How to Launch Brave in Private Window Mode by Default

By Hongkiat Lim. in Internet. Updated on March 21, 2023.

Brave – featured as one of our best private browser for Windows 11 – is a secure browser with a lot of features that are much better than the big guns. To make it more private, you can set it to open automatically in a private window every time you launch the app.

In the following, we will walk you through the process of setting up Brave to open the new window in private mode by default. The steps for Mac and Windows systems are somewhat different, though. So, let’s see how to do it.

Windows Users

Step 1

First, locate the Brave Browser’s shortcut on your Windows. If you already had the Brave Browser installed (else, click here to download), you should be able to find the shortcut at the following location:

C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\

Step 2

Right-click on the Brave icon, select "Show more options", and then select "Create Shortcut". Click "Yes" to create Brave Brwoser shortcut on your Desktop.

Step 3

Right-click the Brave shortcut on your Desktop, then select "Properties".

Step 4

Inside “Target:”, go to the end of line, add a space, follow by “--incognito” (without the quotes), then hit “OK”.

In short, you are replacing the following:

C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\brave.exe

with:

C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\brave.exe" --incognito

Step 5

Double-click the Brave shortcut and if it will launch Brave browser in Private Window mode. If it works, you can now drag the shortcut down to the Taskbar so it opens up in Private Window mode every time it’s clicked.

Mac Users

Step 1

Launch Spotlight, search, and open the Script Editor app.

Note: The Script Editor app can also be found inside /System/Applications/Utilities/.

Step 2

Select “New Document” and paste the following code inside.

do shell script "open -a /Applications/Brave\\ Browser.app -n --args --private"

Next, save the file (File > Save, or use the shortcut Command + S). Select “Desktop” for “Where:”, “Application” for “File Format:” and then hit the "Save" button.

What this does is – it will create an executable file that opens up the Brave Browser in Private Windows mode, on your Desktop.

Step 3

Double-click the executable file you just created to make sure it works. It should launch Brave Browser in Private Window mode, by default.

Step 4

Now, let’s give this shortcut (the executable file) an icon and place it in the Dock.

First, open Finder and look for the Brave app (not the executable file) installed on your Mac. When found, right-click, and select “Get Info”.

Note: Brave Browser app can also be found inside Macintosh HD > Applications.

Next, also “Get Info” on the executable file you just created. Position the two dialogue boxes side by side (see screenshot below).

Left-click once on the Brave logo and do a Command + C to copy its logo, then left-click once the logo of your executable file and hit Command + V.

This will give the executable file Brave Browser logo.

Finally, go ahead and drag it onto your Dock so you can launch it with ease.