Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop

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  • Creator: Fabi
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  • Reviewed by: Fabi.L
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This article describes features available as of Firefox version 70. For previous versions of Firefox, see the Content blocking article.
Please update your version of Firefox for the latest features and security updates.

Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox automatically protects 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. For more information, see SmartBlock for Enhanced Tracking Protection.

Though these are invisible protections, you can see what’s being blocked on individual pages by clicking the shield shield detected 70 to the left of the address bar. To see what’s been blocked on all sites over the past week, click the menu button menu button retina 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.

Protections Dashboard

To see what’s been blocked on all sites over the past week, visit your Protections Dashboard. Click the menu button menu button retina and select Protections Dashboard or type about:protections into the address bar. This will open the Protections Dashboard page in a new tab.

To see what’s being blocked on individual pages, click the shield shield detected 70 to the left of the address bar.

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. To add this protection in all windows, visit your privacy preferences and select Strict or Custom as explained below.
  • Social media trackers
  • Cross-site cookies
  • Fingerprinters
  • 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. To add this protection in all windows, visit your privacy preferences and select 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 and SmartBlock for Enhanced Tracking Protection.

How to tell when Firefox is protecting you

The shield to the left of the address bar tells if you if Firefox is blocking trackers and scripts on a site.

ETP shield 70
  • shield detected 70 - Purple: Firefox blocked trackers and harmful scripts on a site. Open the shield to see what was blocked.
  • shield no trackers - Gray: No known trackers or harmful scripts were detected on a site.
  • crossed gray 70 etp - 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.

Fx86EnhancedTrackingProtectionPanel

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 Protections Dashboard to view a personalized summary of your protections over the past week, including tools to take control of your online security.

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 shield detected 70 to the left of the address bar.
  2. Toggle the switch Fx70-ETPswitch at the top of the panel.
    Fx70ETPtoggle-off
    • This will turn off Enhanced Tracking Protection for this site. The page will reload automatically and allow trackers on this site only.

Follow the same process to turn Enhanced Tracking Protection back on.

You may encounter breakage on some sites when you’re in Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection. This is because trackers are hidden in some content. For example, a website might embed an outside video or social media post that contains trackers. To block the trackers, Firefox must also block the content itself.

Trackers are often hidden in the following types of content:

  • Login fields
  • Forms
  • Payments
  • Comments
  • Videos

Adjust your global Enhanced Tracking Protection settings

When you download 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 shield detected 70 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 menu button retina, 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.
  • Social media trackers
  • Cross-site cookies
  • Tracking content in Private Windows only.
  • Cryptominers
  • Fingerprinters

Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection

To further increase privacy, select Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection. This will block the following.

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

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

  1. Click on the shield shield detected 70 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 reload all tabs retina 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 shield detected 70 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 checkboxes.
  5. Select the reload all tabs retina button to apply your new privacy settings.

You can also turn off all protections in Custom, by deselecting all checkboxes. 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 reload all tabs retina button to apply your new privacy settings.