Enhanced Tracking Protection is a collection of Firefox features that protect your privacy while you browse. It blocks many of the trackers that follow you around online to collect information about your browsing habits and interests. It also includes protections against harmful scripts, such as malware that drains your battery.

Although this protection is invisible, you can see what’s being blocked on individual webpages by clicking on the shield to the left of the address bar. To see what’s been blocked on all sites over the past week, click the menu button and select Privacy Protections. (Alternatively, you can enter about:protections into the address bar.) This will open the Privacy Protections page in a new tab.

What Enhanced Tracking Protection blocks

Firefox uses a list of known trackers provided by Disconnect. By default, Firefox blocks the following types of trackers and scripts.

• Social media trackers
• Cross-site tracking cookies
• Cryptominers
• Tracking content in Private Windows only. These trackers are hidden in ads, videos, and other in-page content. Blocking them can cause some websites to break. You can add this protection for all windows by changing your Enhanced Tracking Protection settings to Strict or Custom as explained below.

To learn more about trackers and scripts blocked by Firefox, see the article Trackers and scripts Firefox blocks in Enhanced Tracking Protection.

How to tell when Firefox is protecting you

• - Purple: Firefox blocked trackers and harmful scripts on a site. Open the shield to see what was blocked.
• - Gray: No known trackers or harmful scripts were detected on a site.
• - Gray and crossed out: Enhanced Tracking Protection is turned off on a site. Open the shield and toggle the switch to turn it back on.

How to tell what’s being blocked on a site

Click on the shield to see what Firefox has blocked.

This panel will display different information depending on the site you’re on.

• Blocked: Firefox blocked these trackers and scripts. Select each one to see a detailed list.
• Allowed: These trackers and scripts loaded on the page. This is either because blocking them could cause the website to break, or because you’ve adjusted your privacy preferences to allow them.
• None Detected: Firefox looked for these trackers and scripts, but did not find them on this site.
• Select Protection Settings to adjust your global privacy settings.
• Select Show Report to view everything that’s been blocked over the past week.

What to do if a site seems broken

If a site seems broken, try turning off Enhanced Tracking Protection. It allows trackers to load on that site only. Enhanced Tracking Protection will continue to block trackers on other sites.

1. Click on the shield .

   

2. Toggle the switch at the top of the panel.

   

3. The page will reload automatically and allow trackers on this site only.
4. Follow the same process to turn Enhanced Tracking Protection back on.

Adjust your global Enhanced Tracking Protection settings

When you download and install Firefox, all protections included in Standard Enhanced Tracking Protection are already enabled.

To view or change your Enhanced Tracking Protection settings for all sites, click the shield to the left of the address bar on any webpage and select Protection Settings. This will open the Firefox Settings Privacy & Security panel in a new tab.

Tip: These settings are also available from the Firefox menu:
Click , click Settings and select Privacy & Security.

Standard Enhanced Tracking Protection

By default, Firefox blocks the following on all sites.

• Social media trackers
• Cross-site tracking cookies
• Cryptominers
• Tracking content in Private Windows only.

Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection

To further increase privacy, select Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection.

• Social media trackers
• Cross-site tracking cookies
• Fingerprinters
• Cryptominers
• Tracking content in all windows

The Strict makes pages load faster but may break some buttons, forms, and login fields.

1. Click on the shield to the left of the address bar on any webpage.
2. Click on Protection Settings.
   • The Firefox Settings Privacy & Security panel will open.
3. Under Enhanced Tracking Protection, select Strict.
4. Select the button to apply your new privacy settings.

If something’s broken or not working when you use the Strict setting, you can use the toggle switch in the shield panel (see above) to temporarily turn off protections on individual websites.

Custom Enhanced Tracking Protection

Want to block some trackers and scripts, but not others? Use Custom Enhanced Tracking Protection.

1. Click on the shield to the left of the address bar on any webpage.
2. Click on Protection Settings.
   • The Firefox Settings Privacy & Security panel will open.
3. Under Enhanced Tracking Protection, select Custom.
4. Choose which trackers and scripts to block by selecting those check boxes.
5. Select the button to apply your new privacy settings.

You can also turn off all protections in Custom, by deselecting all check boxes. This allows all trackers and scripts to load and effectively disables these features:

1. Deselect the Trackers checkbox.
2. Deselect the Cookies checkbox.
3. Deselect the Cryptominers checkbox.
4. Deselect the Fingerprinters checkbox.
5. Select the button to apply your new privacy settings.