A browser is not a VPN. A timer that destroys a session does not hide your IP address from sites you visited or from your network operator. Tracking protection is list-based and not absolute: known ads, analytics, and social trackers from bundled lists are blocked on the device, but no blocker catches everything. Private Browser Incognito is rated 17+ for unrestricted web access and is intended for adults. Auto-Erase is optional Stealth Suite.
One-tap erase is a decision you make while the phone is still in your hand. Auto-Erase is a decision you make in settings, then forget. You leave the app. The interval runs. The browsing session dies without another tap. That is useful when the habit you cannot trust is your own: you meant to throw the tabs away, and then a message arrived, and the session sat there.
The two controls share a destroy. They do not share a trigger. Manual erase stays free. The timer is Stealth Suite. This page names the intervals the shipping app actually offers, what a real leave is, and why files in the vault are supposed to survive the clock. If you only needed the trash button, start with Erase Everything in One Tap.
A timer is not a trash button
Clear history in a conventional browser is maintenance. You pick a time range and hope the right stores were included. One-tap erase in Private Browser Incognito is already a different job: it closes every tab and destroys the session (cookies, cache, site data). There is a home-screen quick action so you do not have to open the UI first. Auto-Erase does that same job after you have already left.
The distinction matters because people collapse every wipe into one verb. A tap is something you can refuse at the last second. A timer is a policy. If the interval is Every time you leave, coming back from a real background trip finds an empty browser. If you still needed the tab, it is gone. Erased data cannot be recovered, by you or by us. There is no support path that reconstructs a session we never received.
Force-quitting is not a documented substitute. Closing a single tab is not erase. App Lock hides the remaining session; it does not delete it. Auto-Erase is the control for people who want deletion to follow departure, not a gesture they hope was equivalent.
The intervals the app actually ships
The shipping list is short on purpose. Off. Every time you leave. After 1 minute. After 15 minutes. After 1 hour. After 8 hours. After 1 day. After 1 week. Those are the choices. We do not invent a five-minute row, a custom slider, or a “when the phone locks” option that is not in the app.
Off means the timer is not armed. You still have one-tap erase and the quick action. Every time you leave means the session is treated as expired on the next return from a real departure. The longer rows wait that long after you leave, then destroy on return if the threshold was met. A clock that jumped backwards does not fire a wipe. A first launch with no departure recorded does not fire one either.
Pick the shortest interval you can live with, not the one that sounds dramatic. After 1 week is for a session you might resume tomorrow and still want gone if you disappeared for a trip. Every time you leave is for a phone that leaves your hand often. After 1 minute sits between those tempers. There is no interval that wipes the vault. That is a different tool.
What a real leave is
Immediately, in the product copy Every time you leave, does not mean every overlay. Pulling Control Center, peeking at the app switcher, or a brief interruption that never actually sent the browser away should not count as a departure. The timer waits for a real leave: the app truly went to the background. We will not name the system callbacks. The user-facing fact is enough: a peek is not a leave.
That design is why you can answer a banner or check brightness without discovering an empty window. A policy that treated every dimming of the scene as abandonment would be unusable. A policy that never noticed you switched to Messages for twenty minutes would be decoration. The shipping rule sits on a true background trip, then compares elapsed time to the interval you chose.
When you return and the threshold was met, the session is already gone. You do not get a countdown sheet. You get the same empty state one-tap erase would have left: no tabs, no session cookies, no cache kept for the next page. The page you were reading is not waiting behind a confirm button.
The vault survives the clock on purpose
Downloads that went into the encrypted vault are a separate store. Session erase does not empty that store. Auto-Erase is session erase on a delay, so it does not empty the vault either. The vault is AES-256, with no plain copy on disk, excluded from backups. Files you chose to keep are supposed to outlive a browsing wipe. Mixing the two would make a leave timer unusable for anyone who also saves a file.
Cookies and cache are not vault files. They live only for the session, which is why a timer can take them. The longer explanation of those short-lived stores is Cookies and Cache That Live Only for the Session. Treat cookies as tools for the tab you are in, not as a second history file the clock forgot to clear.
If you expected leaving the app to mean every byte inside Private Browser Incognito is gone, read the vault note before you rely on it. The vault is optional Stealth Suite. The session wipe, timed or tapped, is for tabs and site data. Panic is the control that can take files too. Self-destruct after too many wrong codes can optionally take the vault. Those are not Auto-Erase.
Stealth Suite, prices, and a lapse
Auto-Erase is part of Stealth Suite, optional Apple IAP: monthly $4.99, yearly $19.99 with a 7-day trial, or lifetime $49.99. The subscription group display name is Stealth Suite. Purchases go through Apple. The kit also includes a decoy passcode, a panic code, a break-in log with optional Intruder Photo, self-destruct, the vault, and icon colors (Midnight, Ocean, Ember). Icon colors recolor the shield. They are not calculator disguises.
If a subscription lapses, protections you already enabled keep working and the vault stays accessible. An armed timer is one of those protections. A lapse does not fire a wipe by itself. New downloads that require an active unlock follow the lapse policy in the terms. The free product remains the forgetful engine: no history file, on-device Disconnect lists, one-tap erase, HTTPS-Only Mode, search without suggestions until you ask, and App Lock with a six-digit passcode and Face ID.
App Lock is free in the shipping default. The passcode is never stored. It becomes the key. Forgotten passcodes cannot be recovered. Lock and Auto-Erase can both be on. Lock hides. The timer deletes after you leave. They are not substitutes. The paid split is written out in What Stealth Suite Adds (and What Stays Free).
How it sits next to panic and self-destruct
Panic code is a number at the lock screen that silently wipes tabs, the entire vault, and the break-in log, then opens what looks like a fresh start. You type it on purpose. Auto-Erase never asks for a code. It watches how long you were away. Self-destruct fires after too many wrong passcodes. Saved tabs are destroyed, and optionally the vault with them. That is a threshold against guessing, not a leave policy. Details of that wipe live in Self-Destruct After Wrong Passcodes.
Use erase when you are done and can tap. Use Auto-Erase when you will forget to tap. Use panic when the vault should die with the tabs. Use App Lock when closed is enough. None of those tools hides an IP address. Sites you visited already saw the request. Your network operator already saw destinations. List-based blocking still misses names. The 17+ rating still means unrestricted web access. You are responsible for what you visit and for using the app lawfully.
If you are comparing wipes, a compact table is more useful than adjectives.
| Control | Trigger | Vault |
|---|---|---|
| One-tap erase (free) | You tap, or use the home-screen quick action | Left intact |
| Auto-Erase timer | You leave for the interval you chose | Left intact |
| Panic code | You enter the code at the lock screen | Entire vault wiped |
| Self-destruct | Too many wrong codes | Optional wipe with the tabs |
There are no accounts and no app server for browsing. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected. We cannot restore a session a timer destroyed, because we never held it. Private Browser Incognito is iOS only. We do not claim fingerprint spoofing, Tor, a proxy, or IP hiding. Auto-Erase is a clock on a forgetful session. Used for that job, it is the control for people who leave the app and do not come back in time.
Private Browser IncognitoFree on the App Store. No history, on-device blocking, one-tap erase.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Auto-Erase in a private browser?
Auto-Erase is a Stealth Suite timer. You pick an interval. After you leave the app for that long, the browsing session is destroyed: tabs close, and cookies, cache, and site data go with them. It is a policy for forgetfulness, not a second trash button you tap. Erased data cannot be recovered, by you or by us.
Does Auto-Erase delete the encrypted vault?
No. Session erase does not clear the encrypted download vault, and Auto-Erase is session erase on a timer. Downloads that went into the vault stay there. Panic code is the control that can wipe the vault with the tabs. If you wanted files gone too, pick that tool, not a leave timer.
What Auto-Erase intervals can I choose?
The shipping app offers Off, Every time you leave, After 1 minute, After 15 minutes, After 1 hour, After 8 hours, After 1 day, and After 1 week. Those are the intervals. Every time you leave means a real departure to the background, not a quick peek at Control Center. We do not invent other delays.
Is Auto-Erase the same as one-tap erase?
No. One-tap erase is a manual control, free, with a home-screen quick action. You decide when the session dies. Auto-Erase is optional Stealth Suite. You decide how long the app may stay away, then the same session destroy happens without another tap. Both leave the vault intact.
Does Auto-Erase hide my IP address?
No. A browser is not a VPN. Auto-Erase empties what the app still held on the device. Sites you already visited and your network operator can still have logs. It does not change your public IP, and it does not make you anonymous on the network.