About private browsing in Firefox for iOS

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 275515
  • Created:
  • Creator: Lucas Siebert
  • Comment: Bug 1875390 / Bug 1858195
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: lsiebert
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: Yes
  • Readied for localization:
  • Readied for localization by: lsiebert
Revision Source
Revision Content

Firefox's Private Browsing Mode on your iPhone or iPad enables you to browse the web without saving your history or other browsing data. You can open multiple Private Tabs and effortlessly switch between private and regular browsing.

About Private Browsing Mode

Private Browsing does not save history, cookies, passwords, site preferences, or temporary Internet files. It does keep bookmarks you've saved while in Private Browsing.

Private Browsing does not make you anonymous on the Web. Your Internet provider and websites themselves may still be able to track you.

Switch between Private and regular browsing

To switch to Private Browsing Mode:

  • Tap the tab icon at the bottom of the screen.

    iOS select tab
  • Tap iOS PBM mark button at the top center of the screen.
    iOS open PBM
  • To switch back to regular browsing, simply tap iOS PBM tab button at the top center of the screen and select the regular browsing option.
iOS PBM switch back to regular browsing

Am I in Private Browsing mode?

To know whether you are in Private Browsing mode you can use the following indicators:

  • When you are using Private Browsing, the tabs icon at the bottom of the screen will have a purple mask on it.
    iOS PBM icon
  • Additionally, you'll notice the app interface adopting a purple color.
    iOS PBM interface

Use Private Browsing

After switching to Private Browsing you'll see a list of open Private Tabs.

  • Tap a tab to view the page.
  • Tap iOS PBM new tab icon at the bottom of the screen to open a new Private Tab.
Tip: To open a link in a Private Tab, press on the link until the menu opens, then choose Open in a Private Tab.
  • Tap the x to close the tab.
Note: Your private tabs will remain open until you close them. To automatically close all Private Tabs when you switch to regular browsing, see Keep Private Browsing tabs open after exiting Firefox.

Start a fresh private session

To use the 'Start Fresh' feature while in Private Browsing Mode, follow these steps:

  • Ensure you are in a private browsing tab.
  • Tap a tab to view the page.
  • Tap iOS PBM start fresh icon at the bottom of the screen to start a fresh private session, deleting your previous browsing data like, history and cookies.
  • You can now browse in the new session, which will be free of the previous session's history and cookies.