Mozilla is all set to launch Firefox 107 for Android devices tomorrow. The new update will introduce support for the advanced anti-tracking functionality known as Total Cookie Protection.
Understanding Total Cookie Protection in Firefox for Android
So, what exactly is Total Cookie Protection, and why should you care about it?
When you browse a webpage, your browser loads various elements, including content from external sources. These elements are often used to track your online behavior across different sites, creating profiles based on your browsing and shopping activities.
Total Cookie Protection works as a shield for browser cookies. It essentially isolates cookies by creating separate “cookie jars” for each website visited, allowing each site to store its cookies in its designated space. By enforcing first-party isolation, cookies from one site are kept away from others, effectively preventing cross-site tracking of your online behavior.
For more information on Total Cookie Protection, you can refer to Mozilla’s article on the topic. Additionally, this post highlights the ongoing value of Multi-Account Containers. Total Cookie Protection bears similarities to Firefox Containers, but the latter provides more customization options, enabling users to create and manage containers for specific websites, as well as use multiple accounts on the same site. For instance, you can segregate your YouTube and Gmail accounts into separate containers to maintain a strict boundary between them.
Total Cookie Protection made its debut in Firefox 86 in 2021, albeit not activated by default. The protection feature was enabled by default in the mobile browser Firefox Focus in January 2022. Subsequently, the desktop version of Firefox started prompting users to enable the feature in May 2022, before making it the default setting for all Windows, Linux, and Mac users the following month.
In Firefox for Android, Total Cookie Protection is integrated into the Enhanced Tracking Protection feature. To utilize Total Cookie Protection, users need to select either the Strict or Custom protection settings instead of the Standard setting. Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox thwarts trackers based on a predefined list maintained by Mozilla. For additional privacy and ad-blocking capabilities, users are recommended to use uBlock Origin alongside Total Cookie Protection.
The release notes for Firefox 107 for Android highlight improvements such as smoother scrolling, resolution of issues related to text selection magnification, reduced HTTPS errors through preemptive certificate preloading, and support for Google’s GBoard image keyboard on Android devices running version 7.1 or higher.
According to the Firefox release schedule, the Firefox 107 update will commence rolling out on November 15th. Users can monitor the Google Play Store listing for Firefox to update their app version accordingly. For early access to the latest features, users can explore the Nightly or Beta builds of Firefox.
Looking ahead, users can anticipate the potential introduction of Site Isolation to Firefox for Android, a feature already available in Firefox Nightly. The inclusion of Containers in Firefox for Android remains a possibility for the future.
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