LinkedIn’s private mode allows you to browse member profiles anonymously without leaving a trace that you viewed them. If you turn off private mode after already viewing profiles, those views will now show up in your browsing history and be visible to those members. However, there are a few nuances to understand regarding the visibility of those views.
What is LinkedIn’s Private Mode?
LinkedIn’s private mode, also known as incognito mode, allows you to browse member profiles anonymously. When private mode is enabled:
- Your name and profile photo will not show up on the list of “Who’s viewed your profile?” for members you view.
- Profiles you view will not be added to your browsing history or “Who’s viewed your profile?” list.
- Any changes to your profile or account settings during your private browsing session will be saved.
Essentially, private mode browsing allows you to research people and companies without leaving a digital footprint behind indicating you viewed their profiles. It’s useful for discreetly checking out recruiters, potential business partners, competitors, and more.
What Happens When You Turn Off Private Mode?
If you view member profiles while in private mode and then turn private mode off, those profile views will now show up in your browsing history and become visible. Specifically:
- Those members will see you listed in their “Who’s viewed your profile?” sections.
- Those profile views will appear in your browsing history and “Who’s viewed your profile?” list.
So you essentially “expose” your previous private browsing history.
However, there are a few important nuances:
Time Delay
LinkedIn does not update these types of visibility lists in real-time. There is a delay before profile views appear in browsing histories and “Who’s viewed you?” sections – usually up to 3 days.
So if you viewed someone’s profile privately and then disabled private mode, they would not see you in their viewers list immediately. It could take up to 72 hours.
“Recent Visitors” vs. “All Visitors”
LinkedIn splits profile visitors into two categories:
- Recent Visitors – The last 90 days
- All Visitors – The full history of visitors
So if you viewed someone’s profile privately more than 90 days ago, turning off private mode would add you to their “All Visitors” list but not “Recent Visitors.”
Visitor Details
When someone appears in your “Who’s viewed your profile?” section, you can see some details about them:
- Name
- Profile photo
- Current position
- Location
- Industry
However, you cannot see the date or time when someone specific viewed your profile – only the total number of views.
So even if someone viewed your profile privately and then disabled private mode later, you could see them in your visitors list but not know exactly when they viewed you.
Premium Subscriptions
LinkedIn Premium subscribers (paid memberships) can see more detailed visitor analytics, including:
- The organizations visitors work for
- Visitor locations by city and country
- Keywords visitors used to find you
But the date/time of specific views is still not visible.
Strategies to Minimize Visibility
If you want to browse LinkedIn privately without leaving a trail behind, here are some strategies:
- View profiles using private mode, then don’t disable it during the same browsing session.
- Wait the ~3 day delay before turning off private mode so your views don’t appear in “Recent Visitors.”
- Use private mode on a less identifiable account or secondary profile.
- Adjust your profile visibility settings to customize what visitors can see.
You can also delete any individual profile views from your browsing history using LinkedIn’s “Remove this visit” link.
However, remember there’s always a risk someone could see you viewed them if you disable private mode after browsing.
What Happens if I Already Disabled Private Mode?
If you already viewed profiles privately and then disabled private mode, those views are now exposed with the caveats above. But what should you do moving forward?
Here are some options if those members seeing you in their visitors list poses problems:
- Message them to explain the situation and that you weren’t intentionally snooping.
- Remove the specific visits from your browsing history using “Remove this visit.”
- Refresh your browsing history and visitor list by viewing many other random profiles.
- Wait approximately 90 days until the views roll off the “Recent Visitors” section.
You could also proactively turn on profile visibility settings like these:
- Select Only you can see your LinkedIn browsing history.
- Select Only you can see the “Who’s viewed your profile” list.
That way, if this happens again in the future, your browsing history and visitors list will always stay private.
Key Takeaways
Here are the key points to remember:
- Disabling private mode after viewing profiles will expose those views.
- It takes up to 72 hours for those views to appear in visitor lists.
- Older views only show up in “All Visitors,” not “Recent Visitors.”
- Use strategies like waiting to disable private mode to minimize visibility.
- Adjust profile settings to keep your browsing history and visitors list private.
Conclusion
LinkedIn’s private mode allows discreet browsing, but you must be careful when toggling it on and off to avoid exposing your views. Wait to disable it, use secondary accounts, and customize visibility settings to keep your history private. While mistakes happen, proactive strategies can minimize unwanted attention from LinkedIn connections discovering you peeked at their profiles.
