Major Safari bug re: private browsing

Hi everyone, I'm encountering a major bug in Safari's private browsing mode. Basically, after you exit Safari, even if you close all previous tabs and use Settings to clear the cache, after you return again to Safari's private browsing mode it briefly flashes a screenshot/grab from random video content you viewed prior. There doesn't seem to be any way to clear this ... any suggestions? I just tried resetting all settings and that didn't work. Side question: does Safari's cache automatically clear after a certain point in time, i.e. 30 days after site visits and content gets stored? Many thanks in advance for all input!

Same here!
I have ghost images which sometimes appear randomly when starting or returning to Safari. They last one or two seconds then go away. I can't really define a pattern but it happens quite frequently...
Tried clearing the cache and cookies but I didn't do anything as the problem still occurs.
Apparently this issue has been known for quite some time and everyone is waiting for it to be fixed.
See more here : Safari on ipad2 ios7 does not clear cache or history properly
Come on. How hard can it be to ask iOS to delete ALL the files in a specific folder?

Similar Messages

Update safari to obtain private browsing

Although I am running 10.4.5, my version of Safari is 1.3.1. I can't seem to update Safari to add "private Browsing". The installer won't let me update to 1.3.2 and says that I require OS X 10.3.9. Any help would be appreciated, I'm really stuck.

garilynn,
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I am surprised that you are still using Safari 1.3.1. Do you know how that happened?
Use the Custom installs in Mac OS X 10.4 feature of Tiger to install Safari 2.0 and then reapply the Mac OS X Update 10.4.5 Combo to get Safari up to version 2.0.3.
;~)

Is there a way to to set up safari for automatic private browsing?

Without having to select it from the safari tab each time you launch the app.?
Automatically.

Is there a way to to set up safari for automatic private browsing... Without having to select it from the safari tab each time you launch the app.?
Here's one option...
Follow these steps to ensure that Private Browsing is turned on automatically each time Safari launches:
1) Under System Preferences > Universal Access, check "Enable access for assistive devices."
2) Copy the code below and paste it into your AppleScript Script Editor, located in your Applications > AppleScript folder:
*activate application "Safari"*
*tell application "System Events"*
*tell process "Safari"*
*click menu item "Private Browsing…" of menu 1 of menu bar item "Safari" of menu bar 1*
*if exists button "OK" of window 1 then*
*click button "OK" of window 1*
*end if*
*end tell*
*end tell*
From the Script Editor's File menu choose Save As > File Format: application, and leave the Options unchecked. Place the saved script in your User > Library > Scripts folder, or in some other out-of-the-way place on your hard drive.
3) Download and install Do Something When. Set up a new rule with Do Something When and configure it to open the newly saved AppleScript app when Safari launches.
Works for me, using Mac OS 10.4.11.
Best regards... Good luck.

Mountain Lion - Safari 6 and Private Browsing

Safari 6 - Mountain Lion.
If I enable Private Browsing, I am not able to read a new page.
To do an example: If I have active yahoo page and I try to resume an other internet page (i.e. repubblica) from top sites page, the address change, but no refresh graphically and safari become not usable... I think is a Safari mngt cache bug. Please fix it. The issue is easily reproducible.

Probably, I found the solution. I had an extension in Safari enable (Clicktoflash version 2.6.2) that generated the issue.
Disabled the extension, it seems work correctly. I noticed that there is an update of this extesion (2.6.9).
I must try the new version.

Ipad Air Safari turn off private browsing

I accidently turned on private browsing on my iPad Air and can not turn it off. I have read the owner's manual, googled for help and responses have not helped turn it off. Some say turn it off in settings under security with the "Do Not Track" switch. Other things I've read says to tap on the bookmark icon in Safari. I'm at a loss and need help.
thanks

Tap "Private" on Safari Screen to enable/disable Private Browsing. When top of screen is white, Private Browsing is off.
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/Diavonex/547958b4a8c01ac084dd6649e8386 a0f_zps12fa0cca.jpg

HT201304 I keep getting a message in safari to disable private browsing in my setting but I cannot find anything I safari settings that is about private browsing help

Help I keep getting a message in safari that it cannot open the page unless I turn off private browsing
This can be done in settings
I had never set up private browsing
Going to setting I cannot see anything that let's me shut off private browsing
Can somebody help .

Hello Cantadd,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information, take a look at:
iOS: Safari web settings
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1677
To visit sites without making history, turn Private on or off in Safari.
To turn on private browsing, tap Safari, then tap in the lower-right corner. Tap Private to turn private browsing on.
Note: If you're using an iPad, tap , then Private.
or private again to turn it off.
Have a nice day,
Mario

Where did the private browsing button go in my safari settings?

I have private browsing turned on in safari, but I set it that way before I updated to ios7. Now I am trying to go to AT&T's website and it says I need to turn off private browsing and to go to settings then to safari and turn private browsing off. So I did what it said, just like I've always done and I do not see anywhere to turn private browsing on and off. I now have ios7 and I have the iPhone 4. Maybe I am just missing something, but if you have any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

It is actually in teh app itself now, not in Settings. Tap the icon in the lower right (looks like to pages on top of one another). Tap Private. (This turns in or off). A dark grey toolbar in Safari indicated PB is On.

How can I set my safari to default to private browsing?

How can I set Safari to use Private Browsing as its default?

Use Firefox instead it allows this (and much more)
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2013/01/28/privacy-day-2013/
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/
Install the add-ons of Ghostery (set to delete Flash and Silverlight cookies), Ad Block Plus, TrackMeNot, Click&Clean, and HTTPEverywhere that should keep your machine always clean everytime you quit.

Safari 4 & Private Browsing fails to work

Safari 4 & Private Browsing fails to work.
I check Private Browsing, accept what it says, and when I quit I expect that it will clear all that I want it to. But it is still there 100%. Any one see this problem?
-Apple //GS

Hi
You're welcome.
Which plist did you trash?
To bad I can't keep that checked 100% of the time.
Unfortunately, Private Browsing is intended to be a "conscious choice". You can add an Apple Script to open Safari automatically in Private Browsing. Here's direction from MacWorld.

IPhone 5 Safari Faking "Private Browsing" Mode

I recently posted in another forum about how suspicious click-through ads were appearing on my iPhone 5 within certain media web sites. Since I have never run Safari without “private browsing” mode being on; have always had “limit ad tracking” turned on; third-party cookies blocked; and have geolocation and location services (for Safari) turned off, that should have been impossible. While the discussion participants had come up with some interesting possibilities, I realized that I had neglected to check the “Website Data” screen in iPhone’s Setup. So I just checked the web site storage. Got an unpleasant surprise when I was greeted with a screen-full of URL’s beginning with www.stayinvisible.com and carbonite.com. Tapped on “show all sites” and 100 or more URL’s scrolled by, among them many Apple web sites. Even found a competitor’s web site URL that should not have been there, since I’ve never visited their web site, nor any legitimate web site that would have hosted anything that would have set a cookie on this device.
Apple’s privacy policy with the current version of Safari for iPhone 5 (within IOS 7.1.2 11D257) is very clear:
"Private Browsing
When Private Browsing is enabled, Safari doesn’t remember the pages you visit, AutoFill information, and your open tabs aren’t stored in iCloud. Safari will also ask sites and their third party content providers (including advertisers) not to track you. Websites can’t modify information stored on your device, so services normally available at such sites may work differently until you turn off Private Browsing."
Apple stated that, “Websites can’t modify information stored on your device,…” yet I have in front of me proof that web sites CAN and DO modify information on my device while Safari’s “private browsing is on. This is very deceptive and a nasty way to treat customers who bought one of the most expensive PDA/smart phones on the market and now find that they have no web browsing security (Safari ignoring secure web site security certificate revocations, can’t detect bogus or malicious secure web sites), and apparently zero web browsing privacy, after Apple promised exactly the opposite.
Has anyone else finding that their web browsing security has been compromised with a recent vintage iPhone?

I’ve wiped the web cache several times since then. Several times I found more cookies in the web cache, at least once found over a hundred items, mostly for web sites I didn’t visit even once, but were all in my Safari bookmarks. Apparently, in addition to everything else going on, Apple appears to be rooting through my bookmarks without my permission.
Using Steve Gibson’s Cookie Forensics web page (https://www.grc.com/cookies/forensics.htm) I confirmed that web sites are able to save and retrieve cookie data from my iPhone with Private Browsing enabled. That violates Apple’s stated privacy policy.
The cookies that keep reappearing in the web cache, which also violates Apple’s stated privacy policy, apparently are leftovers from Safari crashes. I see five crashes in the past month, and crash logs for Safari going back to last year. Per my earlier post, after tapping the "delete" button, the cookies immediately disappeared, but then all came back at least once within a few seconds. That means IOS was hiding, and not deleting, the web cache when the "delete" button was tapped. The reappearing cookies are also only being hidden from the user, and become visible when a device crash prevents IOS from keeping the cookies hidden, since they've been in the web cache all the time.
I also see that other apps, like Podcasts, Stocks, and Weather are also writing or accessing items in the web cache, while “Private Browsing” mode has supposedly been “on.” The only thing “private” about “Private Browsing” mode is Apple deliberately hiding this activity from users.
Safari on IOS will allow web sites to track iPhone users regardless of an iPhone user’s device settings. Anyone who merely minimizes Safari between sessions, rather than killing the active Safari task, will find their device will act exactly the same whether “Private Browsing” is on or off. Safari might not prompt for, for example, a user name for a login, but if the web site stored a cookie with login info, it might already have you logged in (if a login were required for a particular page). And if a cookie were saved to the web cache after a device crash, Safari will again violate Apple's privacy policy and allow web sites to read and modify the cookies that were stored in the cache while "Private Browsing" mode were on. I confirmed that more than once.
Apple’s privacy policy for is a lie. Mobile Safari has no “Private Browsing Mode.”

Reset Safari and private browsing

Is the "resent safari" command simply making the browser as if you had started the session with the private browsing? What differences are there between the two?

Hi,
Is the "reset safari" command simply making the browser as if you had started the session with the private browsing?
Yes.
What differences are there between the two?
When you perform a full reset of Safari you lose all your cookies, saved autofill information, history information and usernames/passwords. Bar keeping your bookmarks, it's as if you had never used Safari.
With Private Browsing, you only lose the information since the initiation of the private browsing session. So, your history for example from prior the private browsing session is still available.

How do I disable private browsing on new IOS 7 for ipad

I updated mini iPad to IOS 7.2. Now Yahoo Mail says I must go to Settlings, click Safari and disable private browsing. Have tried many times. I see no place to disable private browsing. Please help!!

Aliwils6 wrote:
If search area at top is grey, you are in private mode
Actually no. If Safari is in Private mode, the search area and header bar will be black.
Regards.

Found a bug, Safari log out sites with Private Browsing

When I click Private Browsing, every site I visit with Safari is logged out. When I turn off Private Browsing, I'm automatically logged in. This was not the behavior in Snow Leopard or earlier (I don't believe).
This was driving me crazy...it's a real PITA to log in to every site (including the ones where you're not autosaving the password, such as financial sites, etc.)
I reported it to apple.com/feedback but thougth I'd share it with the community in case anyone else noticed it.

#2 makes sense and that fits with what Private Browsing should be all about
#1 doesn't make sense, since, as soon as you exit Private Browsing a user that has access to the machine, has access to all sites. Accordingly, it's not very private nor secure. In fact the big PRIVATE that appears on the address bar invites curiousity and folks will click it, and be offered the option to end Private Browsing (and thus, full access).
In any event, pre Lion, I believe, this wasn't the case...although now I'm not sure, as I only used Private Browsing a few times.

Does Safari's private browsing prevent accidental downloads of all kinds? Such as spyware, firmware and all others?

I was browsing privately, but legally, (you can probably guess for what) when I accidentally clicked on a link that took me to a site of unspeakable and illegal horrors. I immediately closed the window, quit Safari, reset it cleared everything and then deleted it altogether. I am shaking right now. I have heard stories of the FBI raiding people's homes who become involved in sites like that one, intentionally or unintentionally. I pray to God that nothing was downloaded onto my laptop without my knowledge and I wanted to know if Safari's private browsing prevents downloads of that nature.
Thanks in advance,

Safari can keep your browsing history private. When you turn on private browsing, Safari doesn’t remember the pages you visit, your search history, or your AutoFill information, so your partner cannot see where you have been, but you must also remember to also turn off acceptance of cookies.
In all other respects Private Browsing is not as private as you might think:
http://www.switchingtomac.com/tutorials/how-to-make-safaris-private-browsing-fea ture-actually-private/
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=9054
and then Apple's own advice from here: http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/privacy_safari.html
"Note that the Private Browsing option does not prevent Safari from collecting cookies (the preference files automatically generated by many websites). The Reset Safari option clears all cookies. If you want to delete only certain ones, choose Preferences from the Safari menu, click the Security tab, and then click Show Cookies. You can select and delete individual cookies from the list that appears. Careful, though — if you’re a frequent web user, this list can be very, very long."
which is itself incomplete, the relevant part being 'If you want to delete only certain ones.
To that end it is useful to have Safari Cookies installed, which is the only cookie manager available for Safari:
http://sweetpproductions.com/safaricookies/
which automatically deletes all cookies not marked as 'favourites' when closing Safari. It does the same for Flash Cookies, but they are subject for themselves:
From this website:
http://machacks.tv/2009/01/27/flushapp-flash-cookie-removal-tool-for-os-x/
For those who do not know about Flash cookies, more properly referred to as Local Shared Objects (LSO), they operate in a similar way to regular browser cookies but are stored outside the purview of your browser, meaning you cannot delete them from within your browser, whether Safari, Firefox, Opera or any other. Typically they are issued from sites or 3rd party sites that contain Adobe Flash content. Since virtually all internet advertising is delivered in Flash, Google/Doudleclick and all other internet advertising companies are sure to be tracking your browsing behavior with Flash cookies. These companies can see you traverse the Internet as you come upon the plethora of sites that contain their embedded advertising. Check out the Wikipedia entry here.
In Mac OS X they are stored in the following location:
/User’s Home Folder/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects
The settings for the Flash cookies are stored in:
/User’s Home Folder/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys
In OS X Local Shared Objects, or Flash Cookies, are appended with a .sol suffix. Flush deletes all the Flash cookies (.sol) and their settings.
Flush can be downloaded from that page.
If you want to retain certain Flash cookies but not others, the excellent add-on for Safari called SafariCookies now includes a setting for automatically deleting flash cookies you don't want to retain, when Safari is shut down, in the same as it deals with ordinary cookies:
http://www.sweetpproductions.com/safaricookies/index.htm
which not only does that but much more equally useful stuff!
This article covers the issue in more depth:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/you-deleted-your-cookies-think-again/
Flash cookies are also known as 'Zombie Cookies' and are used by a number of firms, including Hulu, MTV, and Myspace. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the internet security firm Sophos, told BBC News that the source of the trouble was Adobe Flash itself, which he called "one of the weirdest programs on the planet".
"I think it's highly unlikely that these large companies have abused Flash cookies - which are different from browser cookies - with malicious intent," he said.
"I think it's much more likely that the vast majority of users are simply oblivious to the bizarre way in which Adobe allows them to configure the software."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10787882
And a more recent article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/technology/21cookie.html?_r=3&scp=1&sq=flash&s t=cse
[b]Tracker cookies and the invisible web:[/b]
– tags, web bugs, pixels and beacons that are included on web pages in order to get an idea of your online behavior.
Ghostery tracks the trackers and gives you a roll-call of the ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers, and other companies interested in your activity.
http://www.ghostery.com/about
This provides an extension to Safari (also available for other browsers) that shows you what data tracking is active on each web page you visit, and enables you to block them.

When using private browsing to view image results in Safari 5.1.3, only the first two rows of results are visible, the following four or so rows display greyed out place holders, and the safe search button is inoperable. Suggestions?

When using private browsing to view image results in Safari 5.1.3, only the first two rows of results are visible, the following four or so rows display greyed out place holders, the remainder of the results page is blank, and the safe search button is inoperable. When I turn off private browsing and refresh the page, everything works again.
Anyone else having this problem?

I have got the same behaviour after the last Safari Update to 5.1.3. It seems that Safari now handles some scripts in a new way. If you debug the Google Website, you will see, that there is some Javascript Error, that seems to prevent to write into local cache. After some searching I wasn't able to finde a solution for this problem, other then disabling Javascript while private browsing to prevent the script loading. You then are able to use Google with the old layout. The option to disable JavaScript can be found in the Menu "Developer", wich has to be enabled in Safari in the options first.
In my opinion this is a bug that is now occuring, because Apple changed something in private browsing and that has to be fixed by Google now, to run again. Or we will have to wait for 5.1.4, as you can read online Apple will change and bugfix the javascript engine in that version, perhaps this fixes the problem as well. I hope so!
If anyone is in the developer program perhaps you could test this with the beta of 5.1.4 and tell us if it works.

Major Safari bug re: private browsing

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