Browser Privacy Settings You Should Change Right Now

Your browser ships with privacy settings that favor convenience over protection. Out of the box, most browsers allow extensive tracking, share your search history with the default search engine, and let websites fingerprint your device. Changing a handful of settings takes five minutes and meaningfully reduces how much data you leak while browsing.

Settings to Change in Chrome

Chrome is the most popular browser and one of the least privacy-friendly by default, which makes sense given that Google's business model depends on advertising data.

These changes help without breaking website functionality:

• Third-party cookies: Go to Settings, Privacy and Security, Cookies. Block third-party cookies. These are the cookies that track you across different websites to build advertising profiles. First-party cookies (which keep you logged in to sites) still work normally.
• Safe Browsing: Keep Standard protection enabled.

The Enhanced protection option sends your browsing data to Google in real-time for threat analysis, which is a trade-off between security and privacy that most users should not make.

This prevents Chrome from storing sensitive data that could be accessed if your Google account is compromised.

Settings to Change in Firefox

Firefox is more privacy-friendly by default, but there is room for improvement:

• Enhanced Tracking Protection: Go to Settings, Privacy and Security. Change from Standard to Strict. This blocks third-party cookies, cryptominers, fingerprinters, and tracking content in all windows. Some sites may break, but it is worth trying. You can whitelist individual sites that have issues.
• DNS over HTTPS: In General settings, scroll to Network Settings. Enable DNS over HTTPS. This encrypts your DNS queries (the requests that translate website names into IP addresses), preventing your ISP from logging which sites you visit.
• Telemetry: Under Privacy and Security, scroll to Firefox Data Collection and Use. Uncheck all the boxes. This stops Firefox from sending usage data back to Mozilla.
• Search suggestions: Under Search, disable search suggestions. These suggestions send your keystrokes to the search engine in real-time as you type, which means the search engine sees partial queries you may never complete.

Extensions That Help

A few browser extensions significantly improve privacy without affecting daily browsing:

• uBlock Origin: An ad and tracker blocker that is lightweight and effective. It blocks tracking scripts, ads, and malware domains. Unlike some ad blockers, uBlock Origin does not have an acceptable ads program that lets paying advertisers through. Free.
• Privacy Badger: Made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

It learns to block trackers as you browse based on their behavior rather than relying on static lists. Works well alongside uBlock Origin. Free.

Settings to Change on Mobile

Mobile browsers are often overlooked in privacy discussions, but they handle a significant portion of most people's browsing:

• Safari (iPhone): Settings, Safari.

Enable Prevent Cross-Site Tracking, Block All Cookies (or at least block third-party), and Hide IP Address from trackers. Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention is one of the strongest anti-tracking systems built into any browser.

Revoke access for any site you do not actively use.

What These Changes Do Not Cover

Browser settings and extensions address tracking at the browser level, but they do not protect against all forms of surveillance.

Your ISP can still see which websites you visit (use a VPN for that). Websites you log into still collect data about your activity on their platform. And sophisticated fingerprinting techniques can identify your browser based on combinations of settings, installed fonts, and hardware characteristics that extensions cannot fully mask.

These settings represent the practical middle ground: meaningful privacy improvement without making the internet unusable. For most people, this level of protection addresses the biggest and most common tracking mechanisms without requiring a complete lifestyle change.