A browser is not a VPN. Erasing 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. Session erase does not clear the vault. A panic code can.
Erase everything is a dangerous sentence if you do not name the stores. In Private Browser Incognito the trash action closes every tab and destroys the browsing session: cookies, cache, and site data. That is a real wipe. It is also a bounded wipe. Downloads that went into the encrypted vault are supposed to survive it. App Lock is still there. The block lists are still in the binary. The network already saw the visit. This page is the inventory of what the free trash button does not take, so you do not pick panic when you meant erase, or erase when you meant the files gone too.
The matching how-to for the tap itself is Erase Everything in One Tap. The architecture of the store that remains is An Encrypted Download Vault on iPhone. Closing one tab is a third verb, and it is not this inventory. Dismissing a card is not session destroy. That split is Closing Tabs vs Erasing the Session.
What session erase takes, so the leftovers are clear
One-tap erase closes every open tab. It destroys cookies, cache, and site data. There is no history file to clear because the engine never writes one. Every tab was a private session in memory. Erase ends that working state. There is a home-screen quick action so you do not have to open the UI first. Erased session data cannot be recovered, by you or by us. There is no recycle bin and no support path that reconstructs a tab.
That list is the whole session job. Form fields, session logins, and cached scripts go with the tabs. Cookies are tools for the visit, not a diary. Cache is a performance store, not a reading list. Once erase runs, those stores are gone. What remains is whatever was never part of the session: the app itself, the lists that shipped in the binary, the lock you set, and the vault if you use Stealth Suite. Mixing those leftovers into the trash can would make erase unusable for anyone who also saved a file or needed the icon to still exist.
Erase does not unsay a request that already left the phone. Sites you visited still saw the traffic. Your network operator still saw destinations. HTTPS-Only Mode encrypts the path when the site supports it. It does not hide your IP. List-based blocking from bundled Disconnect lists is not 100 percent. None of those facts is a store erase can delete. The tap only ends what the app still held.
The vault is the store erase is built to spare
Session erase does not clear the vault. That sentence is load-bearing. A browsing wipe is for residue from pages. A kept file is a decision you already made. If those two shared one button, people who download on purpose would be punished every time they threw the tabs away. The vault is optional Stealth Suite: AES-256, no plain copy on disk, excluded from backups. Files go into encrypted storage inside the app. They never appear in Photos or Files.
Excluded from backups means the vault is not supposed to ride along when the phone copies itself elsewhere. We will not invent backup API names or a settings toggle we do not ship. There is no second copy on a server we operate, because we do not operate a browsing server. Lose the device and the files on it are gone with it. That is the honest half of on this iPhone only. The passcode is never stored. It becomes the key. Forgotten passcodes cannot be recovered. If you forget it, data sealed under it is permanently inaccessible, by you or by us. Erase did not do that. The missing key did.
The free product is the forgetful session. The vault lives in Stealth Suite, optional Apple IAP: 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. New downloads that require an active unlock follow the lapse policy in the terms. We do not hold existing files hostage. We also do not invent other prices. Purchases go through Apple.
Private Browser IncognitoErase the session. Keep the vault. Panic if the files should go too.
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Panic is the control that can take the vault
Panic code is not erase with a louder name. It is a Stealth Suite feature: one code at the lock screen silently wipes tabs, the entire vault, and the break-in log, then opens what looks like a fresh start. That is the inventory erase refuses. Tabs die. Files die. The log of failed unlocks dies. The scene that remains looks unused. The wipe is irreversible. Do not configure a panic number you will type by accident. Do not type it hoping it is a reset. It is the opposite.
Use erase when the browsing session should vanish and the files you saved should remain. Use panic when everything behind the lock, including the vault, should vanish. The longer walkthrough of that lock-screen wipe is Panic Code: Wipe Tabs and Vault From the Lock Screen. App Lock, which is free, is not a wipe at all. It hides the real session. A closed door with a vault still inside is the everyday shared-phone posture. Panic is for when the door is not enough and the files should not survive the next unlock.
The decoy passcode is a third scene, not a delete. A second code opens a clean, empty browser. Real tabs stay hidden. The decoy does not display vault files, and it does not empty them. If you only remember the word wipe, you will pick the wrong control under pressure. Name the store before you name the gesture.
Auto-Erase and self-destruct are not the trash button either
Auto-Erase is session erase on a timer. You leave the app. The interval runs. The browsing session dies without another tap: tabs, cookies, cache, site data. The vault stays intact, because the timer is the same destroy as the free trash, delayed. It is Stealth Suite, not the free button. A peek at Control Center is not a leave. The shipping intervals, and why a brief overlay should not fire a wipe, live in Auto-Erase When You Leave the App. If you expected leaving the app to mean every byte inside Private Browser Incognito is gone, the vault note is the sentence to read twice.
Self-destruct is a threshold against guessing, not a browsing wipe you tap. After too many wrong codes, saved tabs are destroyed, and optionally the vault with them. That optional vault wipe is how self-destruct can overlap panic’s inventory. It is still not erase. We will not invent an exact try count here. The facts are the stores: saved tabs, and the vault if you opted that in. Details of that path are in Self-Destruct After Wrong Passcodes.
Erase, Auto-Erase, panic, and self-destruct all permanently destroy the data they are aimed at. Erased data cannot be recovered, by you or by us. There are no accounts and no app server for browsing. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected. We cannot restore a session or a vault we never received. That is the useful half of having nothing on a server. The other half is picking the control that matches the leftover you wanted.
What else erase leaves on purpose
The app remains installed. The Disconnect lists remain in the binary. They are not session data. They are not downloaded at runtime. Erase does not fetch a fresher list, and it does not delete the one you have. HTTPS-Only Mode stays on by default. Search engine choice stays. Suggestions stay off until you ask. App Lock stays. The six-digit passcode is still the key. Face ID, if you enabled it, is still convenience. None of those is a cookie jar. None of those is a tab.
Per-site blocking exceptions live on that device, for that app. They are a local choice when a page needs a blocked resource. They are not a cloud preference, because there is no account. Do not treat erase as a factory reset of every setting. Treat it as session destroy. Uninstall is a new app later. It does not restore sealed files. We will not invent an iOS backup restore that puts the vault back, because the vault is excluded from backups.
Locking the browser is also not delete. App Lock with a six-digit passcode and Face ID is free. It does not lock Messages, Photos, or the rest of iOS. It does not empty the vault. The session can still be there, hidden, until you erase it or a timer does. If the leftover that worried you was a person holding an unlocked iPhone, the lock is the matching tool. If the leftover was cookies, the trash is. If the leftover was a file you saved, erase will not help, and was never supposed to.
A compact map of leftovers
If you are comparing wipes, name the stores. Adjectives will not do it.
| Control | Browsing session | Encrypted vault |
|---|---|---|
| One-tap erase (free) | Destroyed | Left intact |
| Home-screen quick action | Same as erase | Left intact |
| Auto-Erase timer | Destroyed after you leave | Left intact |
| Panic code | Wiped | Entire vault wiped, with the break-in log |
| Self-destruct | Saved tabs destroyed | Optional wipe with the tabs |
| App Lock | Hidden, not deleted | Still there, still sealed |
What erase does not delete is the vault, the lock, the lists, the app, and the fact that a site already saw you. What it does delete is the in-memory session. That bounded job is why a forgetful browser can also keep a file. Use the free trash when the tabs should die. Use Auto-Erase when you will forget to tap. Use panic when the files should die too. None of those tools is a VPN. None of them changes your public IP.
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Frequently asked questions
Does one-tap erase delete the encrypted vault?
No. Session erase closes every tab and destroys cookies, cache, and site data. It does not clear the encrypted download vault. Downloads that went into the vault are a separate store, AES-256, with no plain copy on disk. Files you chose to keep are supposed to outlive a browsing wipe.
What does a panic code wipe?
Panic code is a Stealth Suite feature. One code at the lock screen silently wipes tabs, the entire vault, and the break-in log, then opens what looks like a fresh start. That wipe is irreversible. It is not the free trash button. Use panic when the files should die with the session.
Does Auto-Erase empty the vault?
No. Auto-Erase is session erase on a timer. You leave the app, the interval runs, and the browsing session dies: tabs, cookies, cache, and site data. The vault stays intact. Auto-Erase is optional Stealth Suite. The free trash button is the same session destroy without a clock.
What does self-destruct delete?
After too many wrong codes, self-destruct destroys saved tabs, and optionally the vault with them. That is a Stealth Suite threshold against guessing, not a browsing wipe you tap. Erased data cannot be recovered, by you or by us. Do not treat it as a reset for a forgotten passcode.
Are vault files included in iPhone backups?
No. The vault is excluded from backups. There is no second copy on a server we operate, because we do not operate a browsing server. Lose the device and the files on it are gone with it. We do not invent backup API names. Excluded means the store is not supposed to ride along when the phone copies itself elsewhere.