Outfoxin’ the Trackers: Android Private Browsing with Firefox Focus

Want to avoid trackers when you click links in Android apps? Set Firefox Focus as your default.

It’s hard not to appreciate the ingenuity (and snark) of Redditors. These frontierspeople of the Web surf on their own terms, seeking out the hacks, hidey holes, and glorious weirdness that make online life more functional and fun for all of us.

This time they’ve figured out how to keep ad trackers from reminding us of every late-night, ill-advised, Doritos-induced click on our Android devices. Don’t wanna be tracked when you chase links in your Reddit app, email, IM, Facebook, Twitter, etc? Let Redditors show you the way to private Android browsing – with our very own Firefox Focus.

User sniper_fox explains what you get:


You can disable the ad blockers whenever you want. (We’re all about giving you choices.) And when Firefox Focus is running, a notification reminder makes it easy to erase your browser history with a single tap.

The other huge bonus of this workaround? Speed. Ad trackers can put your device in slow-mo. And a slow Web is not the Web we want.

So thanks, Redditors for showing us the way once again.

Here’s how it’s done, one screen grab at a time:

In your Firefox Focus app, select menu (three dots) > settings

Select “make default browser

Tap “Browser App”

Choose Firefox Focus as your default browser

Firefox Focus is now your default browser!

You can download Firefox Focus on Google Play or in the App Store.


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