To see incognito history, it is important to know that browsers like Chrome do not save browsing history in incognito mode on the device itself. However, some traces of the visited websites can still be accessed in other ways:
- On Windows or Mac, the DNS cache temporarily stores the domain names of websites recently visited, including those accessed in incognito mode. You can view the DNS cache on Windows by opening Command Prompt as an administrator and typing the command
ipconfig /displaydns
. On Mac, you can use Terminal commands to view DNS cache entries. - There are browser extensions available, such as "Off The Record History" for Chrome, that can record incognito browsing history if enabled before browsing.
- Additionally, browsing activity in incognito mode can be visible to your Internet Service Provider (ISP), network administrators (like on school or work networks), or anyone with access to the network/router you are connected to.
If you want to delete traces of incognito browsing from DNS cache:
- On Windows, use the command
ipconfig /flushdns
in Command Prompt. - On Mac, use
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
in Terminal. - On Android Chrome, clear host cache from
chrome://net-internals/#dns
.
In summary, while you cannot view typical browsing history inside the incognito browser, you can see DNS cache records or use special extensions to track incognito browsing history.