Inviting Users to Total Cookie Protection in Standard Mode

Firefox has been ramping up our tracking defenses and we are now inviting early adopters to check out our most powerful privacy experience ever: Total Cookie Protection (TCP).

Firefox users also have access to Total Cookie Protection in Nightly, Enhanced Tracking Protection Strict Mode and private browsing windows.

How does Total Cookie Protection work?

Firefox is here to protect you from third-parties who are tracking cookies and information about your browsing activity, without your knowledge or consent. These companies try to build a profile based on details of your online spending, health and other personal information, and sell it without you knowing.

Total Cookie Protection builds a fence around cookies, limiting them to the site you're on so third parties can't use those same tracking beacons to follow you from one site to the next. For example, if you visit socialnetwork.example, the site won’t be able to view your activity on shopping.example, healthinsurance.example, or your cousin’s cooking blog later.

For more information, check out our original blog post on TCP.

Why are we offering early access?

We’re inviting early adopters to try out Total Cookie Protection. This will help us optimize this feature and build a better web for everyone.

How do I know if I have early access?

The next time you start Firefox, you may see this message appear: Test pilot our most powerful privacy experience ever.

This notification is our invitation for you to turn on Total Cookie Protection by default in standard browsing, currently available in early access. If you’d like more information, click the Learn More dropdown to view additional details.

Select one of the two options:

• Turn on Total Cookie Protection: You’re accepting our early access invite to turn this feature on now, by default. This will turn the Total Cookie Protection setting “on” for a more protected standard browsing experience.

• Not now: You’re opting to leave the Total Cookie Protection default setting “off”. You can choose to turn the feature on later in your Privacy & Security settings.

What should I expect?

If you select the Turn on Total Cookie Protection option, Total Cookie Protection will be turned on in standard browsing. There should be no noticeable effect on your browsing and sites should continue to work as before. Firefox takes your choice and flips on the switch to enable Total Cookie Protection in the background.

What kind of data do we collect?

Firefox doesn’t collect any of your personal data, other than your setting preference.

How do I know if Firefox is protecting me after startup?

To confirm if Total Cookie Protection is enabled:

1. Click the menu button and select Settings.
2. Click the Privacy & Security panel.
3. If you’ve been invited to access the feature early, you’ll see a highlighted message with a checkbox to turn on Total Cookie Protection under the Enhanced Tracking Protection section. If the checkbox is checked, Total Cookie Protection is enabled.

If you selected Not now when you saw the Total Cookie Protection message, but have since changed your mind, you can check the checkbox to turn Total Cookie Protection on by default in standard browsing.

How do I enable or disable the Total Cookie Protection test feature in Settings?

Changed your mind after choosing an option in the modal? To enable or disable the Total Cookie Protection feature:

1. Click the menu button and select Settings.
2. Click the Privacy & Security panel.
3. Check the checkbox next to Test pilot our most powerful privacy feature ever to turn on Total Cookie Protection. Uncheck the checkbox to turn the feature off.

   

What do I do if a site seems broken?

If a site seems broken, try turning off Enhanced Tracking Protection. It allows trackers to load on that site only. Enhanced Tracking Protection will continue to block trackers on other sites.

1. Click the shield to the left of the address bar.
2. Toggle the switch at the top of the panel.

   

This will turn off Enhanced Tracking Protection for this site. The page will reload automatically and allow trackers on this site only. Follow the same process to turn Enhanced Tracking Protection back on.

If a site starts working again after turning off Enhanced Tracking Protection, try to disable only the Total Cookie Protection feature in your settings and then turn Enhanced Tracking Protection back on.

Once you have identified which protection settings cause the breakage, follow the steps in How do I report a broken site in Firefox desktop? to help us solve the issue.

Learn more about Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop.