Tracking generally refers to the collection of a person’s browsing data across multiple sites. The Tracking Protection feature uses a list provided by Disconnect to identify and block trackers.

A shield icon will appear in your address bar whenever Firefox blocks tracking domains.

To see which resources are being blocked, you can open the web console and look for messages under the Security tab.

Block lists in Firefox

You can change the block list used to block third-party trackers. By default, Private Browsing with Tracking Protection uses the Disconnect.me basic protection list. You can change this to use the Disconnect.me strict protection list instead.

• The basic protection list blocks commonly known analytics trackers, social sharing trackers and advertising trackers. However, the basic protection list allows some known content trackers to reduce website breakage.

• The strict protection list blocks all known trackers, including analytics trackers, social sharing trackers and advertising trackers as well as content trackers. The strict list will break some videos, photo slideshows and some social networks.

Change your block list

1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and then select Preferences or Settings, depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button and select Settings.
2. Click Privacy on the leftClick Privacy & Security on the left and go to the Tracking Protection section.
3. Click the Change Block List button next to Use Tracking Protection in Private WindowsUse Tracking Protection in Private Browsing to block known trackers and select the block list you want to use.
4. Click Save Changes. You will see a "Restart Firefox" dialog box with the message Firefox must restart to change block lists.
5. Click the OK button in the "Restart Firefox" dialog box.
6. After Firefox restarts, you can close the Settings tab.

How to turn Tracking Protection on

Tracking Protection is enabled by default when you're in a Private Browsing window. You may choose to disable Tracking Protection for a particular site or for all sites.

Turn off Tracking Protection for individual sites

1. The shield icon will appear when Firefox is actively blocking trackers on a page. Click the shield icon to bring up the Control Center.
2. In the Control Center, click Disable protection for this session.

   

3. Once Tracking Protection is disabled, a shield icon with red strikethrough will appear in your address bar.

Since Private Browsing mode doesn’t keep any information about your browsing session, when you disable Tracking Protection for a site, it only lasts for this session. When you start a new Private Browsing session, Tracking Protection will be turned on again for all sites.

Turn off Tracking Protection for all sites

1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and then select Preferences or Settings, depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button and select Settings.
2. Click Privacy on the leftClick Privacy & Security on the left and go to the Tracking Protection section.
3. Uncheck the box next to Use Tracking Protection in Private WindowsUse Tracking Protection in Private Browsing to block known trackers.

   

4. Close the tab to save your changes.