Safari and Private Browsing

Is there a way to turn on private browsing permanently? I check my bank account every few days because I make a lot of transactions. It's annoying to have to click Private Browsing and then OK every time I do it. Clearly, Safari doesn't have a built in feature for permanent private browsing. Can I automate it somehow? How so?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the private browsing only hide your actions from another person who may have physical contact to your computer and your user account? It doesn't actually provide a higher level of security while you're browsing the web. It doesn't affect any data or packets going in/out of your network connection, it just hides your history from prying eyes... This is the information that is not recorded (from Safari Help):
■ Webpages are not added to the history list.
■ The Downloads window is cleared so the name of anything you downloaded won’t appear in the list. (To get rid of the downloaded item itself, you must delete it.)
■ Information isn’t saved for AutoFill, including names and passwords.
■ Searches are not added to the pop-up menu in the Google search field.
■ Cookies are deleted.
But anyone on your network could still "sniff" your packets if that's what you're concerned about.
You might consider searching or posting in the Safari forum since your question isn't really tied to the hardware of your MacBook.
-Doug

Similar Messages

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.

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.

HT1677 In iOS 7.1 I cannot find how to set Safari to Private browsing on iPad. Does anyone know?

I upgraded my iPad to iOS 7.1 and now the option to set Safari into Private browsing has disappeared. Any hints where this is moved now?

When top is white Private Browsing is off (tap to enlarge image)
When top is black Private Browsing is on.

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.”

5.1 Preferences/Cookies and Private Browsing gone haywire - BACKWARDS

There is something gone wrong, all haywire with the new version of Safari at 5.1. The Cookies settings in the Prefs has "Block" settings, and I have it set at "ALWAYS" and yet it allows for me to sign in to any webpage with my name and password, whereas before I couldn't. At the same time, if I use "Private Browsing" and set that, it actually blocks my Cookies!!!! whereas before all it did was not remember History. Somebody messed up the programming and got this one completely backwards, this should be the other way around.
Cookies set to ALWAYS should block all cookies and Private Browsing should not block cookies just not remember history.
This is a major blunder. Needs immediate update fix, please.

1. There are other threads on this issue
2. At least for me, the forums are not letting me 'reply' to posts, I am getting past this by going to 'advanced' and posting from there.

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.

Updated Safari 5.1 and private browsing not working properly

I updated my Safari 5.1 last week and was testing the different functions. When I go into private browsing it will keep some web pages private but not others, they show up on my history file/page. I can not find the "new" location for deleting cookies in the preference section. Is anyone else experiencing these problems?
Thanks!

Thanks Carolyn,
I removed all website data, put my browser on privacy and it still records certain websites I visited and shows up on the history page. Is there a problem when I updated Safari last week. I didn't have this issue before the update.
Thanks!

Does Safari log Private Browsing toggling?

I have grounded my 14 year old son from gaming/surfing but he needs to use his MBA for a summer school course he is taking. I have had him clear his History in Safari and will be reviewing it regularly but if he toggles Private Browsing it won't show in the History. Is there a way to see if PB has been toggled in a log somewhere or can I disable the PB feature?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Yes that will be my last resort as I would have to create an administrator account for me then change his account to a user, etc. I was just looking for an easy way to make him take responsibility for his actions but not take it to where he has to ask for every move he makes on the computer. It would disable several places he needs to go to complete his assignments and after he got my permission to use those avenues he could cheat anyway.

Reset Safari's Private Browsing Data

Without private browsing, if I visit a site such as reddit, login, and check the "remember me" box, Safari will effectively remember me until I do a Reset Safari with everything checked (this is the expected behavior). However, if I do exactly the same thing with Private Browsing enabled, Reset Safari stops working as expected for the data saved during a Private Browsing session. Worse, the data Safari saves during the Private Browsing session stays permanently, so quitting and restarting Safari does not fix the problem, as once I re-enable Private Browsing, reddit will remember me again.
I've tried everything I could to reset my Private Browsing data but apparently it keeps coming back. I have plugins and Java disabled, so it can't be Flash; I've even gone as far as to remove the ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari and ~/Library/Safari directories entirely to no avail, reddit continues to remember me in Private Browsing no matter what I do and only when Private Browsing is enabled (which is kind of ironic).
Obviously I'm not concerned about reddit itself, but if reddit, which has no ill intent, can remember me, then I wonder how much data is being saved without my knowledge that I can't remove during a private browsing session.

Vaelian, I face this bug, too. Did you find any solution or reported the bug, already?
With Wireshark, I was able to verify that Apple simply sends the Cookie. Nobody (Flash, Java or HTML itself) did request the Cookie. The cache and cookies for private-browsing are kept as long as I am logged in. If you turn off private-browsing, Apple uses Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies and therefore, the cookie is not present. However, if you turn on private-browsing again, the Cookie magically appears! I checked my whole disk and could not find the private-brwosing cookie-store. I guess, it is stored somewhere in RAM.
My solution:
I logged-out via Apple menu. Alternatively, I restart the whole computer. Then, all cached data and the cookies of my private-browsing mode got deleted.
Side effects:
This private-browsing cookie-store gets corrupted after some time and I experienced the wildest errors on webpages. Again, logging out and logging in again, solved it.

Why are the localStorage objects unavailable to Safari while Private Browsing?

According to these two sites
http://caniuse.com/#feat=namevalue-storage
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/131587/how-can-a-web-site-determine-if- safari-private-browsing-is-turned-on
HTML5 localStorage objects aren't accessible when users visit sites that use them via a Safari Private Browsing window.
W3 indicated this is supported: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_webstorage.asp as does https://developer.apple.com/library/safari/documentation/tools/conceptual/safari extensionguide/ExtensionSettings/Extensi…
I'm hoping to find or establish more information that confirms localStorage objects don't work in Safari Private Browsing windows. All other browsers my team has tried support this in private browsing mode.
Thanks for any and all assistance.
Message was edited by: cmcleod99

Maybe Google history is enabled.
*https://www.google.com/history/?hl=en&ctz=-120

IPad2 just upgraded to iOS7-no History in Safari tab-private browsing is off

The problem: my Safari history does not appear in the tab to the right of the top-of-the-screen Safari Search box. Only Bookmarks and Reading List appear in this tab.
Recent Apple Discussions on this problem indicate the problem is having Private Browsing turned on and turning it off fixes the problem. However, my Private Browsing option is definitely turned off everywhere I've found an option of turning it on (new window, upper left of keyboard)
I have a CDMA iPad2 with iOS 7.0.3 - installed earlier today.
Perhaps the iPad2 doesn't play well with iOS7?
It would be nice to have tab access to recent History.

Thanks, Carolyn! I goofed. I didn't see the row "History" nested in with my bookmarks. I expected it to be on the top of the tab at the level of "Bookmarks" and "Reading List"
Cheers,
Rick

Clear history and private browsing is stuck in gray

stop private browsing and clear history are stuck in gray and not responding when I click on them

You have turned on Permanent Private Browsing mode which makes those options grey so you don't accidentally turn it off.
Fortunately, there is a easy way to turn it off.
Click the Firefox button > Options > Options > Privacy tab then uncheck '''Permanent Private Browsing''' and click OK.
Or, if you don't have the orange Firefox button: <br>
Tools > Options > Privacy tab then uncheck '''Permanent Private Browsing''' and click OK.

HELP! SAFARI AND FIREFOX BROWSER ERRORS

Hello,
Im looking for some help with my Mac Book Pro. For the last two weeks Ive been having serious issues with browser errors. I currently use Firefox and Safari. Certain links do not work properly or not at all. I just click and nothing happens. Here is a sample of what is at the bottom of firefox when i click the link : javascript:WebForm_DoPostBackWithOptions(new%20Web Form_PostBackOptions("ctl00$ctlPagePlaceHolder$Add ToWatchList2",%20"",%20true,%20"",%20"",%20false,% 20true))
Also, The browsers randomly run like crap. I just went to my sharebuilder account and the web page says this:
This page contains the following errors:
error on line 15 at column 66: EntityRef: expecting ';'
Below is a rendering of the page up to the first error.
If I use my other MAC Computer no problems at all. Only this one. I just dont get it.
Another thing. Ive been running repair disk permissions and everyday its correcting what appears to be the same errors?
I just updated to Safari 5 and now have more Issues. Some pages dont even Load.
I have Net Barrier 5 and been running it for about a year. Its like all of sudden everything just starting malfunctioning.
Anyone have any Ideas?

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions.....
At least part of the problem, especially since the issue is effecting both browsers, is Net Barrier.
You are already running an operating system that protects your Mac against virus and malware, read here: Snow Leopard Has You Covered
You might want to consider uninstalling NetBarrier software.
Another thing. Ive been running repair disk permissions and everyday its correcting what appears to be the same errors?
Those aren't errors, they are "messages"... if run Disk Utility to repair disk permissions, if you see, "Repair Permissions Complete", that's it. Nothing more to do.
Go here for trouble shooting 3rd party plugins or input managers which might be causing problems if they are outdated. Safari: Add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues
Try emptying the Safari cache from the Safari Menu Bar. Safari/Empty Cache. You can also try Resetting Safari from the same menu.
Web pages include a small icon or 'favicon' which is visible in the address bar and next to bookmarks. These icons take up disk space and slow Safari down. It is possible to erase the icons from your computer and start fresh. *To delete Safari's icon using the Finder, open your user folder, navigate to ~/Library/Safari/ and move this file "webpageIcons.db to the Trash.*
For Firefox from the Tools menu, select Clear Recent History... .
From the Time range to clear: drop-down menu, select the desired range; to clear your entire cache, select Everything. Click the down arrow next to "Details" to choose what history elements to clear. Click Clear Now.
Carolyn

Safari and Private Browsing

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