By default, the Mozilla Firefox browser collects and sends a variety of “telemetry” and technical data back to Mozilla’s servers. This information includes details about your computer’s hardware, your operating system, crash reports, and general statistics regarding how you use the browser’s features. While Mozilla insists this data is completely anonymised and strictly used to improve the software’s performance and stability, privacy-conscious users often prefer to keep all of their computing habits entirely local. You can completely opt out of this data collection.
How to Stop Firefox from Sending Technical Data
You can revoke Mozilla’s permission to collect telemetry directly from the privacy settings menu.
- Open the Mozilla Firefox browser.
- Click the Application Menu button (the three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
- Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Privacy & Security.
- Scroll down the page until you locate the Firefox Data Collection and Use section.
- You will see a checkbox labelled Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla.
- Click this checkbox to uncheck it.
- (Optional) You can also uncheck the box for “Allow Firefox to install and run studies” to prevent Mozilla from remotely testing experimental features on your browser.
As soon as you uncheck these boxes, Firefox will immediately halt all background telemetry processes. No further technical data, usage statistics, or hardware profiles will be transmitted back to Mozilla’s servers, ensuring your browsing experience remains entirely private to your local machine.