari and scroll to find Privacy & Security. You can toggle these options from the list.

Prevent cross-site tracking: Stops websites from tracking you to other pages and what you view there.

Block all Cookies: Cookies are stored to help with faster loading.

Camera and Microphone access: Uncheck this feature if you want to ward off unwanted web apps from misusing it.

To clean your browsing history, go to Safari via Settings and tap ‘Clear history and website data.'

Quick Trick: How to Chat With Your Friends Without Internet

DUCK DUCK GO

Duck Duck Go is an app with built-in features that blocks trackers, uses encrypted connection, clears history and open tabs with a single button. Duck Duck Go offers its own search engine which doesn't track your searches.