Browse in a private window
A private window is a separate browsing session that leaves no history behind and throws away its cookies and site data when you close it.
Open a private window
Press Ctrl + Shift + N, or open the menu and select New Private Window.
The window has a purple tint, a private-window icon at the left of the tab strip, and the title Flint Browser (Private). Every tab you open in it is private too.
What a private window does
- Records no history. Pages you visit do not appear in History or in address bar suggestions.
- Keeps cookies only while it is open. Sites you sign in to forget you when you close the window. Your normal windows do not see these cookies, and the private window does not see the cookies from your normal windows.
- Is not restored. Flint does not reopen private windows the next time it starts.
- Does not remember site permissions. If a site asks to use your camera, microphone or location, your answer applies only to that window. Requests to show notifications are always blocked.
- Still blocks ads and trackers, with the same settings as your normal windows.
What a private window does not do
A private window keeps your activity off this computer. It does not hide it from anyone else:
- The sites you visit can still see your IP address and what you do on them.
- Your network, school or employer can still see which sites you connect to, unless secure DNS and HTTPS keep it from them. See Secure DNS and HTTPS-only.
- Bookmarks you make and files you download stay on your computer after the window closes.
Close the private session
Close the private window. Its cookies, site data and open tabs are discarded.