Private mode in in Not only does it help you browse the Internet without your browsing activity being recorded offline. It also helps prevent web crawlers from creating your profile. But despite its many privacy-related benefits, you can’t help but think about the downsides.
If you give your Mac to someone else, for example, you may not know what they were doing during their browsing sessions. Put children into the equation and this becomes a serious problem due to the many harmful websites.
This is why you may want to disable Safari incognito windows on your Mac. If macOS 10.15 Catalina is installed, this is possible thanks to the presence of Screen Time. Let’s see how.
Screen Time debuted in and iPad along with iOS 12. Not only does it give you the ability to track the activities of all your iOS devices, but it also comes with a healthy dose of web content restrictions. The Mature Content Restriction, in particular, not only blocks all NSFW content, but also disables Safari’s incognito tabs.
And with macOS Catalina, you also get Screen Time with a similar set of features for your Mac. The following steps will show you how to set up Screen Time and enable adult content restriction to disable private browsing in Safari.
Read Also
annotate:
: Open the Apple menu and click System Preferences.
2nd step: Click on the option called Screen Time.
annotate:
Step 3: Click Options in the lower left corner of the Screen Time panel. Continue clicking the Enable option at the top right of the screen to enable Screen Time for your Mac.
Step 4: Click on the side tab titled Content & Privacy. Continue clicking the Enable button in the top right corner of the Screen Time panel.
Read Also
Step 5: Click the radio button next to Restrict Adult Websites in the Web Content section. Finally, exit the Screen Time panel.
annotate:
And that’s it. Private browsing in Safari is now disabled. You can no longer open incognito windows in Safari: the New Private Window option in Safari’s File menu will appear grayed out, and the associated Shift+Cmd+N keyboard shortcut will also not work.
If you want to re-enable private browsing in Safari on your Mac, go back to the Screen Time panel, click Content & Privacy, and click Unlimited Access.
Other devices and screen passwords
If you have other macOS or iOS devices linked to your Apple ID, your restrictions will also apply to them by default. If you want to prevent this from happening, click the Options button in the lower left corner of the Screen Time panel. Then, simply uncheck the box next to Share across devices.
You can also set a screen password through this screen, which will prevent someone from tampering with your screen time settings. To do this, check the box next to Use screen password. If you already have a screen password for your iPhone or iPad, you can use it as long as the Share with all devices box is checked.
Read Also
By default, macOS Catalina applies adult content filters when you sign in as a guest user. This means that private browsing in Safari is now disabled. But if that doesn’t seem to be the case, here’s what you should do. Start by clicking the Users & Groups option in System Preferences.
On the Users and Groups screen that appears, click the lock icon in the lower left corner of the screen and select Guest User. Finally, check the box next to Restrict adult websites. This should disable incognito windows when using Safari as a guest.
However, all guest user account data is deleted every time a user logs out, which defeats the point of disabling private browsing in the first place. But imposing limits on NSFW content is still a big plus.
Remote Screen Time Management
Screen Time for macOS Catalina also lets you disable private browsing in Safari remotely, adding to the convenience of managing a family Mac. To do this, you need to add the person using the Share to option. found in the System Preferences panel.
Then go to the Screen Time panel, use the drop-down menu on your profile photo and switch to the family member’s profile.
Make the necessary changes (all screen time controls remain the same) and you’re done. Please note that Safari restrictions also apply to any iOS or iPadOS devices owned by the family member.
Read Also
a lot of privacy
Privacy must be respected. But not when you want to know what happens when someone else is using your Mac. And with Screen Time, there’s nothing stopping you from completely disabling Safari’s incognito windows.
So what was the reason you turned off private browsing in Safari? Let us know in the comments.
Next : Is Chrome also installed on your Mac? See how to disable incognito mode in the browser .
If you want to know other articles similar to How to disable private browsing in Safari on Mac you can visit the category.
Facebook Comments
Disqus