A browser is not a VPN. Sites you visit and your network operator can still see your IP address, including the search engine you send a query to. 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.
A search field is a destination, not a cloak. The characters you submit leave the phone and arrive at a host you chose. A private browser that forgets locally and still funnels every query through a partner has already decided the destination for you. Private Browser Incognito does the opposite. Search is free. You pick Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia, or a custom engine. We do not proxy the query. We do not harvest it. The request goes to the engine you configured.
That is a narrower promise than “private search.” The engine can still log the query. The engine can still see your IP. HTTPS can encrypt the contents in transit. Encryption does not hide the fact of the lookup from the recipient. This article is the picker, the custom template, the suggestion switch, and the decoy rule. It is not a ranking of engines and not a claim that search is anonymous.
Four presets, then a field you own
The shipping presets are Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Wikipedia. Those four are the list. We do not invent a fifth house engine, a “private mode” wrapper, or a partner default that silently replaces the one you tapped. Switching presets changes who receives the completed query. It does not change the architecture of the browser around it: no history file, lists on the device, erase that destroys the session.
Each preset is still a site visit. Wikipedia as a search destination is a site visit. DuckDuckGo is a site visit. Google and Bing are site visits. If you are signed into that engine inside the tab, that is the engine’s session, not ours. Cookies for that session live until you erase. One-tap erase closes every tab and destroys cookies, cache, and site data. We cannot erase another company’s servers. The missing local file is a different job, covered in A Browser With No History File at All.
There are no accounts and no sign-in for the browser itself. Search does not require an app login. There is no app server for browsing. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected: no analytics SDK, no ads in the app, no third-party SDKs. If a product needs a privacy dashboard login before it will search, it is doing a different job. The matching argument is Why a Private Browser Should Not Need an Account.
Presets exist so most people never have to think about a URL template. Custom exists because some people already know the index they want. Bring your own means the field will trust the host you point it at. That is the cost of the feature, not a footnote.
The custom template and what %s is for
A custom engine is a search URL template. The template must contain %s where the query belongs. When you submit a search, the app substitutes the query for that placeholder and loads the resulting URL. If the placeholder is missing, the app cannot know where to put the words. A template without %s is rejected.
Validation is deliberately small. The template must be an http or https URL with a host. A string that is not a URL, a URL without a host, or a scheme other than http or https does not pass. We do not paste the shipping preset templates into this article. Those strings are an implementation detail and they can change. The rule you need is the placeholder and a real host on http or https.
http is allowed in the template because some local or lab engines still speak it. HTTPS-Only Mode is a separate default for ordinary page loads. It is on by default and the app asks before falling back to insecure HTTP. A custom template you typed is an explicit destination. Treat it as one. If you point the field at a host you do not trust, the field will trust it. Encryption on the wire, when it applies, still does not hide the host from the network. The default and the ask are in HTTPS-Only Mode: Why a Private Browser Starts Encrypted.
We will not invent extra validation theater: no reputation score, no remote allowlist of engines, no claim that we audited your host. The check is syntactic. %s is present. The URL has a host. The scheme is http or https. After that, the query is yours to send.
Private Browser IncognitoFour presets or a custom engine. Suggestions off until you ask.
Get the app
Suggestions are a separate endpoint
Autocomplete is not the search template. A suggestion request fires while you type. It can leave with a prefix you never meant to submit. Private Browser Incognito keeps suggestions off by default. The app asks before sharing a keystroke. If you refuse, you still have a search field. You type a complete query and submit it. The engine then sees one request instead of a trail of prefixes.
The optional suggestion endpoint is a separate setting from the search URL template. You can search without ever configuring suggestions. You can keep the default closed and still use every preset. Mixing the two fields in one sentence is how products overclaim. Search is the submit path. Suggestions are the as-you-type path. They are not the same traffic.
When you do opt in, prefixes go to the engine you selected, not to us. We do not sit in the middle. We do not cache the unfinished query on a server we run, because that server does not exist for browsing. The longer treatment of the default, the ask, and what an engine still sees is Search Suggestions: Why They Should Be Off Until You Ask.
Suggestions are also easy to confuse with on-device blocking. Blocking stops known ads, analytics, and social trackers from bundled Disconnect lists. It does not stop a search you send to an engine you chose. Those are different destinations. The lists ship in the app and run on the device. They are not downloaded at runtime. List-based blocking is not absolute. A results page can still carry first-party noise the lists do not name.
We do not proxy search
Proxy is a word that sneaks into private-browser marketing. It would mean the query stops with us, or with a partner, and we fetch the results on your behalf. That is not this product. We do not proxy search. Queries go to the engine the user chose. We do not rewrite the query to a different host. We do not rank engines as morally ordered. Each engine has a privacy policy you can read on that engine’s own site. This article will not pretend to summarize them.
We do not harvest queries. There is no analytics SDK watching the box. There are no ads in the app. There are no third-party SDKs. Your traffic goes to the sites you visit, to a search engine if you search, to an optional suggestion endpoint if you opted in, and to Apple if you buy Stealth Suite. That is the network list. Block lists are not fetched at runtime. Search is not a side channel back to us.
Choosing a privacy-oriented preset changes who receives the query. It does not hide your IP from that recipient. It does not replace a VPN. A browser alone does not make you anonymous. The workplace version of that limit, if the network is an employer’s, is Private Browsing on Workplace Wi-Fi. The general IP question is the same on home Wi-Fi and cellular: the engine sees an address because that is how the reply is routed.
Rated 17+ still applies to whatever you type into the field. This is a real web browser with unrestricted access. You are responsible for what you visit and for using the app lawfully. Suggestions being off does not make a query appropriate. It only keeps the unfinished version off the wire until you decide. Why the rating exists at all is Why a Real Web Browser Is Rated 17+.
What a decoy session shows in the picker
Stealth Suite can open a decoy browser behind a second passcode. The decoy is a clean, empty scene. Real tabs stay hidden. A decoy session uses a clean engine list. Owner custom engines stay with the real session. Someone who unlocked the decoy should not see the specialized index you configured, or a trail of presets that would only make sense for the real profile.
That is a device-residue rule, not a network rule. The decoy does not hide an IP. If a search is later submitted from either scene, the chosen engine still receives it. Do not treat the clean list as anonymity. The passcode feature itself is Decoy Passcode: A Second Browser That Shows Nothing.
A compact map of the search box
If you only needed the moving parts in one place:
| Piece | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Presets | Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia | You pick one. No extra house engines |
| Custom template | A URL with %s and a host on http or https | Optional. Rejected if the rule fails |
| Submit | The query goes to that engine. We do not proxy | Always a site visit you chose |
| Suggestions | Separate optional endpoint, prefixes as you type | Off. The app asks first |
| Decoy picker | Clean engine list, no owner customs | Stealth Suite only |
Use that table on the settings screen. Private Browser Incognito is built so the destination is visible: four named presets, a template you can read, a closed suggestion switch, and no harvesting path back to us. The engine you chose still sees the query. The network still sees a host. The phone, after erase, does not keep a history file of the search. Those three sentences can live together. If the threat is a network that should not see destinations, you are shopping for a VPN, which this app is not. The search box will not pretend otherwise.
Frequently asked questions
Which search engines ship as presets?
Private Browser Incognito ships four presets: Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Wikipedia. You can also add a custom engine. There are no extra presets beyond those four. Search is free. We do not rank the engines as morally ordered.
What does a custom search template need?
The search URL template must contain %s where the query belongs. It must be an http or https URL with a host. The app rejects a template that is missing the placeholder, missing a host, or using some other scheme. An optional suggestion endpoint is a separate field and is not required to search.
Does Private Browser Incognito proxy or harvest my searches?
No. We do not proxy search. Queries go to the engine you chose. We do not harvest queries. There is no app server for browsing and no analytics SDK watching the box. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected.
Are search suggestions on by default?
No. Suggestions stay off by default. The app asks before sharing a keystroke with the engine you selected. A query you submit on purpose still goes to that engine. Suggestions are the extra as-you-type requests, and they use a separate optional endpoint.
Does a decoy session show my custom search engines?
No. A decoy session uses a clean engine list. The owner custom engines stay with the real session. The decoy is optional Stealth Suite. It hides tabs and settings on the device. It does not hide your IP from a search engine you later use.