YouTube’s incognito mode is a privacy feature that prevents viewing history and search queries from being saved to the user’s Google account. When activated, video views and searches are not recorded, thus not influencing future recommendations or appearing in the user’s viewing history. For example, if a user watches several videos on a sensitive topic while using this feature, YouTube will not suggest related content in the future when the mode is deactivated.
The primary benefit of this feature is enhanced privacy. It allows individuals to browse YouTube without their activity impacting their personalized recommendations, which can be particularly useful when sharing devices or researching sensitive topics. Historically, users had to manually clear their viewing and search history to achieve a similar level of privacy; this mode streamlines the process and offers a more immediate solution. It also offers a clean slate for exploration, letting users sample various content without affecting their main YouTube experience.
