Waterfox private tabs

A Waterfox private tab keeps its site data separate from ordinary tabs without opening another window. Waterfox places all private tabs in a dedicated Private container, avoids writing their visits and search-form entries to global history, and uses the private search engine when one is configured.

A private tab is not the same as a private window. It protects the tab’s browsing context, not every activity performed by the surrounding Waterfox window.

These instructions apply to Waterfox on desktop.

Open a private tab

You can open a Waterfox private tab in several ways:

• Open the File menu and select New Private Tab.
• On Windows or Linux, press Ctrl+Alt+P. On macOS, press Command+Option+P.
• Right-click a link and select Open Link in New Private Tab.
• Right-click a bookmark, bookmark folder or selected bookmarks and choose the private-tab action shown in the menu.

Make an existing tab private

Right-click a tab and select Make Private Tab. To return it to ordinary browsing, right-click it and select Exit Private Tab.

You can also switch the current tab with Ctrl+Alt+T on Windows or Linux, or Command+Option+T on macOS.

Waterfox recreates the tab in the other browsing context while preserving its session state. Cookies and other site storage from the Private container are not copied into the ordinary context, or in the other direction, so a site may ask you to sign in again.

Show a private-tab button

The dedicated button next to the New Tab button is hidden by default. To show it:

1. Open the Waterfox menu and select Settings.
2. Select Tabs and browsing.
3. In Waterfox tabs, find Tab display.
4. Turn on Show a private tab button next to the new tab button.

The setting works with horizontal and vertical tabs. Turning it off removes only the button, not the private-tab feature or its other entry points.

How Waterfox clears private-tab data

All Waterfox private tabs share the same Private container. They can therefore share cookies and sign-in state with one another while at least one private tab remains open.

When the final private tab across all Waterfox windows closes, Waterfox clears data belonging to that container. Waterfox also clears stale Private container data at startup and discards private tabs found in restored session state, so private tabs are not restored after a restart.

Practical privacy limits

• Private tabs are not available inside a private window because that whole window already uses private browsing.
• Bookmarks you create and files you download are outside the Private container and remain after the tab closes.
• Websites, employers, schools and internet providers may still be able to identify activity through accounts, network traffic or device characteristics.
• Closing one private tab does not clear shared Private container data while another private tab is still open in any Waterfox window.

Do not treat separate private tabs as separate identities. They share one Private container until the last private tab closes.