Skip to main content

✨ Waterfox has a new website! A fresh lick of paint and migration to waterfox.com

All features

A closer look at the privacy defaults, power tools, and quality-of-life tweaks that ship with Waterfox out of the box.

No extensions, no hidden flags – everything on this page is available in a fresh Waterfox install, with encrypted DNS for privacy and oblivious relays for anonymity built in.

Privacy & Safety

Meaningful privacy defaults, not marketing copy

A lot of features that can leak data in a typical browser is either disabled or routed through Waterfox-controlled services. You don't have to rummage through about:config to feel safe.

Read Waterfox in Partnership with Fastly to see how our encrypted and oblivious DNS relay is operated by independent third parties.

  • Private DNS relay

    Waterfox routes DNS-over-HTTPS through a Fastly hosted Oblivious HTTP relay, disables DNS prefetching, and even blocks 0.0.0.0 requests so lookups stay private.

    • TRR-first mode with short failover timeouts.
    • Custom relay endpoint hosted by Fastly.

  • Automatic consent handling

    Cookie-banner automation rejects whenever possible, HTTPS-First is enforced, Global Privacy Control is declared, and Google Safe Browsing calls remain off.

  • Leak-proof real-time experiences

    WebRTC sticks to proxy-only ICE candidates with global mute toggles, geolocation defaults to blank providers, and powerful controls sit directly in Settings.

    • Quick toggles for referrers, JavaScript, and inline media.

  • Zero telemetry or analytics

    Telemetry, Normandy experiments, analytics and new tab ad feeds are stripped out.

  • Privacy-first ergonomics

    Everyday UX leans private too: downloads always ask how to handle new types, the classic "View Image Info" menu returns, and scripted pop-ups are forced back into tabs.

Productivity & Workflow

Built for research binges and context switching

Tabs, menus, and system UI all pick up extra capabilities so you can move faster without bolting on a dozen add-ons.

  • Private Tabs

    Clone any tab into a dedicated Private container with one click. It purges history, search suggestions, and form data for that container automatically.

    • Optional toolbar button for vertical tab layouts.
    • Keeps private and regular engines separate.

  • Tab context shortcuts

    Copy any tab's URL (or every open URL) in one click, unload sleepy tabs, or restart the browser with confirmation and cache purge options.

  • Automatic tab grouping

    New tabs inherit their parent's group, can be delayed with a cancel shortcut, and bypassed entirely with an alternate hotkey when you need a clean slate.

  • Classic power surfaces

    A status bar with live link previews, the tree-based password manager, and about:cfg are all first-class citizens again.

Customization & Layout

Make the browser fit the way you work

From layout controls to theme presets, Waterfox keeps the knobs you actually use within reach - no custom CSS required.

  • Layout controls

    Dedicated preference panels move tab bars, bookmark bars, restart controls, and the status bar without digging through userChrome.css.

  • Preferences overlay

    A built-in table of contents jumps to tab-bar placement, restart switches, and status bar options while hiding Pocket/snippet clutter to match the ad-free new tab.

  • Theme lab

    Switch between Waterfox, Lepton, and Proton presets and tweak icon weight, padding, autohide behaviour, and rounding from the UI.

  • Always-on userChrome

    Legacy userChrome/userContent loading stays enabled for power users, so deep CSS themes remain possible even as Firefox upstream tries to retire them.

Modern Platform

New web capabilities switched on already

Waterfox ships the experimental APIs modern sites expect, plus private search defaults, so you can build and browse without toggling hidden flags.

  • Modern web APIs pre-enabled

    WebGPU (including Workers), WebCodecs H.265, Web Share, and other emerging APIs are enabled by default so projects don't have to wait on nightly builds.

  • Cutting-edge layouts & media

    JPEG XL, CSS Masonry, and scroll-driven animations are ready to test without hunting for experimental flags.

  • Private-first search

    Startpage and Waterfox Private Search ship as defaults, and you can assign a separate engine just for private windows.