Does incognito mode hide your IP address?

Incognito, InPrivate, and other private-browsing windows do not hide your public IP address. They still make HTTPS requests from whatever path this device uses. The address a lookup service sees is still a public IP unless something else — a VPN, a proxy, a different network — changed that path.

Private mode mainly isolates cookies, site storage, and history for that window. When the window closes, much of that local session data is dropped. That is useful. It is not IP substitution.

Check it in the private window

Open a private window and load What is my IP. Compare with a normal window on the same network. In the usual case the IP string is the same. That is the observation.

If they differ, something else changed: a proxy extension that only runs in one profile, a VPN split-tunnel rule, or you switched networks. Do not credit incognito for a VPN’s job.

What private mode typically changes

• Cookies and some site storage for that session
• History entries from that window
• Sometimes a looser hold on logged-in accounts (you start signed out unless you sign in again)

What it typically does not change

• The public IP of HTTPS requests
• The ISP path
• Timezone, language, and screen size
• Whether WebRTC can gather ICE candidates

Browser fingerprinting explained covers those fields. The browser privacy test lists what this tab can read. Run it in a private window if you want that sample; it is still not a uniqueness score.

Observation, inference, certainty

Observation: “This private window’s lookup returned the same IPv4 as the normal window.”

Inference: “Private mode did not change the public HTTPS path.”

Not proven: “Incognito makes me anonymous,” “trackers cannot recognize me,” or “the VPN is on because I used a private window.”

Private mode plus a VPN

They stack as two different tools. The VPN, if it covers this browser, may substitute the IP. Incognito may drop cookies when you close the window. Together they still do not hide logged-in accounts you open inside that window, and they do not test DNS. This site has no DNS leak test.

Verify the VPN half with a before/after on the VPN test, as described in How to test privacy before and after a VPN. Does a VPN hide your IP address? is the substitution question.

Extensions in private windows

Some browsers disable extensions in private mode unless you allow them. A VPN extension that is off in incognito will not substitute the IP in that window even if it works in normal windows. That is a common surprise. Check the extension’s private-mode permission, then look up the IP in that window.

What websites still see in a private window

A site loaded in incognito still receives:

• The public IP of that HTTPS request
• Cookies you set during that private session (until the window closes)
• Anything you type after you sign in
• Ordinary browser fields such as language and timezone

If you sign into the same account, the site knows the account. Private mode did not create a new person. It created a shorter-lived cookie jar.

Some sites detect the private-window environment and change behaviour. That detection is unrelated to hiding an IP. It is a browser fingerprinting or storage-quirk topic, not proof that the WAN address changed.

WebRTC in a private window

WebRTC still exists. ICE candidates can still include a public IP. Private and .local addresses are not confirmed leaks on this site. A different public ICE IP from the lookup is the only case treated as possible leak evidence. Use the WebRTC leak test in the same private window if you care about calls. What is a WebRTC leak?

Practical takeaway

Use incognito when you want a session that forgets cookies more readily. Use a local IP lookup when you want to know the public address. Do not use the private-window label as evidence that the IP changed. If the number must change, change the network path and measure it.