What LinkedIn private mode hides, and what it costs

What the three options show

LinkedIn gives you three ways to appear when you look at someone's profile. Your name and headline shows exactly who you are. Private profile characteristics shows a description instead, such as your job title and industry. Private mode shows only that a member in private mode looked.LinkedIn, private mode

For a senior person researching a company quietly, the middle option is not much of a hiding place. A title and an industry can narrow a viewer to a short list, and the person you looked at may well be able to guess the rest.

Where the setting is now

Select the Me icon, then Settings and privacy, then Visibility. Under Visibility of your profile and network, choose Visibility when viewing other profiles and pick private mode. Older guides send you to a page called Profile viewing options; LinkedIn now calls it Visibility when viewing other profiles.LinkedIn, private mode

Change it before you start looking at people, not halfway through.

What private mode costs you

On a free account, browsing in private mode also stops you seeing who has viewed your profile. LinkedIn's help page says only a Premium account keeps its list of viewers, for the last 90 days, while browsing in private mode. So the trade is real on a free account and not on a paid one.LinkedIn, private mode

• Free account: while private mode is on, you see nothing of who viewed you.
• Premium account: you keep the 90-day list, and the people you look at still cannot see you.LinkedIn, private mode

Whether that trade is worth it depends on what you are doing. While you are researching companies and the people who would decide on a move, it usually is: a name in someone's viewer list is a signal you did not choose to send. Once you have made an approach in your own name, there is nothing left to hide from that person.

What private mode does not do

It hides you as a viewer. It does nothing about your own profile, which stays as visible as your other settings make it. Edits to your profile can still be announced to your network unless Share profile updates is off, and your comments, likes and follows show in your activity whatever this setting says. The guide covers those settings in the order to change them.LinkedIn, profile updates

Questions people ask

Does private mode hide me from a recruiter at my own company?

It hides your name and headline from anyone whose profile you view, including a recruiter at your own company. It does not hide your profile from them, and it does not change what your activity shows.

Can someone tell it was me if I looked in private mode?

They see that a member in private mode viewed them, nothing more. If you are the only person who could plausibly have looked that week, they may draw their own conclusion, but LinkedIn does not show your name.