Isolating your online activity - Firefox Multi-Account Containers

One way to minimize tracking and improve your online privacy is to store as few browsing cookies as possible on your device. However, in websites such as your email client or your note-taking web application, it's practical to have cookies stored so that you don't have to login each time you visit. In this guide you'll learn how to install and setup Firefox Multi-Account Containers to keep parts of your online activity isolated from each other, thus reducing your digital footprint.

Last modified
11th March 2021
Guide level
Guide Browser

Installation

Like any other add-on, install Firefox Multi-Account Containers by visiting the Mozilla Firefox Add-ons page and clicking Add to Firefox (Fig. 1) and then clicking on Add when prompted (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1: Download Firefox Multi-Account Containers
Fig. 2: Add Firefox Multi-Account Containers to Firefox

Upon successful installation a notification appears on the top-right corner, and the Firefox Multi-Account Containers icon is added to your toolbar (Fig. 3). The first time you click the icon you are presented with a guide to better understand how the add-on works (Fig. 4).

Fig. 3: Notification of successful installation
Fig. 4: Firefox Multi-Account Containers start guide

Set up a container

You can create a container for any website, and assign a website to multiple containers. In this section, you'll learn how to set up a container for Twitter, but the steps are similar for other websites.

First, create the container by clicking the icon and then go to Manage containers > New container. Enter the name for your container and press OK (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5: Create a container for Twitter

Now, navigate to the Twitter website, click on the toolbar icon, and then click Always Open This Site in... and select the container you just created (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6: Always open Twitter links in its container

After you do so, Twitter links will open in its container, which you can check by the underlined tab and the symbol in the address bar (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Container notification

When you are browsing in another container and navigate to a Twitter link, you'll be automatically placed in the Twitter container. The first time this happens, you'll be asked if you want to open the link in the designated container (Fig. 8). To do so automatically from now on, tick the Remember my decision for this site box, and then click on Open in Twitter Container.

Fig. 8: Always redirect links to container

For more details on how to use Firefox Multi-Account Containers visit its official documentation.

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