Private tabs and windows

A private tab or window leaves nothing behind on this device when you close it. Use one for a look at something you do not want in your history, next to your normal tabs or in a window of its own.

Open a private tab

A private tab sits in your normal window, between your other tabs. Each private tab has its own session, so two private tabs never share cookies with each other or with your normal tabs.

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+P.
2. Or open the Acira menu and choose New private tab.
3. Or right-click an empty part of the tab strip and choose New private tab.
4. Or right-click a link on a page and choose Open link in private tab.
5. Or right-click a bookmark and choose Open in private tab.

The new tab opens on the Private tab page. It lists what Acira will not keep (History, Cookies and site data, Form entries), what is still visible (Websites you visit, Your network or employer, Files you download), and lists Third-party cookies as Always blocked here. That line is fixed text. It is true while the app-wide Third-party cookies setting is Block, which is the default. If you choose Allow in Privacy settings, that choice covers private tabs too. On Windows and Mac, the page also has an Open a Tor tab link. It never shows tiles, recent pages or suggestions built from your history.

You can also run New private tab from command search. On a Mac, use Cmd+Shift+P.

Open a private window

A private window is a whole window that is private. All of its tabs share one temporary session until you close the window.

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+N (Cmd+Shift+N on a Mac).
2. Or open the Acira menu and choose New private window.
3. Or open Settings › Privacy › Private browsing and choose Private window. The row says browsing is not saved or restored and that downloaded files remain on your computer.
4. Or right-click a link and choose Open link in private window.

The Profiles panel also has New private window. A private window shows Private as its profile name. Hover it to read Private window · Nothing from this window is kept.

Private tab or private window

How you can tell a tab is private

• A private tab has a teal tint and a mask icon where the close button sits. Point at the tab to see the close button.
• A Tor tab has a purple tint and an onion icon instead, so the two are easy to tell apart.
• In a private or Tor window the frame does not take the open site's color (Site color). See Appearance.
• The tooltip and screen reader name say private tab or Tor tab.

What Acira does not keep

• Browsing history, including the address bar suggestions built from it.
• Cookies, local storage, IndexedDB and cache.
• Saved tabs. A private tab is not restored after a restart or a crash.
• The closed-tab list, the Undo message for a closed tab, and Rewind.
• Bookmarks. The star button is unavailable in a private tab.
• Per-site zoom for sites you visit there.
• Permission answers. A choice you make in a private tab is forgotten when it closes.
• Tab icons (favicons).
• The download record. A download from a private tab is listed in that window only, and it cannot be retried.
• Passwords. Acira does not offer to save, suggest or fill passwords in a private tab.

What stays on your computer

Things you choose to do are not hidden. A file you download stays in the folder you chose. Text you copy stays on the clipboard. A screenshot you take is yours. The sites you visit still see you.

What does not work in a private tab

• Tab groups and pinning. A private tab is never in a group and cannot be pinned.
• Moving the tab to another window. Acira refuses and says a private tab cannot move to another window.
• Sleep. Tabs sleep to save memory, but a private tab stays awake. Private windows keep every tab awake.
• Link previews. Peek is off in a private tab, and the Preview link menu item is hidden.
• Extensions. They run in private tabs only if you allow them. Open Settings › Extensions in a regular window and turn on Allow in private tabs for an extension. Installing an extension from a private page is refused.
• The dictionary. Add to dictionary is unavailable in private browsing.

Links, window.open and new-window requests from a private page stay private. They open as private tabs or as pop-up windows in the same private session, never as normal windows. Links you open in a split view from a private page stay private.

A private window has more limits. It does not use workspaces. Rewind, tab sets, import and export and the password pages are unavailable in it. Extensions run in it only if you allowed them, and you manage them from a regular window. Favorites you add are forgotten when it closes. It has no Pull requests folder. A proxy choice or a site permission you set there lasts only until the window closes.

Close a private tab and bring it back

Closing a private tab erases its session at once. There is no Undo message, because nothing is kept.

Acira does keep the newest closed private tabs in memory in that window so Ctrl+Shift+T can reopen one. It comes back as a private tab with a fresh session and loads its last address. Acira remembers up to 50 of them. They are never saved to disk, never appear in Rewind, and are gone when the window closes. Ctrl+Shift+T always reopens one tab: the newest one you closed, private or not.

Settings that affect private browsing

Ad and tracker blocking is on in private windows, whatever the profile switch says. You can turn it off for the session from the site's Ads and trackers panel. See Ads and trackers.

Last updated November 8, 2026