What happened to Tracking Protection?

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 168560
  • Created:
  • Creator: AliceWyman
  • Comment: Change your block list: added back {for not fx60} content. There is still a lot of duplication that should be fixed - see discussion
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: AliceWyman
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: No
Revision Source
Revision Content

Tracking generally refers to the collection of a person’s browsing data across multiple sites. Tracking Protection uses a list provided by Disconnect to identify and block trackers. Tracking generally refers to the collection of a person’s browsing data across multiple sites. Firefox's Content Blocking with tracking protection feature uses a list provided by Disconnect to identify and block trackers.

You can read more about tracking and the standards Disconnect uses to create its list here. Learn more about the lists used by Firefox for Tracking Protection.

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

Fx52addressBar-ShieldIconFx57addressBar-ShieldIcon

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

Turn Tracking Protection on or off

This feature is available on a newer version of Firefox. Update Firefox to the latest release to use this new feature.
  1. Click the menu button Fx89menuButton to open the menu panel.
  2. Click the switch next to Tracking Protection to turn it on switchonios or off.

Turn Content Blocking on or off

  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 Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Click Privacy & Security on the left and go to the Content Blocking section.
  3. Put a check mark next to All Detected Trackers.
  4. Choose between the following options:
    • Only in private windows: Turns Content Blocking on only if you're using Private Browsing.
    • Always: Keep Content Blocking on as you browse.

Turn Tracking Protection on or off automatically for certain sessions

You can further customize Tracking Protection so that it's on all the time, for Private Browsing only or not at all. You may also choose to disable Tracking Protection for a particular site or 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 Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Click Privacy & Security on the left and go to the Tracking Protection section.
    Fx57TrackingProtection-new
  3. Choose between the following options:
    • Always: Keep Tracking Protection on as you browse.
    • Only in private windows: Turns Tracking Protection on only if you're using Private Browsing.
    • Never: Turns off Tracking Protection for all sites.

Turn Tracking Protection on or off on private windows

Tracking Protection is enabled by default when you're in a Private Browsing window. Click the switch next to Tracking Protection on the Private Browsing home page to turn it on or off.

Turn Content Blocking on or off on private windows

Content Blocking is enabled by default when you're in a Private Browsing window. Click the switch next to Content Blocking on the Private Browsing home page to turn it on or off.

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.
    Disable tracking protection 42tracking protection off 57
  3. Once Tracking Protection is disabled, a shield icon with red strikethrough tracking protection off fxos will appear in your address bar.
To re-enable Tracking Protection, click the shield icon again and click Enable Protection.

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 Content Blocking 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 Content Blocking is disabled, a shield icon with red strikethrough tracking protection off fxos will appear in your address bar.
To re-enable Content Blocking, click the shield icon again and click Enable Protection.

Since Private Browsing mode doesn’t keep any information about your browsing session, when you disable Content Blocking for a site, it only lasts for this session. When you start a new Private Browsing session, Content Blocking 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 Fx89menuButton 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.
    privacy menu tptp privacy menu 50Fx56Privacy&Security-Tracking
  4. Close the tab to save your changes.

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.

Block lists in Firefox

You can change the block list used to block third-party trackers. By default, Private Browsing with Content Blocking 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 Fx89menuButton 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 trackersUse Tracking Protection 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.
  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 Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Click Privacy & Security on the left and go to the Tracking Protection section.
  3. Click the Change Block List button next to Use Tracking Protection to block known trackers and select the block list you want to use.
  4. Click Save Changes.
  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 Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Click Privacy & Security on the left and go to the Content Blocking section.
  3. Click the Change Block List link under Choose what to block and select the block list you want to use.
  4. Click Save Changes.