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Mozilla Patches

These patches disable, remove, or replace unwanted Mozilla-related functionality from the browser. This includes advertising, data collection, promotions, and other services not required for critical functionality.

Patches

Section titled “Patches”

Android Components - Remove Nimbus

Section titled “Android Components - Remove Nimbus”

Removes the Nimbus library/service.

Reason
To reduce data collection and remove Mozilla’s ability to remotely change browser settings.
Effect
Ensures user configurations remain consistent and are controlled locally, reduces attack surface, and reduces unwanted dependencies.

Fenix - Disable telemetry

Section titled “Fenix - Disable telemetry”

Disables telemetry at build-time and removes various data reporting mechanisms.

Reason
To prevent any usage data, diagnostics, or technical metrics from being sent to Mozilla.
Effect
Prevents unwanted collection and transmission of telemetry data.

Gecko - Disable Telemetry

Section titled “Gecko - Disable Telemetry”

Disables telemetry at build-time and removes various data reporting mechanisms.

Reason
To prevent any usage data, diagnostics, or technical metrics from being sent to Mozilla.
Effect
Prevents unwanted collection and transmission of telemetry data.

Gecko - Remove about:telemetry

Section titled “Gecko - Remove about:telemetry”

Removes the about:telemetry page.

Reason
To improve UX and eliminate unwanted components.
Effect
Prevents users from incorrectly believing telemetry is supported/enabled, and reduces unwanted resources.

Gecko - Remove about:restricted

Section titled “Gecko - Remove about:restricted”

Removes the about:restricted page (used for ex. parental controls).

Reason
To improve UX and eliminate unwanted components.
Effect
Ensures that parental controls are not active and filtering webpages, and reduces unwanted resources.

Android Components - Disable crash reporting

Section titled “Android Components - Disable crash reporting”

Disables and prevents the collection/submission of crash reports.

Reason
To prevent submitting personal and/or sensitive data to Mozilla.
Effect
Prevents unwanted collection and transmission of crash reports.

Fenix - Disable crash reporting

Section titled “Fenix - Disable crash reporting”

Disables and prevents the collection/submission of crash reports.

Reason
To prevent submitting personal and/or sensitive data to Mozilla.
Effect
Prevents unwanted collection and transmission of crash reports.

GeckoView - Disable crash reporting

Section titled “GeckoView - Disable crash reporting”

Disables and prevents the collection/submission of crash reports.

Reason
To prevent submitting personal and/or sensitive data to Mozilla.
Effect
Prevents unwanted collection and transmission of crash reports.

Fenix - Disable Nimbus

Section titled “Fenix - Disable Nimbus”

Disables and prevents A/B testing/experimentation and remote configuration of settings.

Reason
To reduce data collection and remove Mozilla’s ability to remotely change browser settings.
Effect
Ensures user configurations remain consistent and are controlled locally.

Gecko - Disable Nimbus

Section titled “Gecko - Disable Nimbus”

Disables and prevents A/B testing/experimentation and remote configuration of settings.

Reason
To reduce data collection and remove Mozilla’s ability to remotely change browser settings.
Effect
Ensures user configurations remain consistent and are controlled locally.

Fenix - Disable Firefox Suggest

Section titled “Fenix - Disable Firefox Suggest”

Disables Firefox Suggest by default, removes unwanted Firefox Suggest UI elements, and ensure that suggestions from Firefox Suggest are only queried if the user actually enables suggestions.

Reason
To remove sponsored suggestions, and to prevent sending address bar data to Mozilla.
Effect
Cleaner, more private address bar experience, without web suggestions.

Fenix - Remove AI Controls

Section titled “Fenix - Remove AI Controls”

Provides support for removing the ‘AI Controls’ settings menu.

Reason
To prevent undesired AI functionality from being enabled in the browser and provide a cleaner UI.
Effect
Prevents unwanted AI features from being exposed to users.

Android Components - Disable AMO featured collections/recommendations.

Section titled “Android Components - Disable AMO featured collections/recommendations.”

Disables fetching featured collections, recommendations, and icons from AMO (addons.mozilla.org).

Reason
To prevent Firefox from connecting to services.addons.mozilla.org on every launch and periodically after.
Effect
Reduces unwanted network activity and integration with third party services.

Fenix - Disable Contile

Section titled “Fenix - Disable Contile”

Disables integration with Mozilla’s Contile service (sponsored tiles): https://mozilla-services.github.io/contile/.

Reason
To remove unwanted advertising and unnecessary third-party services.
Effect
Cleaner interface without promotional content.

Fenix - Disable Pocket

Section titled “Fenix - Disable Pocket”

Disables integration with Pocket.

Reason
To remove unnecessary third-party services and sponsored content.
Effect
Cleaner interface without promotional content or third-party integrations.

Fenix - Disable Firefox Sync engines by default

Section titled “Fenix - Disable Firefox Sync engines by default”

Disables Firefox Sync engines by default.

Reason
To prevent automatic sync of browser data to Mozilla servers.
Effect
No data is synchronized with Mozilla unless explicitly enabled by user.

Fenix - Disable Firefox Sync Avatar Fetching

Section titled “Fenix - Disable Firefox Sync Avatar Fetching”

Prevents the browser from downloading the user’s profile picture from Mozilla if Firefox Sync is enabled.

Reason
To prevent Firefox from connecting to https://profile.accounts.firefox.com/v1/avatar/b every time the user navigates to settings if Firefox Sync is enabled.
Effect
Reduces unwanted network activity and integration with third party services.

Gecko - Remote Settings Blocker

Section titled “Gecko - Remote Settings Blocker”

Prevents Remote Settings from downloading unwanted collections.

Reason
To prevent the download/use of unnecessary and undesired Remote Settings from Mozilla (ex. for experimentation).
Effect
Network activity is further limited, less data is shared with Mozilla, and the user is put in control of what specifically they want to download from Remote Settings.

Gecko - Support add-on installation without mozAddonManager

Section titled “Gecko - Support add-on installation without mozAddonManager”

Adds support for installing add-ons from addons.mozilla.org, without allowing Mozilla to enable, uninstall, and query a list of the user’s installed add-ons (via the privileged mozAddonManager API), in addition to websites specified with the xpinstall.whitelist.add series of prefs.

Reason
To prevent fingerprinting, reduce attack surface, and to improve freedom by allowing users to install add-ons from sites other than AMO if desired (though installing add-ons outside of AMO is of course STRONGLY recommended against).
Effect
Allows users to install add-ons from addons.mozilla.org (via the mozAddonManager API) without compromising their privacy and security, and allows installation from other sites if desired by the user.

Gecko - Remove privileged add-on signing status

Section titled “Gecko - Remove privileged add-on signing status”

Prevents Mozilla add-ons from returning the ‘PRIVILEGED’ and ‘SYSTEM’ add-on signing states.

Reason
To improve privacy, security, and control for users, by preventing external add-ons developed By Mozilla from utilizing special privileged functionality.
Effect
Users have improved privacy, security, and control over their extensions.

Fenix - Disable contextual feature recommendations

Section titled “Fenix - Disable contextual feature recommendations”

Disables contextual feature recommendations (CFRs) and other promotional messaging.

Reason
To remove promotional suggestions for Firefox features, and to eliminate unnecessary engagement messages that may interrupt user workflows.
Effect
Provides a cleaner interface without contextual prompts, recommendations, and unwanted nags.

Fenix - Local wallpapers

Section titled “Fenix - Local wallpapers”

Adds support for local wallpapers, to prevent downloading them from Mozilla servers upon each launch.

Reason
By default, Firefox fetches wallpapers from Mozilla servers on every browser launch. We disable this, due to the associated privacy concerns, and to reduce unwanted network activity. This patch adds back support for wallpapers, by including a collection locally.
Effect
Users can personalize the browser and take advantage of wallpapers, without the privacy implications and dependence on Mozilla services.

Fenix - Configure GeckoProvider

Section titled “Fenix - Configure GeckoProvider”

Configures Firefox’s implementation of GeckoView (GeckoProvider).

Reason
Disables integration with crash reporting and experimentation (Nimbus).
Effect
Prevents unwanted collection and transmission of crash reports, and ensures user configurations remain consistent and are controlled locally.

Fenix - Remove Firefox Sync bookmark promotion

Section titled “Fenix - Remove Firefox Sync bookmark promotion”

Removes Mozilla’s promotion to enable Firefox Sync at the bookmarks fragment.

Reason
To prevent unwanted nags/promotional suggestions from interrupting user workflows.
Effect
Improves user experience by removing an unwanted Sync promotion.

Fenix - Remove Firefox Sync settings promotion

Section titled “Fenix - Remove Firefox Sync settings promotion”

Removes Mozilla’s promotional banner to enable Firefox Sync at the top of the settings fragment.

Reason
To prevent unwanted nags/promotional suggestions from interrupting user workflows.
Effect
Improves user experience by removing an unwanted Sync promotion.

Gecko - Remove URL tracking parameters

Section titled “Gecko - Remove URL tracking parameters”

Prevents the browser from appending URL tracking parameters to Mozilla support links.

Reason
To improve privacy.
Effect
Improves privacy by removing unnecessary URL tracking parameters from Mozilla support links.