Top Firefox Privacy Features You Should Enable Immediately

Quick Tips

• Most of these Firefox privacy features can be found under Settings > Privacy and security.
• Use features like Private Browsing and camera and microphone blocking to help protect your privacy while browsing.
• Remove unused extensions and review the permissions granted to the ones you keep to enhance your online privacy.

Mozilla Firefox includes a range of privacy and security features that let you control how websites and Firefox handle your browsing data. However, knowing exactly what Firefox privacy features you should have enabled isn’t necessarily intuitive.

This guide takes you through five Firefox privacy features and security settings that can help you stay secure and minimize your online fingerprint.

Essential Firefox Privacy Features No. 1: HTTPS-Only Mode

Step 1. HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, and it uses encryption to protect data transferred between your browser and a website. Switching to HTTPS-only mode means that you won’t accidentally end up at less secure HTTP sites. Start by opening Firefox, clicking the menu button (three horizontal lines in the top-right corner), and selecting Settings.

Step 2. Go to Privacy and security, and scroll down to find HTTPS-Only Mode. Select Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in all windows if you want Firefox to use HTTPS connections whenever possible.

No. 2: Enhanced Tracking Protection

Step 1. Some websites contain hidden trackers that can collect information about your online activity. Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection blocks many known trackers and other tracking technologies. Go to Settings > Privacy and security, and you will see Enhanced Tracking Protection right at the top of the main window.

Step 2. Scroll down to select Strict, which will provide the highest level of protection from known trackers. Note: Some sites will simply not work with this level of protection activated, so you may need to turn this on and off if it is interfering with your browsing experience.

You can also choose Custom, which allows you to pick and choose what types of trackers are blocked.

No. 3: Use Firefox Without Saving History

Step 1. If you don’t want Firefox to retain your browsing history, go to Settings > Privacy and security > History.

Step 2. Open the drop-down menu next to Firefox will and select Never remember history. Firefox will then operate as if you were always using Private Browsing, without saving your browsing history. It’s especially useful on shared computers.

Note that Private Browsing doesn’t make you anonymous. Your internet service provider, employer, and websites can still collect information about your activity.

No. 4: Block Camera and Microphone Access

Step 1. Websites can request access to your camera and microphone when you use features such as video calls or voice recording. You can prevent new sites from requesting access by going to Settings > Privacy and security > Permissions.

Step 2. Click Settings next to Camera, select Block new requests asking to access your camera, and click Save Changes.

Step 3. Follow the same process for the microphone permissions.

No. 5: Disable Unused Add-Ons

Step 1. Extensions can request access to browsing data and other browser features, so it’s a good idea to remove extensions you don’t use and review the permissions of those you keep.

Step 2. This opens the Add-ons Manager, where you can select Extensions to see your installed extensions.

Step 3. Click the blue button to disable any unwanted add-ons. It should turn gray and say that the add-on is disabled.

Step 4. You can also click the three buttons next to the extension and click Remove.