How to use Claude privately

Make Claude more private, step by step

These steps use the labels from Anthropic's own help pages for Claude's Free, Pro, and Max plans. On a Team or Enterprise plan, your organization's settings also apply.

1. Use an incognito chat for anything sensitive

An incognito chat isn't saved to your chat history or to Claude's memory, and it isn't used for training.

1. Start a new chat outside a project.
2. Select the ghost icon in the upper right.
3. Look for the Incognito chat label in the upper left, then start typing.
4. When you're done, select the x in the upper right to close it.

A few limits to know before you start:

• It can't be saved. You can't turn an incognito chat into a regular one, and once you close it, it can't be reopened. Copy anything you need first.
• It isn't available inside projects.
• In the new Claude experience, incognito chats open in the previous one, so Claude can't create files or run code in them.
• Claude can still see your profile settings, such as your personal preferences and custom styles.

(Anthropic: Use incognito chats)

2. Check Help Improve our AI models

This setting decides whether your chats and coding sessions can be used to train Anthropic's models.

1. Select your name to open the settings menu, then select Settings.
2. Select Privacy.
3. Under Help Improve our AI models, turn the switch off or on.

The steps are the same in the mobile apps. When it's off, Anthropic won't use your new chats for future training, and stops using your stored chats in future training runs. Training that has already happened isn't undone. (Anthropic: Change your model improvement settings)

When it's on, Anthropic may keep your data in a de-identified form for up to 5 years in its training pipelines. Separately, if you rate a response with thumbs up or down, Anthropic keeps the data from that feedback for 5 years. (Anthropic: How long do you store my data?)

3. Decide what Claude remembers

Memory is on by default for Claude's Free, Pro, and Max plans.

• For one chat: start a new chat, open the + menu, and turn off Memory before you send your first message. The chat still saves to your history.
• For your whole account: go to Settings, then Memory, and turn off Generate memory from chats. You can also turn off Search and reference chats there.
• To review or remove memories: everything Claude remembers is listed under Topics in Settings > Memory. Open a topic to edit or delete it.

Deleting a chat doesn't remove the memories already created from it. Delete those separately. (Anthropic: Chat search and memory)

4. Delete chats you don't need, and export first if you want a copy

On the web, hover over a conversation, select the ⋮ button, select Delete, and confirm. On iPhone, touch and hold the conversation, then tap Delete. On Android, open the conversation, tap the ⋮ menu in the top right, then tap Delete. A deleted conversation leaves your history right away and is erased from Anthropic's systems within 30 days. (Anthropic: Delete or rename a conversation)

Want a copy first? On the web or in Claude Desktop, open Settings, go to Privacy, and select Export data. Anthropic emails you a download link. You can't export from the mobile apps. (Anthropic: Export your Claude data)

What these settings don't change

These settings control what Claude saves and learns from. They don't change who handles your messages.

• Anthropic still processes everything you send in order to answer it. Every setting above applies after your message reaches Anthropic.
• Incognito chats are kept for 30 days by default, or longer under an Enterprise organization's retention setting. (Anthropic)
• On Team and Enterprise plans, account Owners can export incognito chats as part of the organization's data exports. (Anthropic)
• Flagged chats are kept longer. If Anthropic's automated safety systems flag a chat as violating its Usage Policy, Anthropic keeps the inputs and outputs for up to 2 years and the safety scores for up to 7 years, and can still use flagged chats for safety work even with the training setting off. (Anthropic)
• Legal holds apply. Anthropic may keep chats as required by law, to resolve disputes, or to deal with Usage Policy violations. (Anthropic)

Use Claude through Bearly with zero data retention

If you want privacy on every chat without remembering to switch modes, there's another option: use Claude models in a different app that runs them with zero data retention. Bearly is one of those apps. We make it, so weigh this section with that in mind.

Bearly gives you Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, and more in one app. With ZDR mode on, every chat model you can pick runs with zero data retention. That means the provider running the model doesn't keep your prompt or the answer once it has finished processing them. Our AI proxy doesn't store your prompts or the answers either. Bearly doesn't train AI models on your chats, has no ads, and doesn't sell your data.

To turn it on:

1. In Bearly, open your account menu at the bottom of the sidebar and choose App Settings.
2. Select Privacy & Security.
3. Turn on Zero Data Retention only.
4. Start a chat and choose a Claude model from the model picker.

With the setting on, the picker shows only zero-retention models, and automatic fallbacks stay on them too. A model without a zero-retention route drops out of the list, so you may not see every Claude model while the setting is on. Each model that remains carries a ZDR badge. The setting belongs to your account, so it follows you to your other devices. (Bearly docs: zero data retention)

What it covers: the models that write chat replies. Web search, image generation, voice, and memory run separately. Web search sends the provider your query, never your name, account, or IP address. Image search runs on a provider that keeps nothing after it answers. Your chats are still saved in your Bearly history so you can come back to them. In the same pane, select Set up end-to-end encryption, and new chats are encrypted on your devices; we store and sync only the locked copies.

Questions people ask

Does Claude have an incognito mode?

Yes. Every Claude plan has incognito chats. Start a new chat outside a project and select the ghost icon in the upper right.

Is Claude's incognito mode really private?

It's more private than a regular chat. It isn't saved to your history or memory and isn't used for training. Anthropic still keeps it for 30 days by default, and on Team and Enterprise plans account Owners can export it.

Does Claude train on my chats?

That depends on Help Improve our AI models in Settings > Privacy. Check it and set it the way you want. Incognito chats are never used for training, even with the setting on. Feedback you give with thumbs up or down is kept for 5 years.

Why can't Claude make files in an incognito chat?

In the new Claude experience, incognito chats open in the previous chat experience, which can't create files or run code. Use a regular chat with Memory turned off in the + menu if you need those features and want to keep memory out of it.

If I delete a Claude chat, is it gone?

It leaves your history immediately and is erased from Anthropic's systems within 30 days. Memories Claude already created from it stay until you delete them in Settings > Memory.

Related

• Bearly vs Claude: what's different
• Private AI in Bearly: what happens when you send a message
• How zero data retention works in Bearly: what the setting covers, step by step
• How to use ChatGPT privately

Sources

All checked October 14, 2026.

• Anthropic, Use incognito chats
• Anthropic, How do I change my model improvement privacy settings? (August 3, 2026)
• Anthropic, How long do you store my data? (July 1, 2026)
• Anthropic, Use Claude's chat search and memory
• Anthropic, Delete or rename a conversation
• Anthropic, Export your Claude data