Firefox Update Brings Ads in Address Bar: How to Disable

Firefox address bar will now show sponsored links based on keywords you type.

Updated: 8 October 2021 13:29 IST

Firefox Update Brings Ads in Address Bar: How to Disable

Firefox has partnered with adMarketplace to offer sponsored links to its users

Highlights

Firefox Suggest can be disabled easily in Settings
Firefox will show a prompt to enable ads after new update
User can even customise on what ads can show in address bar

Firefox is bringing sponsored address bar suggestions to its browser with the latest 93.0 update. This means that Mozilla will offer content from partners based on your search queries, right in the address bar. These ad links will show up alongside all the usual search suggestions like browsing history, and could prove to be intrusive. The Web is filled with ads on every page, and the addition of these ads in the address bar may upset Firefox users. Mozilla is calling this feature Firefox Suggest and there is an easy way to disable it as well.

Firefox has updated its support page to explain more about this new Firefox Suggest feature. On the page, Firefox calls it a "feature that serves as a trustworthy guide to the better Web, surfacing relevant information and sites to help you accomplish your goals." These relevant suggestions come "from trusted partners based on what you're searching for." Traditionally, the address bar offers suggestions like browsing history and open tabs, but if Firefox Suggest is enabled, it will also show suggestions from Mozilla's partners.

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These suggestions won't be enabled automatically. After updating to the latest version, Firefox will send you a message notification asking you to enable Firefox Suggest. To enable these suggestions, a user can click on ‘Allow suggestions' when they receive the notification prompt or click on ‘Customize in settings' to choose the experience and the types of suggestions that will show in the address bar.

Mozilla has partnered with adMarketplace to offer sponsored results to its users. Sponsored links will show up at the bottom of the traditional suggestions and are based on the keywords you type in the address bar.

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How to disable sponsored suggestions on Firefox:

Users who have Firefox Suggest enabled, can easily disable it by using the following steps.

Click on the top menu button in the Firefox browser
Click on Settings > Privacy and Security.
Go down to the Address Bar options and head to Firefox Suggest section
To enable or disable contextual suggestions, select or deselect the checkbox next to Contextual suggestions.
To enable or disable traditional address bar suggestions, such as Firefox Suggest results from browsing history and bookmarks, select or deselect the associated checkboxes.

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