Setting InPrivate Browsing as Default in Microsoft Edge Chromium

Microsoft Edge Chromium provides ready access to InPrivate browsing windows for those who value privacy the most. But there is a problem. You should first open the browser normally, then open an InPrivate browsing window when you want to browse privately. Even I was a bit curious – how do I open the InPrivate Browser tab by default in Microsoft Edge Chromium?

The act of opening an InPrivate browsing window in Microsoft Edge Chromium is effortless on its own. Still, it’s a hassle if you always prefer to load the browser directly in InPrivate mode. However, there is no built-in tool to achieve this.

Don’t give up hope yet. You can still use workarounds to set InPrivate browsing as default in Microsoft Edge Chromium on Windows and macOS. Let’s check them out.

Always Open In Incognito Mode — Windows

Setting Microsoft Edge Chromium to install in InPrivate mode by default is pretty easy on Windows. All you have to do is add a script to the default file target of the Microsoft Edge shortcut on your desktop.

Stage 1: Right-click the Microsoft Edge shortcut on your desktop, and then click Properties.

Fly: If you don’t have a Microsoft Edge shortcut on your desktop, you should create one. To do this, open the Start menu, find Microsoft Edge in the list of installed programs, and then drag it to the desktop.

Step 2: Select the Shortcut tab and then add the following command line to the end of the Target field after a single space:

--inprivate

Click Apply and then OK to save your changes.

Stage 3: Double click the shortcut. Microsoft Edge Chromium should open automatically in the InPrivate window. You can still choose to open a regular Edge window using the Open New option in the Edge menu.

If you want to prevent the shortcut form loading in InPrivate mode in the future, simply open the shortcut’s Properties dialog and remove the command line you added earlier.

Always Open In Incognito Mode — Mac

Compared to Windows, Microsoft Edge Chromium is a bit more difficult to set up to always launch InPrivate browsing windows on macOS. You must then create a script using the AppleScript Editor, which you can use to load the browser in InPrivate mode. But as long as you follow the steps below, there is nothing complicated in the procedure.

The only downside is that the shortcut you create won’t carry the Microsoft Edge Chromium logo. If that’s not an issue then you are good to go.

Stage 1: Open Finder, click Go on the Apple menu, then click Utilities.

Step 2: Double-click Script Editor to launch the AppleScript Editor.

Stage 3: Click the button labeled New Document.

Step 4: Copy and paste the following script into the AppleScript Editor:

do shell script "open -a /Applications/Microsoft\\ Edge.app --args --inprivate"

Step 5: Click the File menu, then click Save.

Step 6: Add a name to the script (like Microsoft Edge – InPrivate), set Location to desktop, and then File Format to Application. Finally, click Save.

Step 7: Double-click the new icon on your desktop to launch Microsoft Edge Chromium in InPrivate mode.

Note: If you have a regular instance of Microsoft Edge Chromium running in the background, the script will not run. If you want to run the script to launch InPrivate browsing windows, you must exit and close.

Always Open In Incognito Mode — Android/iOS

In the Android and iOS versions of Microsoft Edge, it’s incredibly easy to set the browser to always start in InPrivate mode. When you switch to InPrivate mode via the tab switcher and do not manually switch back to normal mode, the browser will continue to work in InPrivate mode even if you force quit.

Alternatively, you can have Microsoft Edge launch in InPrivate mode immediately. To do this, long-press the Microsoft Edge shortcut on your Android or iOS device and then tap the New InPrivate Tab.

Don’t Fall Over the Edge

Microsoft Edge Chromium’s InPrivate browsing windows are ideal for any privacy-conscious person, especially when combined with the Tracking Prevention built into the browser. Also, always starting Edge in InPrivate mode means you don’t have to stress about any offline recording of your browsing activity.

Fly: To configure Tracking Blocking, go to the Edge Settings panel and then click on Privacy and Services.

However, using Microsoft Edge Chromium only in InPrivate mode often does not provide the best experiences in the long run. Not only do you miss out on useful features like the ability to sync your data across devices, but the absence of a persistent browser cache means that performance will suffer when you visit websites repeatedly.

For this reason, you may not usually want to stop browsing Microsoft Edge Chromium altogether. And manually deleting your browsing history and cache is not that difficult.

Next: Are you stuck with Microsoft Edge Chromium’s default search engine? Here’s how to change it easily.