Waterfox is a privacy-focused browser built for power users who value customization and control over their online experience. It pairs a privacy-first foundation with the kind of deep customization normally reserved for extensions and hidden flags.

Waterfox routes DNS-over-HTTPS through a Fastly-hosted Oblivious HTTP relay, disables DNS prefetching, blocks 0.0.0.0 lookups, and leaves Safe Browsing calls off so lookups stay private. Cookie-banner automation rejects consent prompts when possible, HTTPS-First is enforced, Global Privacy Control is declared, and telemetry, experiments, analytics, and ad feeds are stripped out.

Private Tabs let you flip any tab into an isolated session with its own history, cookies, and default search. Tab context shortcuts can copy URLs, unload sleeping tabs, or restart the browser with cache-purge options, while privacy-first ergonomics keep scripted pop-ups in tabs, prompt for new download handlers, and restore the classic status bar with live link previews.

Layout controls move tab bars, bookmark bars, restart switches, and status bars without touching userChrome.css. Switch between Waterfox, Lepton, and Proton presets, adjust icon weight, padding, autohide behaviour, and rounding, or load legacy userChrome and userContent tweaks. Modern web APIs such as WebGPU, WebCodecs H.265, Web Share, JPEG XL, CSS Masonry, and scroll-driven animations are enabled by default, and Startpage plus Waterfox Private Search ship as defaults with a separate private-window engine.