this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2023
449 points (94.6% liked)

Firefox

17302 readers
382 users here now

A place to discuss the news and latest developments on the open-source browser Firefox

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

All the incognito browser windows share the same "session" in Firefox. So say you open an Incognito window to browse Facebook or something, then you open another Incognito window, this new incognito window is linked to the previous incognito window, meaning you are logged into Facebook at that new Incognito window as well. This is because, as I explained before, all the incognito windows share the same "session"

The only way to clear incognito window is to close ALL of them and then create a new incognito window. You dont have to close the main non incognito Firefox window though, just close all the incognito windows. Then open a new one, now your previous session is destroyed and you are new again.

You may know it but its not that common knowledge as it should have been

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (9 children)

Why would you ever sign into anything in incognito mode. Doesn't that pretty much defeat the whole purpose?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago

There are legitimate reasons. You may have a main account in a given page which you usually want to log into automatically, but at certain occasions you might want to use an alt without your browser forgetting to log into your main by default. A more specific example of this would be someone who has an alt account for NSFW stuff in social media because they want to be able to browse in their main without risk of genitals popping up on their screen while they're on the bus or using the phone next to family.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

I use it when I need to log into a computer at work with a personal account, so that I know I'm logged out when I close the window.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I use it to test that I've set up an authentication system correctly without a cookie bias, among other uses

Set everything up in main > confirm tests pass > log in from incognito with password vault to make sure the auto test didn't lie.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

anonymity is not the only usage for incognito, and frankly it doesn’t even make you very anonymous on its own

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Signing in to a service would defeat incognito mode if its function were to make you incognito towards the websites you visit.

But since that's not what it does, I don't see why it would defeat anything.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Logging into alt accounts without logging out of main

[–] [email protected] -3 points 10 months ago

Thankfully I have a life, so I don't feel the need.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

My health and dental insurance are through the same company but on different accounts (they refuse to combine them), so I use a private tab to sign into both at the same time because it normally only allows one at a time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I had that issue with two services two, but I've taken to using different containers now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

This is what Firefox containers are for

Don't use incognito mode for this

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Exactly because I want to log out of everything when I close my browser

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

You want to log into Facebook and as soon as you close it, it should be forgotten