Third-party cookies and Firefox tracking protection

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 169008
  • Created:
  • Creator: tanvi
  • Comment: The options are not listed from least to most restrictive.
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: heyjoni
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: No
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Third-party cookies are cookies that are set by a website other than the one you are currently on. For example, cnn.com might have a Facebook like button on their site. That like button will set a cookie that can be read by Facebook. That would be considered a third-party cookie.

Some advertisers use these types of cookies to track your visits to the various websites on which they advertise. If you are concerned about this, you can disable third-party cookies in Firefox.

Note:
  • If you are concerned about tracking by advertisers, see also How do I turn on the Do Not Track feature?.
  • Disabling third-party cookies in Firefox can stop some types of tracking by advertisers, but not all.
  • Some websites (for instance, Microsoft's Hotmail, MSN, and Windows Live Mail webmail) use third-party cookies for purposes that are not necessarily privacy concerns, and disabling third-party cookies may cause problems with those sites.

Third-party cookie settings are available in the OptionsPreferences page's Privacy panelPrivacy & Security panel:

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (select Preferences on older macOS versions).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.

  2. Select the Privacy & Security panel and go to the History section.

  3. In the drop-down menu next to Firefox will, choose Use custom settings for history.
  4. In the drop-down menu next to Accept third-party cookies choose Never.
    Privacy - Accept third-party cookies - Never 38Fx56Privacy&Security-CustomHistory-neverFx57CustomHistory3rdPartyCookies-never
    Note: If after browsing with this setting, you realize you can't view properly some of your favorite websites, an intermediate solution is to set it to From visited. That will allow third-party cookies coming from previously visited websites.
  5. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.
  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (select Preferences on older macOS versions).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select the Privacy & Security panel and go to the Cookies and Site Data section.
    Fx60CookiesAndSiteDataThird-partyNever
  3. In the drop-down menu next to Accept third-party cookies and site data choose Never.
    Note: If after browsing with this setting, you realize you can't view properly some of your favorite websites, an intermediate solution is to set it to From visited. That will allow third-party cookies coming from previously visited websites.
  4. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.
  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (select Preferences on older macOS versions).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select the Privacy & Security panel and go to the Cookies and Site Data section.
    Fx63settings-AcceptCookies
  3. Choose Block cookies and site data and then use the drop-down menu next to Type blocked to choose the type of cookies to block. Some sites will not work properly with all cookies blocked.
    Fx63settings-BlockCookies
  4. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.
To unblock third-party cookies for specific sites, click the Control Center button Site Info button in the address bar and click Disable Blocking for this Site.