When using an Apple iPad, the device automatically stores all of the information searched on the Internet browser. This means every website visited, every Internet search performed and all other content is saved into the cache of the Safari Web browser. While this comes as a standard feature on the Apple iPad, it is not something that necessarily needs to remain. If you share your iPad with your children or other family members, you might want to keep what you look up the secret. Perhaps you are buying a gift online and you do not want them to see what you are shopping for. There are other times when you might need to look up content you do not think would be appropriate for your child. Regardless of what you are looking for or the information you do not want other users of the iPad to see, the best way to go about preventing this is to alter your browser for private browsing. This way, only you know what you are looking up. So, why do you need to learn about iPad Private Browsing?
Why Browsing is Recorded and What is Private Browsing
Browsing isn’t specifically recorded on the Apple iPad or on other computer systems for that matter. Whenever you visit a website, the website is stored in the history of your system. This is so it is easier to access different websites later on. After visiting the website, your device has downloaded the necessary information to view the content. The next time you visit the website it loads faster due to this. Of course, it also helps when you just are not able to remember the website you visited previously or even a few days ago. With browsing stored, you never have to worry about not remembering this information ever again. Of course, there are times when you simply do not want the content saved at all. Thankfully with the Apple iPad, you are able to perform Google private and Apple private searches. If you have ever wondered how to do private browsing on an iPad, it is a rather straightforward and simple procedure. You can also turn the recording browsing back on in the same manner. So, no matter which version of the Apple iPad you currently own, you can utilize this particular feature and turn off and on the recording browsing.
What iPad Private Browsing Affects
Private browsing affects everything you look up when using the Internet browser on the Apple iPad. This means no matter the website you visit, it does not appear in the search field the next time you open the browser. The device also does not record search engine content either. This way, if you are searching for a particular topic, the product you want to purchase or anything else, no matter what you type into a search engine such as Google is no longer recorded.
While in private browsing mode, it is going to block certain tracking cookies from websites. A tracking cookie is a common feature on websites designed to track other websites you visit. The cookie is able to inform the other website and it can tailor your Internet experience. This means it is more likely to display specific advertisements or alter the content that appears on the front page of the website. In private browsing mode, this is no longer an option, so you do not have a tailor-made user experience.
How Do You Know Private Browsing is Activated
After you turn on private browsing, you might forget you turned it on. There are times when you want to avoid this and turn private browsing off. If you are shopping for a gift and the person you are shopping for sees you are in private browsing mode, they are likely going to ask why this is the case. In order to avoid this sort of situation altogether, the Apple iPad has an easy to notice indicator, so you do not have to worry about forgetting whether or not what mode you are in. While in private mode, the border of the Safari Internet browser turns black. When you exit private browsing mode, this black border is turned off.
Steps to Turn On iPad Private Browsing
To start, you first need to open up the Safari browser. Once the application is open, select the Web address located at the very top of the screen. After selecting the area, do not type in anything though. instead, you want to choose the “Private” button that loads on the keyboard. It appears right above the “Q” letter on the keyboard. Once you have selected the “Private” option, you are going to be asked to either close out all of your tabs, keep all of the tabs open or cancel the process. You want to close all of the open tabs so it focuses specifically on the individual window that is open. Once you have selected this, private browsing is activated and is now ready for all of the different tabs you open up after this process.
When you want to turn private browsing off, you need to perform the same task, as you just need to push the Web address on the top of the screen, then choose to turn off private browsing, which appears in a small button right above the “Q” letter again. This particular process works with iOS 7 and later.
Previous Versions of iOS
If you are using a previous version of the Apple iPad operating system, you need to turn private browsing on and off in a slightly different way. To do this, open up the Settings icon on the screen. Once the new window loads, scroll down to the bottom and look at the left side of the display window until you see “Safari.” From here, choose “Safari” and wait for the Internet browser settings to load onto the screen. Now, check “Private Browsing” to either “On” or “Of.” This is not going to have the same display and reminder features as the current version of iOS, so once you exit the Web browser, you are not going to see a black window around the app or the screen.
Disable Cookies
In order to increase your private browsing experience even further on the Apple iPad, you need to disable cookies. Although going into just standard “Private” mode is going to disable some cookies, it is not going to prevent all of the cookies from opening and loading onto your device. In order to turn off the cookies completely (do note that some websites may not load completely onto the screen when you are doing this), you need to select the Settings icon on the iPad screen, then scroll down until you find the “Safari” option. Now select “Safari” and move down to the Privacy and Security feature. You want to change the “Block Cookies” option to “Always.” There are three different options that appear though, including the “Always,” “Never” and “From third parties.” In the same section, select “Do Not Track” in order to prevent websites from tracking your Internet movement. You probably also want to remove the cookies and data stored on your device from previous Internet searches. In order to do this, you simply need to locate the buttons at the bottom of your Safari settings and choose to clear it out. Do note though that this is going to remove your saved username and password information from all Internet based accounts on your device, including Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts.
View Your History
If you have ever wondered how you can view the history of your mobile iPad, it is rather easy to do. While the Safari browser is open, tap the book button located at the top of the application window. Now, in the menu, you are going to find a “History” drop down option. From here, you want to choose the feature and you can see all of the previous websites visited on the iPad. Of course, if you or another user has cleared out the browsing history, you are not going to see anything displayed on the screen at all.
Change Features
There are a few different features you can change with your Safari browser and what you keep private. You can first change the default search engine Safari uses. While Google is the standard search engine feature, you are able to convert to Yahoo! or Bing, should you desire. You can also turn on or off the “AutoFill” feature. This automatically types in specific information you might have saved, ranging from your username and password to credit card information. All of this is important to take into consideration when deciding what you want to keep blocking out or what you want to remain private.
When using the Apple iPad, it is possible to go into private viewing mode. This way, other users are not able to see the content you have searched, what you have looked up on search engines and the general material you view while using the iPad.