[bee_rider]

It’s called incognito mode. Isn’t the icon a little spy or something?

The fine-print might indicate otherwise, but I think it is obvious why non-technical people were confused.

[nl]

It's not exactly fine print! It's clearly stated everytime you open an Incognito window.

Your activity might still be visible to:

Websites that you visit

Your employer or school

Your Internet service provider

There's a "Learn more" link and if it was hidden there you'd have a point, but it's hard to imagine how to make this more clear.

[caseyohara]

I'm curious, what would you call it instead?

Safari and Firefox call it "Private Browsing". I wonder if that's any better.

[bee_rider]

Maybe the button could be something along the lines of “Keep website history.”

[KeplerBoy]

More like "pause website history"

[bee_rider]

It could be a toggle, which actually would probably be more representative of the significance. Having a whole “mode” makes it seem way bigger of a difference than it actually is.