LinkedIn Private Mode: What It Is & How To Use It [2023]

LinkedIn private mode allows you to view other people’s LinkedIn profiles without your name and other profile information being shared with the owners of those profiles. 

Private mode on LinkedIn is available to ALL members, independently from your LinkedIn subscription type. There is, however, one catch for members on the LinkedIn free plan, which we will explain further in this blog. 

If you don’t want people whose profiles you’re viewing to know your LinkedIn profile information, LinkedIn gives you a chance to choose between two private modes: LinkedIn semi-private mode and LinkedIn (full) private mode. 

In this blog, we will explain the following: 

• What LinkedIn private mode is;
• How to set up your profile’s visibility;
• When to use LinkedIn private mode (and why); 
• And we will share a few hacks and lesser-known information regarding LinkedIn’s private mode. 

Let’s get started! 

[Mission Impossible Theme Song Playing]

What is LinkedIn private mode? 

LinkedIn private mode allows you to browse other members’ LinkedIn profiles without your name and other profile information being shared with the members whose profiles you’ve browsed. 

There are 3 visibility modes on LinkedIn: 

• Name and headline (public according to your Settings) that shows your picture, name, headline, and industry to people whose profiles you’ve viewed.
• Semi-private mode that shows some profile information, such as – only the company you work at, or your job position and the company you work at.
• Complete private mode that doesn’t show any profile information. 

Is LinkedIn private mode available to everyone? 

LinkedIn private mode is available to all LinkedIn subscribers free of charge. 

However, if you have a free plan, switching to private or semi-private mode will prevent you from seeing Who’s viewed your profile in the past 90 days. This implies that you will also lose all previous data, meaning you won’t be able to see who’s viewed your profile before turning on the private or semi-private mode.

Once you turn off the LinkedIn private mode, the feature Who’s viewed your profile will be back in a maximum of 24h and will show only those members who viewed your profile after turning the private mode off. Also, you won’t be able to retrieve information on who’s viewed your profile while you were in private mode. 

On the other hand, all other users on paid LinkedIn plans such as – LinkedIn Careers or Business, any Sales Navigator plan, and any Recruiter plan will still be able to see these analytics and statistics despite keeping their profiles in private mode. 

Also, no plan subscriber, free or paid, can ever know the profile information of people who’re browsing on LinkedIn in private or semi-profile information. Also, no member on LinkedIn can block private-mode viewers. 

How to view LinkedIn in private mode on a desktop? 

Click on the Me icon in the top right corner, and then choose Settings & Privacy. 

Then, choose Visibility on the left toolbar, and then click on Profile viewing options.

Finally, choose among the 3 modes. 

How to view LinkedIn in private mode in an app? 

Open your LinkedIn app, and click on your picture in the upper left corner. 

Then, choose Settings. 

Click Visibility. 

Then, choose Profile viewing options. 

Choose in which mode you wish to browse other members on LinkedIn. 

How to customize what my public mode looks like? 

If you decide to browse in public mode, that is, to allow others to see your name and headline, you can still customize the way other members not part of your network see your profile. 

Go to Settings & Privacy.

Go to Visibility, and then choose Edit public profile. 

Scroll down the right sidebar and move the toggle buttons depending on what parts of your profile you wish to make available to anyone on LinkedIn and which ones should be reserved for your 1st-degree connections only. 

How to know if someone viewed your LinkedIn profile in private mode? 

LinkedIn subscribers get a notification each time someone views their profile. 

If some of the members who viewed your profile browse in semi-private or private mode on LinkedIn, it will show up in your notifications just like other alerts. 

This is an example of a notification about a member in semi-private LinkedIn mode viewing your profile. 

If you click on See all views right below the notification, it will take you to the Who’s viewed my profile LinkedIn page with the list of all viewers in the past 90 days, statistics, and additional filters. 

Here are a few examples of members browsing in semi-private mode. 

Here’s what notifications about members browsing in private mode look like. 

As you may have noticed, there’s a Search button next to members viewing your profile in semi-private mode. 

Clicking on it will take you to LinkedIn search results of all people who work in that company and have LinkedIn profiles. 

Recruiter subscribers don’t have Who’s viewed your profile on their Recruiter pages. They need to go to their LinkedIn profiles to check these types of notifications. 

Sales Navigator subscribers will not see these notifications in All alerts because this is a purposely focused section that notifies about saved leads, saved accounts, and unsaved leads from saved accounts. 

Sales Navigator subscribers can click on the profile picture in the top right corner of their Sales Navigator home page and choose Who’s viewed your profile. 

This action will take them to the LinkedIn statistics page. 

When to use LinkedIn private mode? 

For the majority of cases, we think it’s better not to keep your profile in private mode when browsing on LinkedIn. 

Basically, by viewing other people’s profiles, you are showing some kind of interest – whether they’re your potential leads, ideal candidates for a company position, you’re trying to expand your network, or showing an interest in a job opening by viewing the hiring manager’s profile.

Viewing someone’s profile on LinkedIn can help you connect with them faster or even bypass LinkedIn weekly invitation limits.

However, there are a few scenarios in which it makes sense to keep your profile in semi-private or private mode or why someone viewed your profile in private mode on LinkedIn. 

#1 You’re researching your competitors. 

This one is pretty straightforward. 

If you wish to see what your competitors are up to, what they are posting on LinkedIn, or simply to scrape their network, you might want to keep your profile in private mode. 

It’s not just competitors. Maybe you wish to check something on your former employer’s profile, former or current customer, or anyone else to whom you don’t want to reveal your profile information.

#2 You still haven’t optimized your profile.

Here you have 2 scenarios. 

Scenario number 1 implies you browsing relatively random profiles to pick some good practices to optimize your profile. 

Maybe these people are not necessarily the ones you wish to connect with on LinkedIn or relevant to your business, but they’ve done a good job earning the all-star status.

Scenario number 2 implies that you are browsing people who are relevant to why you joined LinkedIn, but you don’t want them to know because your profile is still not optimized. 

If they checked you out, they might lose interest or deny your connection request because incomplete profiles on LinkedIn seem scammy. 

#3 You’re a recruiter shortlisting candidates. 

If you don’t want all potential candidates to think they are being considered for a job opening at your company, you might want to view their profiles in private mode first. 

You will avoid people not matching the requirements approaching you on LinkedIn but also not get someone’s hopes up. 

Frequently asked questions 

Is private mode on LinkedIn really private? 

Yes, LinkedIn cares very much about keeping the privacy of their members and there is no way to see profile the information of those people who decide to view your profile in semi-private or private mode on LinkedIn. 

Do I have to pay for private mode? 

No, LinkedIn’s semi-private and private modes are FREE of charge and available to all members. However, when free LinkedIn members switch to private mode, they lose access to the Who’s viewed my profile in the past 90 days feature, unlike paid LinkedIn members who can still see these statistics. 

Why would someone use private mode on LinkedIn? 

Reasons to use private mode are infinite, but members usually browse incognito on LinkedIn if they are researching their competitors, checking out former or current customers, former employers, shortlisting candidates for open positions, or simply don’t feel their LinkedIn profiles are optimized enough to reveal their identity yet. 

What is private mode vs. private profile on LinkedIn? 

Private mode allows you to browse other members’ LinkedIn profiles without your name and other profile information being shared with the members whose profiles you’ve browsed. A private profile on LinkedIn means that you’ve set your entire profile to private and that it won’t appear in LinkedIn and other search results. 

Who can see my private LinkedIn profile? 

A private profile on LinkedIn means that you’ve set your entire profile to private and that it won’t appear in LinkedIn and other search results. Basically, no one can see your private LinkedIn profile. 

Can people see if I viewed their LinkedIn? 

Unless you are browsing in semi-private or private mode on LinkedIn, other LinkedIn members will get notified that you’ve viewed their profile and will be able to check out your LinkedIn profile to see who you are. 

Can LinkedIn Pro see private viewers? 

LinkedIn cares very much about keeping the privacy of those members who browse in semi-private or private mode on LinkedIn and there is no way to see their profile information, no matter what LinkedIn subscription plan you have. 

What is the disadvantage of private mode on LinkedIn? 

When viewing someone’s profile on LinkedIn, you are showing some kind of interest – for potential leads, ideal candidates for a company position, to expand your network, to apply for a job opening by viewing the hiring manager’s profile. Basically, viewing someone’s profile can be a way to connect or even bypass LinkedIn connection limits. 

Why do people view on private mode on LinkedIn? 

People usually use private mode on LinkedIn to research their competitors, check out former or current customers, former employers, short candidates for open positions, or simply because their LinkedIn profiles are not complete and they don’t want to reveal their identity yet. 

Should I be private or public on LinkedIn? 

Staying private or going public on LinkedIn will depend majorly on your goal on the platform. It’s better not to keep your profile in private mode because showing interest in other members’ profiles can help you connect with them and even bypass LinkedIn weekly connection limits. 

Can you hide yourself on LinkedIn? 

Yes, you can either choose to browse in semi-private or private mode on LinkedIn, or you can simply switch your profile to private profile status and not even appear in the platform’s search results at all. 

How do I stay private on LinkedIn? 

To switch your profile to private profile status and not even appear in the platform’s search results at all, go to Settings & Privacy > Visibility > Edit your public profile > Your profile’s public visibility (push the toggle button to the left in the right rail). 

How can I view someone on LinkedIn without them knowing? 

You can view someone’s profile on LinkedIn without them knowing by browsing in semi-private or private mode on LinkedIn. To turn one of these 2 modes on, go to Settings & Privacy > Visibility > Profile viewing options > Choose between Private profile characteristics (semi-private) and Private mode (fully private).