Valorant Incognito vs Streamer Mode: What's the Difference?

The Short Answer

In Valorant, the setting in your account privacy menu labeled "Hide my Riot ID" (sometimes shown as "Streamer Mode" or "Incognito Mode" in different client versions and community lingo) is one setting. Toggling it on does exactly one thing: it hides your Riot ID / username from third-party trackers that look players up by name.

There is no separate incognito setting and streamer mode setting. They are the same switch, with different names because the Valorant community and the Riot client have used different words over time.

Where Did the Two Names Come From?

Early in Valorant's lifecycle, Riot introduced a "Streamer Mode" setting aimed at pro players and streamers who didn't want chat-room stalkers to type their names into Tracker.gg mid-stream. The in-game UI labeled it Streamer Mode because that was the primary use case.

Later patches added the same setting to the general account privacy menu (not just streamer tools) and the label became "incognito" in community parlance because that's the generic web term for private browsing / hidden identity. The functionality never changed — just the name.

What Does the Setting Actually Hide?

When you enable the "hide my Riot ID" / streamer mode / incognito setting, these things happen:

• Your Riot ID is not returned by Riot's public player-lookup API — the one third-party trackers use to find profiles by name.
• Your name is obscured in public leaderboards (Immortal and Radiant leaderboards show you as "Player" or a similar placeholder).
• Your account is harder to find via friends-of-friends discovery.
• Stream-sniping tools that rely on typing a name into a tracker stop working for you.

What Does the Setting NOT Hide?

This is where most players get confused. The setting does not hide you from:

• Players in your own match. Your game client and every opponent's game client already need your PUUID to render you, play your voice lines, and count your kills. The PUUID is not hidden — it can't be, because the game needs it.
• Tools that read the local match roster. Any tool that reads your game client's live match presence can see every player in the match, including you, including your PUUID, and can look up your stats from there. Instalock is the most common example.
• Friends on your Riot friends list. They still see your Riot ID because you added them deliberately.
• Your own visible rank, stats, or match history in-game. None of your own data is hidden from you.
• Riot Games themselves. This is obvious but worth stating. Riot always knows who you are. Streamer mode is a client-side display setting, not a privacy wall against the game's own servers.

Should You Enable It?

If you stream Valorant and don't want stream snipers queuing into your games: yes, enable it. It genuinely stops the most common attack vector (someone typing your streaming name into Tracker.gg to find your account).

If you're a regular ranked player and you don't like the idea of strangers looking up your K/D: also yes, probably enable it. There is no downside for normal use — it doesn't affect your gameplay, your rank, or your queue times.

If you enjoy having your own profile show up when friends look you up: leave it off. It's a trade-off between discoverability and privacy.

Does Incognito Affect Rank or Queue Times?

No. The setting is purely a display toggle. Your MMR, your rank, your queue priority, and your matchmaking pool are all unaffected. You match into the same lobbies with or without it on.

How Do I Enable It?

In Valorant: Settings → General → Account → "Hide my Riot ID from unknown players" (or similar wording — the exact label has changed across patches). Toggle it on, restart the game for good measure, and you're in incognito mode.

TL;DR

• Incognito mode and streamer mode are the same Valorant setting with two different names.
• It hides your Riot ID from public third-party lookups and leaderboards.
• It does not hide you from players in your own match — it can't, because the game itself needs your data.
• Tools like Instalock that read local match data see you regardless.
• It has zero effect on your rank, your matchmaking, or your queue times.
• If you stream Valorant or want more privacy in ranked, enable it. Otherwise optional.