Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Phones
  3. Android
  4. Entertainment
  5. Mobile
  6. Evergreens

How to use YouTube’s Incognito Mode in the Android app

By
Add as a preferred source on Google
YouTube Incognito Mode
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The more YouTube videos you watch, the more the service understands the type of content you like. Sometimes, you don’t want a particular video to influence your recommendations, which is why YouTube has added an Incognito Mode in the YouTube app for Android.

Here’s what YouTube’s Incognito Mode is, and how to use it.

Recommended Videos

What does Incognito Mode do?

Like Incognito Mode in the Google Chrome browser, Incognito Mode in the YouTube app lets you to browse in private. Google won’t use videos you watch in Incognito Mode to inform video recommendations, nor will videos watched show up in your search history or watch history. When you close Incognito Mode, all your activity is cleared, and you can return to browsing YouTube through your Google account.

When you open Incognito Mode, you may see recommendations for videos that don’t interest you. That’s because when you’re in Incognito Mode, Google doesn’t use previous search data to inform recommendations — it’s showing videos that are trending that day. In other words, using Incognito Mode is like using YouTube without being logged in at all.

This feature isn’t just handy when you don’t want a particular subject topic crowding your video recommendations, but also when you hand the phone to a child to let them watch YouTube videos on your phone. That way, you won’t have cartoons popping up on your feed.

How to turn on YouTube’s Incognito Mode

Activating and de-activating YouTube’s Incognito Mode is very easy.

  1. Make sure you have the latest version of the YouTube app by opening the Google Play Store, tapping the hamburger menu icon on the top left, tapping My apps & games, and then tapping either Update All or Update next to the YouTube app.
  2. Open the YouTube app.
  3. Tap on your account profile picture on the top right of the screen.
  4. Tap Turn on Incognito.

You should now be able to browse in Incognito Mode. When you’re done browsing and want to return to your account, tap on your account profile picture again and tap Turn off Incognito.

The feature is currently unavailable on iOS, but it may likely come soon.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
Topics
Xiaomi beats Samsung to become the first non-Pixel phone with stable Android 17
The stable Android 17 rollout begins with Xiaomi's latest flagship, putting it ahead of Samsung and other rivals.
Xiaomi 17 Ultra

Android 17 rolled out to Pixel phones last month, and if you were hoping your non-Pixel Android phone would catch up anytime soon, you might have to wait. Samsung is still running the One UI 9 in Public beta, and most other manufacturers haven't even announced when their skins will get the Android 17 treatment. 

So it's a genuine surprise that Xiaomi, of all companies, just jumped the queue. Xiaomi has started rolling out HyperOS 3 updates based on stable Android 17, and it's currently limited to the Xiaomi 17 series.

Read more
Your child can now get a free Spotify account with parental controls
Kids get personalized playlists and Wrapped summaries with Spotify's new free managed accounts.
spotify-kids-free-account

Parents no longer need to pay for a premium plan to give their kids a safe Spotify account. The company announced it is expanding free managed accounts to every subscription tier, starting immediately in the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Combined with earlier rollouts, managed accounts are now live in 16 countries total. Spotify says more countries are coming soon.

What can kids do with a managed account?

Read more
China approves Apple Intelligence for iPhones, with Alibaba, Baidu emerging as partners
Apple Intelligence finally gets a passport to China
A promo picture of Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence has finally found a way through China’s regulatory maze--and all it took was nearly two years after it brought the AI suite to iPhone users elsewhere. China’s Cyberspace Administration has registered Apple Intelligence for use on iPhones in the country, clearing the main regulatory hurdle preventing its release. The approval creates a path for Apple to deploy its generative AI tools on Chinese devices. Now, the only wait is for regulators and Apple to provide a launch date.

Alibaba and Baidu are the new AI partners

Read more