A browser is not a VPN. Granting a site camera or microphone access does not hide your IP address from that site 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.
A private browser is still a web browser. Pages can ask for the camera. Pages can ask for the microphone. Those prompts belong to the site you opened, not to a harvest we run in the background. Private Browser Incognito does not take those streams for analytics, ads, or an account, because there is no account and no analytics SDK. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected.
This page keeps three cameras in their lanes. A website request is per-site and free. Intruder Photo is a Stealth Suite lock feature, off until you enable it. HTTPS-Only Mode is not a permission at all. If you are still choosing a private browser on architecture, start with The Best Private Browser for iPhone: What Actually Matters.
Websites ask. The app does not harvest
When a page needs a scan, a call, or a voice note, it asks. You allow or deny for that site. That is ordinary browser work. We do not invent extra permission types for marketing copy. Camera and microphone, as websites request them, are the sensors this article is about. A forgetful session still has to implement the web.
Allowing a site does not create a history file. Every tab is a private session in memory. There is no browsing history feature. Cookies and cache still exist for the life of the session so the page can function. One-tap erase closes every tab and destroys that session data. A permission you granted for a site dies with the session the same way a login cookie does. It is not promoted into a long-lived roster we sync, because we do not sync.
There is no app server for browsing. Network the app makes: page loads to sites you visit, opt-in search suggestions to the engine you chose, downloads you start, and StoreKit if you buy Stealth Suite. Block lists ship inside the app and are not downloaded at runtime. None of those paths is a place we archive a camera frame from a website you allowed.
What a site permission is, and is not
A per-site prompt is scoped to a page. It is not a system-wide blessing for every tab. It is not App Lock. It is not a vault key. Denying a noisy site is a local decision about that origin. It does not make other sites quieter, and it does not hide your IP from the site you already opened.
Blocking ads and trackers is a different layer. Content-blocking rules powered by the open Disconnect lists ship in the app and run on the device. They cut known ads, analytics, and social trackers. No blocker catches everything. Per-site exceptions exist when a page needs a blocked resource to work. Hardware permission is not a row on those lists. A tracker that never asked for the microphone can still fire a request the lists miss. For how on-device lists work, see On-Device Ad and Tracker Blocking on iPhone.
Search suggestions stay off until you agree to share a keystroke. That prompt is about query text, not about a camera. HTTPS-Only Mode is about whether a connection starts encrypted. Do not treat three different dialogs as one privacy switch. Each answers one question. Mixing them is how people think they turned off the network by tapping Deny on a mic.
Intruder Photo is a different camera
Stealth Suite can record failed unlocks. The break-in log stores timestamps. Optional Intruder Photo uses the front camera to capture who tried. Photos are encrypted on the device. The feature does not ship on. You have to enable it. Until you do, a website can still ask for the camera on a page, and the lock screen will not take a picture.
When you enable Intruder Photo, iOS asks for camera permission in the open, while you are already inside the app. The prompt is never delayed until the lock screen. A lock that suddenly asked for the camera would teach a stranger that extra kit exists. The shipping rule is: permission when enabling, never at lock. Photos may depict other people. You are responsible for local law. The dedicated page is Break-In Alerts and Intruder Photo.
That camera is not a website permission. Revoking a site’s access does not turn Intruder Photo off. Turning Intruder Photo off does not stop a video-call page from asking again. Treat them as two audiences: a page you chose to open, and a lock you chose to instrument. Session erase does not empty the vault, and it is not an album cleaner for lock-screen captures either.
HTTPS-Only is a different control
HTTPS-Only Mode is on by default. The app asks before falling back to insecure HTTP. That is a connection policy. It encrypts contents in transit when the site supports it. It does not decide whether a page may use the camera. It does not hide the host from your network operator. It does not hide your IP.
People bundle the padlock icon with permission dialogs because both appear while a page loads. They are not the same job. You can allow a microphone on an HTTPS page and still be fully visible as an IP to that host. You can deny the microphone on an HTTP fallback you approved and still have sent a request in the clear. Read HTTPS-Only Mode: Why a Private Browser Starts Encrypted when the question is the scheme, not the sensor.
We do not claim fingerprint spoofing as a product. We do not claim that denying camera access makes you anonymous. A site that never needed the camera already had headers, scripts, and an address. List-based blocking reduces known noise. It is not a guarantee. The 17+ rating still means unrestricted web access. You are responsible for what you visit, including pages that ask for hardware, and for using the app lawfully.
Shared phones, lock, and what stays free
Per-site permissions are free. So are the forgetful session, on-device blocking, one-tap erase, App Lock with a six-digit passcode and Face ID, and HTTPS-Only Mode. There are no accounts and no sign-in. Search can be Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia, or a custom engine. Suggestions stay off until you ask.
App Lock hides the real session from someone who picks up the phone. It does not answer a site prompt for you. If you hand the device over unlocked, a page can still ask for the microphone. The decoy passcode, which is Stealth Suite, opens a clean empty browser. Real tabs stay hidden. An empty decoy will not show the page that already had permission in the real session. Panic and self-destruct destroy tabs (and, for panic, the vault and the break-in log). They are not permission managers.
Stealth Suite prices stay as shipped: monthly $4.99, yearly $19.99 with a 7-day trial, or lifetime $49.99. If a subscription lapses, protections you already enabled keep working and the vault stays accessible. A lapse does not grant us a camera. Icon colors recolor the shield: Midnight, Ocean, Ember. They are not disguise icons, and they do not hide a prompt you already approved.
Honest limits a Deny button does not cancel
A browser alone does not make you anonymous. Sites you visit and your network operator can still see your IP address. Granting or denying camera access does not change that. Tracking protection still misses new names. Per-site blocking exceptions still exist. Private Browser Incognito is iOS only. It is not a VPN, not Tor, not a proxy we market, not Android, not a password manager.
Erase, Auto-Erase, panic, and self-destruct permanently destroy data they are built to destroy. They do not unsay a stream a site already received. If you allowed a call, the other end had audio. If you allowed a scan, the site had a frame. The later trash tap ends what the app still held. It does not edit someone else’s server.
If you are separating controls, a compact table is more useful than one Settings dump.
| Control | What it answers | Paid? |
|---|---|---|
| Per-site camera / microphone | May this page use that sensor | Free |
| Intruder Photo | Capture who failed the lock | Stealth Suite, off until enabled |
| HTTPS-Only Mode | Ask before insecure HTTP | Free, on by default |
| On-device blocking | Known ads and trackers from shipped lists | Free, not absolute |
Use Deny when a page does not need the hardware. Use Intruder Photo only after you have thought about other people and local law. Use HTTPS-Only as the default it already is. Use blocking as a reduction of known noise. Private Browser Incognito is built so there is nothing to trust us with on those streams: we do not collect them. The site you allowed still might. The network still sees an address. A permission dialog is not a cloak, and we will not write it as one.
Private Browser IncognitoFree on the App Store. No history, on-device blocking, one-tap erase.
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Frequently asked questions
Does Private Browser Incognito use my camera?
The app does not harvest camera or microphone for itself. Websites can request those permissions for a page, the way any real browser does. Intruder Photo is a separate Stealth Suite option: camera permission is asked when you enable it, never at the lock screen. That feature is off until you turn it on.
What per-site permissions does the browser handle?
Camera and microphone, as websites request them. We do not invent extra permission types for this article. A site that needs a call or a scan will ask. You allow or deny for that site. Denying a page is not the same as turning off Intruder Photo, and it is not HTTPS-Only Mode.
Is Intruder Photo the same as a website camera prompt?
No. A website prompt is tied to a page you opened. Intruder Photo is a lock-screen capture of who tried a failed unlock, encrypted on the device. Permission is asked in settings when you enable the feature, never at the lock screen. Photos may depict other people. You are responsible for local law.
Does granting camera to a site hide my IP address?
No. A browser is not a VPN. Allowing a site to use the camera or microphone does not hide your IP from that site or from your network operator. It only answers whether that page may use those sensors. Tracking protection stays list-based and not absolute.
Are per-site camera and microphone controls free?
Yes. Per-site permissions are part of the free browser, next to no history file, on-device blocking, one-tap erase, App Lock, and HTTPS-Only Mode. Intruder Photo is the paid, optional camera on the lock. Stealth Suite is monthly $4.99, yearly $19.99 with a 7-day trial, or lifetime $49.99.