Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Two Firefox Private Browsing sessions are sharing data.

more options

I launched Private Browsing Firefox session & logged in to gmail then, I launch another Private Browsing Firefox session. This time, again I visit gmail.com & I got logged in to my gmail inbox without authentication even though I am in two different Private Browsing sessions. Then, again, I launched 3rd Private Browsing Firefox session, this time I visit google.com & I can see my gmail ID on right hand top corner. I have opted “Automatically start Firefox in Private Browsing” as I don’t want to let google search keep my search history. It seems like Firefox do share cookies & other data in Private Browsing sessions. So how these sessions can be called Private Browsing if they are sharing data?

Note: I have tried “Start Private Browsing” manual command as well but found no difference in behavior.

I launched Private Browsing Firefox session & logged in to gmail then, I launch another Private Browsing Firefox session. This time, again I visit gmail.com & I got logged in to my gmail inbox without authentication even though I am in two different Private Browsing sessions. Then, again, I launched 3rd Private Browsing Firefox session, this time I visit google.com & I can see my gmail ID on right hand top corner. I have opted “Automatically start Firefox in Private Browsing” as I don’t want to let google search keep my search history. It seems like Firefox do share cookies & other data in Private Browsing sessions. So how these sessions can be called Private Browsing if they are sharing data? Note: I have tried “Start Private Browsing” manual command as well but found no difference in behavior.

All Replies (4)

more options

You are only ever in one session, as no more than one can exist at the same time, regardless of the number of windows open.

more options

Thanks for the reply. Is there any way to have multiple sessions so that Private Browsing feature can be used fully?

more options

There is an extension at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59736/ but only for a single private browsing window to be running at the same time as your normal window.

more options

Dump firefox and use the File->New Session option in Microsoft's IE browser. I am a software developer and from my personal experience I can say that firefox sucks, and is the least secure browser out there.

You'll find this out when someone hijacks your bank account after you've accessed it using firefox.