Disable incognito in Chrome. Every platform.
Disabling incognito is a reasonable ask and a genuinely fiddly one, because Google doesn't offer a checkbox for it. Here's the real method per platform.
Windows: registry policy
Chrome reads an IncognitoModeAvailability policy from the registry. Setting it to 1 disables incognito.
- Press Win + R, type
regedit, press Enter. - Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome. Create theGoogleandChromekeys if they aren't there. - Right-click → New → DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name it
IncognitoModeAvailabilityand set the value to 1. - Restart Chrome. The New incognito window option should be gone.
Values: 0 = available, 1 = disabled, 2 = incognito only.
Registry mistakes can destabilise Windows. Create a restore point first, and change only the key described above. If that feels like more than you want to take on, the DNS filtering approach further down gets you the outcome without touching the registry.
Mac: a configuration profile or defaults command
Open Terminal and run:
defaults write com.google.Chrome IncognitoModeAvailability -integer 1Restart Chrome. To reverse it, run the same command with 0.
Android: use Family Link
There's no user-facing setting for this on Android. Chrome on a Family Link–supervised account disables incognito automatically — which is the practical route:
- Family Link → child's profile → Controls → Content restrictions → Google Chrome.
- Set any option other than Allow all sites.
- Incognito disappears from Chrome's menu on that profile.
iPhone and iPad
Chrome on iOS follows the same pattern as Safari — set a web content restriction under Screen Time and incognito goes away. Covered in detail in our Safari private browsing guide.
Incognito-proof filtering
Defenras blocks domains before Chrome ever loads them — incognito, guest profile, or a browser you've never seen.
Get Defenras free →Why this is the smaller half of the problem
Every method above is profile-specific or app-specific. Which means:
- A different browser has its own private mode.
- A Chrome guest profile has no history and no extensions.
- A second Windows or Android user account starts clean.
- An in-app browser inside a social app is a separate surface entirely.
You can chase each of these. Or you can filter at the DNS layer, where none of it matters — the domain doesn't resolve, so the browser and the mode are irrelevant.
What we'd actually do
- Install DNS-level filtering on the device. This is the layer that holds.
- Disable incognito using the method above, as a secondary measure.
- Disable guest profiles in Chrome and second user accounts on the OS.
- Restrict app installation so a new browser can't appear.
Steps 2–4 are worth doing. Step 1 is the one that changes the outcome.
Frequently asked questions
Can my child re-enable incognito by editing the registry back?
If they have an administrator account on the PC, yes. Give children standard user accounts, not admin — that single change closes a large number of workarounds at once.
Does disabling incognito block anything?
No. It only removes the private browsing option. Content filtering is a separate layer and the one that actually blocks sites.
What about Chrome guest mode?
Guest mode is a separate escape hatch with no history and no extensions. Disable it in Chrome settings under 'You and Google' → profile settings, or rely on DNS filtering which guest mode can't bypass.
Does the Windows registry method survive a Chrome update?
Yes. It's an enterprise policy key, so Chrome re-reads it on every launch and updates don't clear it.
Defenras blocks all of this — without collecting your child's data.
One app, every device, every browser. Adult content, gambling, vaping, scams, malware, social media — all blocked. PIN-locked. Free version available, no credit card.