Terms of Service
The terms on which BrowserWorks Ltd makes Waterfox and its associated services available to you.
Version 2.0 - 19 August 2026
Waterfox is free, open-source software published by BrowserWorks Ltd. It is built on the Mozilla platform, which is the work of a community of thousands. The terms cover both the binary builds of Waterfox that we distribute and the web-based services that these builds connect to.
The software
Waterfox is made available to you under the terms of the Mozilla Public Licence 2.0. You may use, copy and distribute Waterfox. You can modify its source code to suit your needs and distribute your modified versions, provided you comply with the terms of the licence.
Nothing in this licence grants you rights in the Waterfox, BrowserWorks or Mozilla trademarks, or any other party’s trademarks - including the Waterfox name and logo. If you distribute a modified build, it must not carry Waterfox branding.
Any extensions, themes and other add-ons that you install are covered by their own licences and terms. They are not our software, and we do not warrant them.
Warranty and liability
Waterfox and its associated services are provided ‘as is’. BrowserWorks, its contributors, licensors and distributors disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied. This includes, without limitation, any warranty that the software or services are fit for purpose or merchantable. You bear the entire risk of selecting Waterfox for your purposes, as well as the risk relating to its quality and performance.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties, so this disclaimer may not apply to you. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.
Web-based services
Some Waterfox features connect to services that we or third parties operate. Our Privacy Policy lists all of these features, what information they receive and how to switch them off. In summary:
| Service | Operated by | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Search suggestions | BrowserWorks | Suggestions as you type, for every built-in engine |
| Ultra Protection DNS | Fastly (relay) and Cloudflare (resolver) | Oblivious DNS resolution |
| Content blocking lists | Third-party filter list publishers | Keeping ad and tracker filters current |
| Application and system add-on updates | BrowserWorks | Delivering the correct update files |
| Certificate revocation and add-on blocklist | Mozilla | Security data that goes stale |
| Web push | Mozilla | Relaying notifications from sites you have permitted |
| Media plugins | Cisco, Google | Optional H.264 and DRM playback |
Although we work to keep these services accurate and up to date, we cannot guarantee that they are comprehensive or error-free. Filter lists may miss or block things they should not. DNS answers depend on the resolver. Update checks depend on our infrastructure being reachable.
We may change or discontinue these services at our discretion. You are welcome to use the services with the accompanying version of Waterfox, and we grant you the right to do so. BrowserWorks and its licensors reserve all other rights in the services. These terms are not intended to limit any rights granted under the applicable open source licences for Waterfox and its source code.
Turning services off
If you do not wish to use a service or if you find these terms unacceptable, you can disable it. Each of the services listed above has an off switch, which is documented alongside the service it controls in the Privacy Policy. The main ones are:
- Search suggestions: Settings → Search → Uncheck ‘Provide search suggestions’.
- Ultra Protection DNS - Settings > Privacy & Security > DNS over HTTPS.
- Content blocking - Settings → Privacy & Security → Content Blocking. To continue blocking but stop remote list updates, set
waterfox.blocker.remoteResourcesEnabledtofalseinabout:config. - Updates - Settings > General > Waterfox Updates. Turning updates off means you will not receive security fixes.
- Location - Waterfox will always ask before sharing your location and uses your operating system rather than a network location service. To refuse location sharing permanently, set
geo.enabledtofalseinabout:config. - Web push: decline notification requests or set
dom.push.enabledtofalse. - Media plugins - In Settings, go to General and uncheck ‘Play DRM-controlled content’.
You can turn off the remaining features and services in Settings or in the about:config menu.
What Waterfox does not do
To avoid any doubt, Waterfox does not include telemetry, crash reporting, studies or experiments, Safe Browsing, download reputation checks, sponsored content or LLM-based features. These settings are not disabled - they are switched off and locked at build time, and we have no way of re-enabling them on your machine. Please refer to the Privacy Policy and the LLM Usage Memorandum.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time in line with changes to the browser. The version and date above will be updated accordingly, and any significant changes will be noted in the release notes. These terms may not be modified or cancelled without the written agreement of BrowserWorks.
Governing law and contact
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
BrowserWorks Ltd, Suite 140, 372 Old Street, London, EC1V 9AU, United Kingdom. Email: privacy@browser.works