If you’re new to Reddit and want to explore the social news aggregation website without a profile or simply don’t want to associate your search with your Reddit account, browsing anonymously comes in handy. Wondering how it works? In this article, we will tell you how to browse anonymously on Reddit on any device.
What Is Anonymous Browsing on Reddit and How Does It Work
Anonymous browsing on Reddit allows users to browse the site without revealing their IP address or identity, meaning they can remain anonymous even when logged into their account. Hence, their Reddit activities cannot be traced back to them. This doesn’t mean that what you browse is totally private, meaning, service providers, and third-party trackers can still trace your moves. In addition to that, your activity will not show up in Reddit’s browsing history. While you can view all the content on Reddit using Anonymous Browsing, you won’t be able to perform any actions that require your identity (discussed in detail later). So, now that that’s out of the way, here’s how to browse privately on Reddit.
How to Turn On Anonymous Browsing on the Reddit App (Android and iOS)
Step 1: Open the Reddit app and tap on your avatar to open the account menu.
Step 2: Tap the downward-facing arrow in line with your username.
Step 3: Select Anonymous Browsing from the menu.
There you go. Now, you can browse Reddit anonymously. If you want to revert to normal, all you need to do is to click to vote or comment, or you can click on your avatar, and a prompt will come up showing a way to ‘Leave Anonymous Browsing’. However, the official Reddit app comes with bugs and doesn’t offer the best user experience. If you are looking for alternatives, you can use one of these Reddit apps for iPhone or Android.
How to Browse Reddit Anonymously on Desktop
Unlike the Reddit app, anonymous browsing on the Desktop version of Reddit is not officially available. Hence, we recommend opening Reddit in Incognito mode. For your reference, we are using the Chrome browser in the below steps. Step 1: Open your default browser and click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
Step 2: Click on ‘New Incognito window’ from the drop-down menu.
Note: You can skip the above 2 steps and directly press Ctrl+Shift+N to open the incognito mode. Step 3: Open Reddit’s official website using the link below and start browsing. Go to Reddit
Mind you, browse without logging in to your Reddit account. Once you have finished browsing, you can either close the incognito window or switch to regular browsing mode. The incognito mode blocks third-party cookies and downloads. By not signing in, you are restricting your browsing history and Reddit’s first-party tracking cookies from associating with your account. Alternatively, you can also use a VPN to browse Reddit privately if you don’t trust the incognito mode.
What You Can and Can’t Do in Reddit’s Anonymous Browsing Mode
Anonymous Browsing allows you to control your privacy on Reddit. The benefit of using this feature is that you can go and explore pages and content platform-wide without giving Reddit access to your activities to personalize your feed, notifications, and recommendations. This is especially helpful when you want to view something without disturbing your Reddit recommendations or check subreddits from which you are banned. However, there are things that Reddit’s Anonymous Browsing can’t do. This includes actions like upvoting or downvoting, posting, and commenting as they are tied to your account for personalization. In simple words, you can do anything on Reddit’s Anonymous Browsing as long as it doesn’t involve your participation in the platform’s posts or content.
Safe and Secure Browsing on Reddit
There’s a purpose to Reddit Anonymous Browsing, be it for privacy or exploring content you don’t want personalized results for and associate your account with. This feature comes in handy for all cases and scenarios. I think it should be a nifty addition to other social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram too. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
