Safari Private mode not Private as proved with Screentime

[harrma]

I have noticed some bugs / poor design with Screentime when using it. Some are a not a big deal but the most surprising one was that you can prove that Safari private mode does store your history somewhere outside of your session. If Screentime can access this list of sites then surely something else could and Safari private does not do what is says it will do.

When you turn on private mode, Safari says it 'won't remember the pages you visited, your search history ... after you close a tab in Private mode Browsing'. That can't be true given the following:
1) Turn on Screentime restrictions
2) Go into Safari, open a private window and go to a website
3) Confirm you want to ignore Screentime restrictions
4) Close down the tab and fully close Safari
5) Go back in, open a new private window and go to the same website as before
6) You will note it remembers you ignored Screentime restrictions thus proving private mode is not private

I informed apple support of this weeks ago but got no response hence sharing here. The other problems I noticed are that if you travel, it gets confused as it can't handle the system clock changing during Downtime. I also don't get why ignoring Downtime is for each web site and not the whole Safari app. I find that a really strange decision for them to make, particularly given that it would eliminate the privacy problem if they did it for the whole app!

 

[Small White Car]

While Apple should fix that, for your own sake, go ahead and just use Firefox Focus for private browsing:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/firefox-focus-privacy-browser/id1055677337?mt=8

It works great.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

You turn on restrictions for Safari (meaning, you can only access certain webpages)? How do activate privat mode then? I don't have this option, if restrictions are turned on.

 

[NoBoMac]

Nothing to do with Private mode, and depends on verionnof iOS.

There is (was?) a bug where you can force quit Safari and restrictions are not checked on re-launch.

And even if a bug, do not think anything is really leaking from Private Mode as the restriction is on Safari running, not websites. So, the real test would be go into Safari, ignore restriction, go to Private Mode, go to a website. Quit Safari. Bring back up, but go to different website.

 

[StellarVixen]

Private mode in any browser is a joke and false advertising.

 

[Shirasaki]

The way how screen time works is it remembers the domain you want to visit each time you ask for permission. After 15min/1 hour/a day lapses, the site is back to block list.
Safari may not “remember” what you are browsing, but screen Time remembers what domain you have asked permission. I think Apple believe people may need to access the same domain during the given period, regardless of which mode of safari you are in.
But, I agree that if you want better private browsing, using any other browser is a better option because screen time will remember that app only, not necessarily the domain itself. I hate Apple designing screen time to work with safari in such a way. It is just way too much hassle to use after you enable screen time.

 

[C DM]

Private mode in any browser is a joke and false advertising.

In what sense?

 

[mrex]

Private mode in any browser is a joke and false advertising.

Private mode is a local feature, not a network feature. If you want a private internet access, then you need to use a services such as an anonymous vpn.

 

[CaTOAGU]

I have noticed some bugs / poor design with Screentime when using it. Some are a not a big deal but the most surprising one was that you can prove that Safari private mode does store your history somewhere outside of your session. If Screentime can access this list of sites then surely something else could and Safari private does not do what is says it will do.

When you turn on private mode, Safari says it 'won't remember the pages you visited, your search history ... after you close a tab in Private mode Browsing'. That can't be true given the following:
1) Turn on Screentime restrictions
2) Go into Safari, open a private window and go to a website
3) Confirm you want to ignore Screentime restrictions
4) Close down the tab and fully close Safari
5) Go back in, open a new private window and go to the same website as before
6) You will note it remembers you ignored Screentime restrictions thus proving private mode is not private

I informed apple support of this weeks ago but got no response hence sharing here. The other problems I noticed are that if you travel, it gets confused as it can't handle the system clock changing during Downtime. I also don't get why ignoring Downtime is for each web site and not the whole Safari app. I find that a really strange decision for them to make, particularly given that it would eliminate the privacy problem if they did it for the whole app!

It doesn't prove any such thing. It proves it remembers you chose to ignore the time restriction, not that it remembers which site you went to, the two things are not related.