At times, maintaining anonymous browsing is important both on the PC and on the mobile phone, where, much more often, a lot of personal data is shared with the apps and websites visited without even paying attention to it. To counter the collection of private information by advertising agencies and to hide or disable a web history that can be easy to spy on even from the outside (for example from the sites visited), the best way is to browse anonymously.
Anonymous on the internet means making it impossible or in any case very difficult for anyone to understand our real location, making the connection seem as if it came from another country. Furthermore, with an anonymous connection, even the personal data of the phone is absolutely not shared with other apps or websites, remaining safe in the phone's memory and completely safeguarding online privacy.
Speaking of ways to surf anonymously from your smartphone, be it an Android (such as the Samsung Galaxy or Huawei P) or an iPhone, we must consider that there are different types of anonymity. Keeping your browsing private can in fact mean avoiding keeping data in the device history, but without hiding connection information to websites, or using a browser that allows you to visit sites anonymously or, going even further, completely protect the connection internet of the smartphone and all the apps used, and not just the browser to browse the sites.
So let's see all these ways to keep your internet connection and browsing anonymous from your mobile phone, talking only about the most effective, free and easy to use ones.
In practice, with the incognito mode, it will always seem to open a site for the first time. In another article we had seen when to use incognito navigation and what it means.
This mode, however, has nothing to do with online anonymity: the telephone company that provides the internet will be able to monitor what is done online and the sites will be able to trace the connection and know where it comes from. Incognito mode is simply a way to leave no traces on your phone or tablet.
READ ALSO: What are Cookies
By opening the main menu of Google Chrome on Android or iPhone, you can open the Settings and go to the Privacy section where you can find all the options we need to hide from Google and advertising tracking. Under Privacy, you can therefore disable many tracking options and also delete the entire history.
Going then in Settings> Site Settings> Cookies, you can make Chrome block third-party cookies (better not block them all), which are always those that collect data for advertising purposes and for location location.
Obviously, if you use an Android smartphone, it is important to know that Google uses the same account configured in the phone to access Chrome, so it will always know what sites we visit and what we do. Refer to another guide to know all the data that Google collects about us.
Even in Safari, as on Chrome, you can disable things like search engine suggestions and site preloading, useful functions that require Safari to track navigation.
In the iPhone Settings, in the Safari section, you can delete all browsing data saved in Safari, including cookies. The history is cleared from all devices synced to the iCloud account.
The Tor Browser severely limits the type of website scripts, completely blocking advertisers and data collectors scripts, isolating cookies that are removed after each session and taking measures to prevent sites from knowing which device is being used and any data technical.
To have Tor Browser on iPhone you can download the Onion Browser app, unofficial but functional.
Brave is also one of the browsers with integrated VPN. Android and iOS.
READ ALSO: Surfing the web from iPhone incognito
VPNs focus mainly on the latter point, so if you want to be anonymous (in terms of advertising and web tracker) then you will also need to use the other methods seen above. There is also to consider that the free unlimited VPN apps for Android and iPhone, pass traffic on the proprietary servers of the VPNs that often collect information themselves (for example Opera Browser does it). To ensure that this does not happen, it would be better to use Premium VPN applications than those that offer paid plans, because they are more reliable and faster. Among these, we can remember apps like TunnelBear and Hotspot Shield that can also be used for free even if with limitations.
READ ALSO: Surf anonymously on the Internet with proxies, vpn and fake IP addresses
Anonymous on the internet means making it impossible or in any case very difficult for anyone to understand our real location, making the connection seem as if it came from another country. Furthermore, with an anonymous connection, even the personal data of the phone is absolutely not shared with other apps or websites, remaining safe in the phone's memory and completely safeguarding online privacy.
Speaking of ways to surf anonymously from your smartphone, be it an Android (such as the Samsung Galaxy or Huawei P) or an iPhone, we must consider that there are different types of anonymity. Keeping your browsing private can in fact mean avoiding keeping data in the device history, but without hiding connection information to websites, or using a browser that allows you to visit sites anonymously or, going even further, completely protect the connection internet of the smartphone and all the apps used, and not just the browser to browse the sites.
So let's see all these ways to keep your internet connection and browsing anonymous from your mobile phone, talking only about the most effective, free and easy to use ones.
Incognito mode (never anonymous)
The fastest and easiest way to make browsing on smartphones more private is to use the incognito or private mode of the browser . This option is available in the menu of practically every browser app, including therefore Safari, Chrome, Firefox and so on. By opening a new Incognito tab in the Chrome menu on Android or Private in the overview of the tabs on Safari on iPhone, you can make sure that each site visited is not recorded in the history and that all cookies of open sites are automatically deleted when the tab is closed.In practice, with the incognito mode, it will always seem to open a site for the first time. In another article we had seen when to use incognito navigation and what it means.
This mode, however, has nothing to do with online anonymity: the telephone company that provides the internet will be able to monitor what is done online and the sites will be able to trace the connection and know where it comes from. Incognito mode is simply a way to leave no traces on your phone or tablet.
READ ALSO: What are Cookies
Change browser settings in Chrome
If you wanted to browse privately (but once again we can't talk about anonymity) when browsing from the Google Chrome browser, you can adjust some settings to limit what Google and other websites may know about us.By opening the main menu of Google Chrome on Android or iPhone, you can open the Settings and go to the Privacy section where you can find all the options we need to hide from Google and advertising tracking. Under Privacy, you can therefore disable many tracking options and also delete the entire history.
Going then in Settings> Site Settings> Cookies, you can make Chrome block third-party cookies (better not block them all), which are always those that collect data for advertising purposes and for location location.
Obviously, if you use an Android smartphone, it is important to know that Google uses the same account configured in the phone to access Chrome, so it will always know what sites we visit and what we do. Refer to another guide to know all the data that Google collects about us.
Change Safari settings on iPhone
Third-party cookies are already blocked by default in Safari on iOS . Going to Safari Settings, it's iOS, you will see that the Tracking activation switch is already active. As with Chrome on Android, you can also choose to block all cookies, although this will result in an unpacked loading of many websites with requests to accept cookies all the time.Even in Safari, as on Chrome, you can disable things like search engine suggestions and site preloading, useful functions that require Safari to track navigation.
In the iPhone Settings, in the Safari section, you can delete all browsing data saved in Safari, including cookies. The history is cleared from all devices synced to the iCloud account.
Use an anonymous smartphone browser
Tor Browser
The number one solution to being truly anonymous on the internet from a mobile phone while surfing the internet and being completely untraceable is provided by apps such as Tor Browser for Android, which I mentioned in another article. Like its PC counterpart, it is a browser developed specifically to maintain online privacy and security, which passes the traffic generated by the phone when surfing the internet, through encrypted connections and several servers around the world, making it almost impossible for anyone to trace the real position and identity of who is using it.The Tor Browser severely limits the type of website scripts, completely blocking advertisers and data collectors scripts, isolating cookies that are removed after each session and taking measures to prevent sites from knowing which device is being used and any data technical.
To have Tor Browser on iPhone you can download the Onion Browser app, unofficial but functional.
Brave Browser
Tor Browser is not the only browser focused on privacy for smartphones and can be a little limited and slow in some cases. Brave for Android and iPhone is therefore an excellent alternative, both because it provides all the online privacy protection tools, and also because it is a fairly complete and fast browser. There is private mode, options to block cookies, settings to force HTTPS connections and the option to save battery. Just touch the Brave icon in the toolbar to check what is and is not allowed on a site (perhaps by authorizing ads on the favorite sites you want to support).Brave is also one of the browsers with integrated VPN. Android and iOS.
DuckDuckGo
The privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has created its own browser for Android and iOS that has the same approach as Brave, using DuckDuckGo as the default search engine rather than Google. The browser is very simple and lacking in options, even if for this reason it is fast and light.Firefox Focus
Firefox Focus for Android and iPhone is another browser similar to that of DuckDuckGo, focused on online privacy. It is a special version of the Firefox browser lightened by practically every superfluous function, very essential, with quick options to clear your browsing history.READ ALSO: Surfing the web from iPhone incognito
Install a VPN
If you want to hide and anonymize the internet traffic of your smartphone in all the applications used, you can install a VPN which becomes very useful especially when you surf with a public wifi connection such as that of the bars. The VPN has three functions: it allows you to encrypt internet traffic making it impossible to intercept and spy on, it allows you to open sites, even obscured and blocked in a country, and then falsifies the geolocation of the deviceVPNs focus mainly on the latter point, so if you want to be anonymous (in terms of advertising and web tracker) then you will also need to use the other methods seen above. There is also to consider that the free unlimited VPN apps for Android and iPhone, pass traffic on the proprietary servers of the VPNs that often collect information themselves (for example Opera Browser does it). To ensure that this does not happen, it would be better to use Premium VPN applications than those that offer paid plans, because they are more reliable and faster. Among these, we can remember apps like TunnelBear and Hotspot Shield that can also be used for free even if with limitations.
READ ALSO: Surf anonymously on the Internet with proxies, vpn and fake IP addresses
