Private Browsing for Amazon Silk

In response to customer feedback, we are excited to announce support for Private Browsing. With Private Browsing, you can surf the web without saving a record of your visits. For example, if you use Private Browsing while researching travel destinations for a surprise trip or shopping for presents, these sites will not show up in your browsing history when someone else uses your device. Private Browsing is now available on our 2012, 2013, and 2014 Amazon Fire tablets as well as the Amazon Fire phone.

Pages you view during a Private Browsing session do not remain in your browser’s history, cookie store, or search history after the session is over.

Using Private Browsing on Fire Tablets and Phones

Private Browsing is enabled via an update for Amazon Fire tablets and phones. To ensure you have the latest updates, sync your device while connected to the Internet. For more information on software updates, see the Software Updates page on the Fire & Kindle Support site.

Starting a Private Browsing Session

To start a Private Browsing session on Fire tablets, tap the icon on the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen to open the Page Actions menu. Select Enter Private Browsing.

While Private Browsing is enabled, tabs appear in purple and have the word Private after the website name.

On Fire phones, the Private Browsing option is available on the Tab Chooser screen.

Private Browsing mode is indicated by a purple shadow on the search bar and buttons.

Ending a Private Browsing Session

To exit Private Browsing on Fire tablets, close all open tabs or select Exit Private Browsing from the Page Actions menu.

On Fire phones, close all tabs or toggle Private Browsing off on the Tab Chooser screen.

Silk stores your previously open tabs in the background while you browse. When you exit Private Browsing mode, all open Private Browsing tabs are closed, and the tabs that were open before you initiated Private Browsing are restored.

Downloaded Files

When you exit Private Browsing, Silk gives you the option to either keep or delete any files you downloaded while browsing. Uncheck the box if you want to keep files that you saved to the device while using Private Browsing.

Supported Devices

Private Browsing is available on the following devices:

• Fire Phone
• 2014 Fire Tablets – Fire HD 6, Fire HD 7, Fire HDX 8.9
• 2013 Fire Tablets – Kindle Fire HD 7″, Kindle Fire HDX 7″, Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″
• 2012 Fire Tablets – Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD 7″, Kindle Fire HD 8.9″

Note that although Private Browsing tells Silk not to store data, it does not prevent your ISP or sites that you visit from recording information about activities visible to them. If you are shopping online in a Private Browsing session, keep in mind that sites you log in to may still track your activity and show future suggestions based on the products you have searched for.

Try out Private Browsing the next time you use Amazon Silk, and be sure to leave feedback via the Help section of your device’s Settings menu. Your input is invaluable in helping us decide which features to bring to Amazon Silk in the future.

Keep your eye out for more updates soon!