Privacy & safety
Keeping your visit private.
Any website you visit, including this one, can leave a record on the phone or computer you used. This page explains what leaves a trace, what our Quick exit button does and doesn’t do, and where to find a full step-by-step guide for your exact device.
Before you read on
Three honest basics.
No technology trick is perfect, so we’ll be straight with you about what helps, what doesn’t, and what to do if you’re not sure your device is safe.
Every page leaves a trace
Phones and computers keep a history of the websites you visit, this page included. If it isn’t safe for someone to see that you were here, the steps below can help.
Deleting history can be noticed
Clearing your whole browsing history can itself raise questions if someone checks the device. A private-browsing window, which saves nothing in the first place, is often the quieter choice.
The safest device may not be yours
If you think your phone or computer might be checked or monitored, use one the person cannot see: a trusted friend’s phone, or a library or work computer.
The Quick exit button
Leave this site in one tap.
The pink Quick exit button sits at the top of every page. Tap it, or press the Esc key twice, and this site is instantly replaced with BBC Weather, an ordinary page that raises no questions. It’s there for the moment someone walks in.
Being honest about its limits.
Quick exit takes you away fast. It does not erase where you’ve been. Your browsing history, and anything a monitoring app can see, is unchanged. For leaving no trace in the first place, use a private-browsing window or a safer device.
Private browsing
Browse without saving a history.
Every phone and computer browser has a private mode, usually called a private or incognito window in its menu. Pages you open there are not saved to the device’s history, and once you close the window they’re gone from it. Two things it cannot do: it won’t hide your screen from someone nearby, and it won’t hide anything from monitoring software if that has been installed on the device.
The full guide
Step-by-step, for your exact device.
Browsers change often, so rather than keep our own copy that could fall out of date, we point you to the guide the experts keep current.
When you’re ready
Reaching out is a message, not a leap.
Our confidential form lets you say how and when it is safe to reply. Nothing happens without your say-so.