LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 810 million members worldwide. With so many professionals using LinkedIn to connect, network, and grow their careers, it’s common to wonder who might be viewing your profile.
One question that often comes up is whether you can see who viewed your LinkedIn profile when they are browsing in private or incognito mode. Here’s a look at how LinkedIn’s viewing settings work and what information is available about profile views.
What is LinkedIn’s Private Profiling Setting?
LinkedIn has a “Private Profiling” setting that allows members to control how much information about their own profile views is visible to others. This setting has three options:
- Your name and headline: People who view your profile will see that an anonymous LinkedIn member viewed their profile.
- Anonymous profile characteristics: People who view your profile will see that a LinkedIn member with your industry and location has viewed their profile.
- Completely anonymous: People who view your profile will see that an anonymous LinkedIn member viewed their profile, with no details about the viewer.
The default setting is “Your name and headline.” But members can adjust this at any time in their account preferences to limit the information about their own viewing activity.
Can You See Who Views Your Profile in Private/Incognito Mode?
When someone views a LinkedIn profile in private or incognito mode, their identity is protected according to the account holder’s Private Profiling settings:
- If the viewer has their settings on “Completely anonymous,” you will just see that an anonymous member viewed your profile.
- If they have limited info sharing on, you might see details like their industry and location, but not a name.
- You will never see the name or other identifying details of someone browsing in private/incognito mode unless they have explicitly allowed this in their settings.
What Viewer Information is Available on LinkedIn?
In your LinkedIn account, you can see some analytics about who has viewed your profile under the “Who’s viewed your profile” section. Here’s what type of information is available here:
- Total number of profile views in the past 90 days.
- A list of members who have viewed your profile, according to their Private Profiling setting. This means some may show as anonymous.
- Breakdown of viewers by industry, location, and more.
- Top profile search keywords used to find you.
You will not see any names or other identifying details of viewers who have browsed in private/incognito mode unless they have explicitly allowed this in their settings.
Tips for Viewing LinkedIn Profiles
Here are some tips for viewing LinkedIn profiles while protecting your own privacy:
- Browse in private/incognito mode if you want to look at profiles without anyone knowing.
- Adjust your Private Profiling setting to limit visibility or be anonymous.
- Upgrade to a Premium account to see full profiles anonymously.
- Use the mobile app to browse anonymously more easily.
- Keep your activities professional – don’t view others’ profiles excessively.
Can You Tell if Someone Screenshot Your Profile?
No, LinkedIn currently does not have any ability to detect or notify you if someone takes a screenshot of your profile. Any member is able to screenshot or print any public profile they can access. The only way to tell if someone may have screenshotted your profile is if they share or use the image externally. But there is no direct notification feature for profile screenshots on LinkedIn at this time.
Should You Make Your LinkedIn Viewer List Private?
Here are some pros and cons to weighing about making your LinkedIn viewer list private:
Potential Pros:
- Increased privacy and control over your viewing data.
- Reduces unwanted communication from viewers.
- Limits others from targeting you based on who viewed your profile.
Potential Cons:
- Limits your visibility and engagement on LinkedIn.
- Reduces networking and opportunity creation.
- Removes context for who is interested in connecting with you.
In general, it’s a personal decision based on your priorities. Keeping some basic visibility can help create opportunities, while limiting details gives more privacy.
Is There a Way to See Who Views You Anonymously?
No, there is currently no way to anonymously see who views your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn limits profile viewing data to protect privacy. The only way to see who has viewed your profile is through the analytics provided in your account settings.
Even Premium account holders with full access to viewing analytics will not see identifying details for people who have viewed anonymously. The data is generalized and aggregated to obscure individual viewer identities.
Conclusion
When viewing LinkedIn profiles in private or incognito mode, your browsing activity is not visible to others according to your account settings. You can adjust the Private Profile options at any time to limit the information visible when you view other profiles.
While LinkedIn does show some analytics on who has viewed your profile, you will never see identifying details on viewers browsing privately. Overall, LinkedIn aims to balance visibility with privacy protections for all members.
So in summary – no, you cannot see who specifically viewed your LinkedIn profile in private mode. But various privacy controls allow both viewers and profile owners to limit sharing of viewing activity on the platform.
