Privacy settings on the Ecosia browser
This article only applies to the Ecosia desktop browser. Download it here today!
At Ecosia, we care about your privacy, both in our search engine and our browser. This article will showcase some of the available privacy options on the Ecosia desktop browser and how they can be managed. From blocking ads to automatically getting rid of those pesky cookie notifications, the browser offers you a variety of options to improve your navigating experience.
In this article you can find:
How to access the Ecosia desktop browser’s privacy settings
Accessing the desktop browser’s privacy settings can be done in just a few clicks:
- Open the Ecosia desktop browser
- Click on the three dots at the top right of your screen. Click on Settings
- From the menu on the left, click on Privacy and security
The rest of this article will cover the different subsections within Privacy and security.
Ad and tracker blocking
Right after Safety check, the first panel, Ad and tracker blocking, allows you to turn on Ecosia’s built-in blocker. For the highest privacy experience, we recommend activating Block Ads and Trackers. In the options below it, you can also choose to manually whitelist websites that you trust. For example, Ecosia automatically comes whitelisted, to ensure we can make the money necessary to plant our trees!
You can actually consult blocking and tracking information on webpages that you visit through our privacy panel. By clicking on the little shield icon to the left of the top address bar, the following menu will appear:
The panel first lets you know whether blocking is on or not. It also lets you know whether the page you are visiting is secure.
Anti fingerprinting
Some websites use fingerprinting to uniquely identify a user's browser and track their online activity, even if they clear their cookies or switch to a different browser.
We can protect your unique browser fingerprint by randomizing it. This is done by changing the values of certain browser properties. It's important to note that while this can help to protect your privacy, it may also cause some websites to function improperly if they rely on it to work correctly.
Ad blocking and Trackers
On the left side of the panel, you can see how many ads and trackers have been blocked. This is done automatically by us based on blocklists. It won’t break websites and we update the blocklists frequently.
Cookie blocker
On the right side of the panel, the cookie blocker shows the number of third-party cookies that have been blocked on a webpage. Cookies are little pieces of information that are responsible for remembering your preferences on websites. Some of them are essential for the webpage to function properly, but there are also plenty of non-essential cookies that can be used to target you with ads, for example. Ecosia can help you avoid those.
The cookie-blocker feature may not always work, as some sites require the download of third-party cookies to function properly.
If you are unfamiliar with cookies, we invite you to read our guide.
Privacy and security
The next panel, Privacy and security, enables you to handle your data.
For example, you can delete your browsing data here. It’s good to clear your data and ensure it isn’t floating around the internet for others to find!
You can also personalize your options for third-party cookies here. Blocking third-party cookies will ensure that non-essential cookies, like those used for targeted ads or analytics, are not allowed on websites that you visit. You may also choose to set custom permissions for sites that you trust.
Privacy panel and the automatic cookie manager
The Privacy panel section notably contains the cookie manager, which allows you to automatically accept essential cookies on every website. No more annoying pop-ups every time you visit a new site!
If you turn on Auto manage cookie consent pop-up, the Ecosia Browser will attempt to reject on your behalf all non-essential cookies of sites that you visit. There is no 100% success rate as there are some websites that don’t share the way their cookie banner is displayed.
If you notice that you cannot scroll on a specific website, it may be the fault of the cookie manager. Simply toggle it off, visit the webpage again, reject the non-essential cookies manually and then turn the cookie manager on again.
You may have noticed that you saw the pop-up below the first time you visited a website on our browser. This is the same feature!
Social media blocking
This section gives you a range of options regarding social media integrations. Certain websites give you the option of logging in through Google or Facebook or may embed social media content on their pages. You may toggle some of these options off.
