Windows 8.1 Facebook container is installed and updated but browsing history still appears on smartphone facebook app
I am running Firefox Version 66.0.5 (64-bit) with the Facebook container add-on installed but the browsing history from the desktop computer firefox app still appears on our Samsung Smartphone Facebook app. For example looking at a store website on the windows 8.1 desktop using Firefox will cause adds for that item to appear on our smartphone facebook account. I have updated the facebook container add-on version 1.6.5, uninstalled and reinstalled the add-on and nothing prevents facebook from tracking our browsing. It is enabled according to firefox settings. It appears to me that the container add-on just isn't working.
All Replies (5)
Have you logged out of Facebook outside of the container? If you were using Facebook before, it's possible that you are still logged in. Try disabling the Facebook Container add-on, then go to Facebook.com. From there, logout of your account. Then you can enable the Facebook Container again.
When you install the Facebook Container, it should log you out of your account, but if for some reason it didn't or you logged back in somewhere outside of your Facebook Container, it would remain logged in and continue to track your browsing history.
I am not logged in to facebook on my windows desktop. When I go to facebook.com on the desktop it wants me to sign in. So I am not logged in. This is my wife's facebook account and she only uses facebook on her samsung smartphone and never on this desktop. I don't use facebook myself and I don't see any facebook programs listed under the control panel 'programs and features' to uninstall. Firefox must be getting our email address from the desktop (we share a common email address between our smart phones and the desktop) and using that to report browsing history to facebook. But it shouldn't if the container is really working which it doesn't appear to be.
Doesn't this extension only isolate Facebook running in its own container? I think this would only affect cookies and storage and not history. You would have to use Private Browsing mode to prevent storing history.
cor-el said
Doesn't this extension only isolate Facebook running in its own container?
Correct! The Facebook Container only separates the cookies and storage from your regular Firefox session. This is so that the data collected from other websites through Facebook's tracking code cannot be associated to your account. Facebook will still display in the user history.
However, I get the impression from the user's question that they are being tracked by Facebook, not that it's an issue with Facebook displaying the browsing history.
I wrote this because there are always misunderstandings about how specific features work, like we see with regards to cookies in private browsing mode that work in the same way in PB mode and in regular mode and there might also be misconceptions about how containers work.