To clear your visited sites in Firefox for Android, use:

menu > Settings > Privacy > Clear Private Data

You can select from a variety of different types of data to clear.

This is an "on demand" feature and not automatic at shutdown. There might be a way to automate it when you "Quit" but I didn't see it immediately in the knowledge base.

Firefox for Android also has a "private browsing" mode that you might explore. See: Private Browsing on Firefox for Android.

Does that fit your browsing style?

I know the procedure for clearing private data. The problem is that it is not working. This is on a Nexus 5 with KitKat OS. Previously visited websites are still visible on re-start.

I only have personal experience with a Gingerbread device, but it's hard to understand why Firefox would behave so differently on another version of Android.

Here's how I tested. I selected the following on the "Clear Private Data" list:

• Browsing & download history
• Form & search history
• Cookies & active logins
• Saved passwords
• Cache
• Offline website data

(I didn't remove Downloaded files or Site settings)

I tapped the "Clear data" button, and then backed out of the menu to the Top sites screen.

The Top sites list lost the site thumbnails and shows only my bookmarked sites and default sites.

When you do this, does yours still show non-bookmarked sites from history?

Yes, even if I select and clear everything in the list.

Here's a short video showing the behavior. In this example, I cannot clear ebay out of the cache. It's not just ebay though. All visited websites remain accessible after "clearing data". The only way to clear is to force stop and clear data through setting/apps, which clears everything including bookmarks so that is not acceptable.

http://youtu.be/smdd-9rtfbY

Hello TenderTendon,

Thanks for the video. So your expected behavior is that all current tabs should be closed as well? This isn't something that we clear currently, but it could be proposed for a future version.

Is there any data that is left behind that's explicitly called out in the clear private data menu?

I would think that it's everyone's expected behavior. Any web pages that I have viewed or am viewing is considered "browsing history". So you're saying the only way to do this is to open another tab so I can close the original tab, then clear everything? There must be an easier way.

Here's an example of my concerns: I go to ebay and log in. I then go to settings/privacy/Clear private data/check every box/clear data. I then exit out of Firefox. When I open Firefox back up, It goes right to ebay and I am STILL LOGGED IN! This happens with any website including my online banking. So yes, there is data left behind.

You're not going to get what you want with Chrome or Firefox, as it interferes with their advertising agenda. Check out the Dolphin browser. It does everything you want, automatically on exit if desired.

Hi TenderTendon, could you try quitting Firefox? I suggest this because in your video it appears that you are never exiting your Firefox session, so that same tab just stays active.

On newer versions of Android, to comply with platform guidelines, this function has been removed from the Firefox menu. There is an add-on to add it back: QuitNow.

I'm sorry, I already uninstalled Firefox. I decided to use another browser that better fits my needs. Thank you for all your support.

Okay, if I ever get an Android 4.x device I'll have the chance to study this in more detail "hands on."

I am having the same problem (with a Fairphone, Android 4.2.2)!

Clearing the private data shows no effect on the browsing history and top pages. There are all still there from day one!

I managed to clear them once with the add-on "cleanQuit" (https://addons.mozilla.org/de/android/addon/cleanquit/). However, it later turned out that I always have to disable and re-enable an add-on in order to have its options appear in the menu list...

Good news: The problem was solved for me after I deactivated the "don't keep activities" checkbox in the developer settings of Android!

Hi all:

I am locking this question thread because from what I can tell that this is an Android settings problem and deactivating "don't keep activities" checkbox as per DeiterDiedrich (thanks Dieter!):

Android Settings | Developer options | uncheck "Don't keep activities"

in the developer settings of Android fixes the problem.

If you have "Don't keep activities" unchecked and you still can't clear history or bookmarks or other private data, please ask a new question.