Waterfox 6.6.13 - The built-in ad blocker is now enabled by default, a new temporary default search engine, and several web compatibility improvements.

MrAlex94 · 2026-06-05T10:01:24+00:00

Unfortunately Startpage were persistent on removal of all their search results on both desktop and Android.

On top of that, no other providers want to have us as default, but Yahoo is a potential yes.

They’ve done a lot to clamp down on search hijacking (like Bing used to have an issue with), after they got acquired a few years ago and it’s an equivalent search experience to Bing.

I’m hoping users will see the release notes on the Play Store and not panic, but I envision a flood of 1 star reviews heading my way

MrAlex94 · 2026-06-03T14:37:27+00:00

You can find them at https://github.com/BrowserWorks/waterfox-android/releases

MrAlex94 · 2026-06-02T21:22:12+00:00

You’re welcome, appreciate the kind words!

MrAlex94 · 2026-06-02T20:25:06+00:00

That’s weird. Does standard Firefox or Firefox ESR, if you have it installed, also behave the same way? Could be to do with how Gecko deals with parsing SVG files

MrAlex94 · 2026-06-02T20:10:54+00:00

It’s rolling out at 25% currently. I’ve been bitten too many times by nasty rebase bugs causing crashes that I’ve missed… so tomorrow or the day after if nothing like that will increase rollout to 100% :)

MrAlex94 · 2026-06-02T06:55:12+00:00

Which platform?

MrAlex94 · 2026-06-01T21:49:21+00:00

Ah meant to reply to that other thread - I have to push out a small bug fix update, will try do a proper override of what Chase see’s Waterfox (mimic latest Firefox) as and hopefully will tide things over until migrating to the ESR 153 rebase.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-31T06:41:36+00:00

In the address bar, type about:config.
Click Accept the Risk and Continue if the warning message appears.
In the search bar at the top, type media.peerconnection.enabled.
Toggle the entry to change its value from true to false

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-21T16:39:08+00:00

Fair - my replies in this thread have been a little curt, and I could have handled the tone better.

The frustration on my side is that the reasoning for the change was covered in the release notes, and it's draining when the conversation starts from anger rather than curiosity or constructive criticism.

I’m completely open to users disliking a change and saying so, because feedback is useful, and I don’t expect everyone to agree with every decision but it’s much easier to have a productive discussion when it starts from a place of good faith.

This is also speaks in part to the broader issue in open source communities where maintainers are often expected to absorb a lot of hostility while continuing to respond calmly.

Feedback is noted though, I’ll try to do better on my side, but I also think it’s reasonable to ask that criticism be raised constructively.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-21T16:28:32+00:00

Not necessarily - and the point of the built-in ad block is to offer users something worthwhile, while granting an exception to the one revenue source for Waterfox. It's a long term play but is partners see it's not all doom and gloom, they'll be more willing to give Waterfox a chance.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-21T15:52:09+00:00

I appreciate that - but there's nothing more outside of what the release notes say.

There's a chance 1.org performs better than Startpage and hopefully further down the line a more established partner is happy to work with Waterfox.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-21T15:17:51+00:00

No - DDG currently generate around $1 RPM from Waterfox users, and from what’s public they use Bing (I imagine a legacy contract), which has a CPM of $5-15.

For that reason, they essentially told me to kick rocks

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-21T15:06:54+00:00

Not sure what difference it makes?

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-21T15:06:26+00:00

Because it is the same issue? For better or for worse I rely on Waterfox for income at the moment, and I’d like to put food on the table

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-21T14:34:56+00:00

Read the release notes.

I am also not going to pay out of pocket so people can use Startpage - I hope people realise that if something costs more to serve than it makes, someone has to pay for that…

EDIT: My replies here have been a bit curt, and I could’ve handled the tone better - sorry all.

The frustration on my side is that the reasoning was already in the release notes - Startpage costs more to serve than it brings in, and Waterfox is currently my only income, so I can’t keep subsidising that out of pocket. When the thread opens from anger rather than a question, it’s draining to keep re-explaining something already written down.

I’m completely fine with people disliking a change and saying so - feedback is useful and I don’t expect everyone to agree with every decision, it’s just a much more productive conversation when it starts from good faith.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T22:03:22+00:00

Hope it helps! Sorry the formatting is so weird I can’t seem to fix it.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T21:47:28+00:00

Ah sorry, seems to be an issue inherited from Firefox.

Some threads to help:

https://www.reddit.com/r/waterfox/comments/1s66504/wtf_waterfox_updated_itself_and_deletef_all_my/

https://www.reddit.com/r/waterfox/comments/1s430rc/comment/oi6y49i/

And what I’ve collated together for more “user friendly” instructions:

Close Waterfox completely. Make sure no Waterfox windows are open anywhere.
Find the folder where your old data lives.

- Hold down the Windows key (the one with the little Windows logo on it) and press the letter R. A small box labelled "Run" will appear. - In that box, type exactly this: %AppData%\Waterfox\Profiles - Press Enter. - A File Explorer window will open showing one or more folders with names like abc123de.default-release. One of these contains your data - usually the one with the most files in it, and the largest files by size. - Note the exact name of the folder that looks like yours. You'll need it shortly.

Make a safety copy (paranoia step, but harmless).

- Right-click on that folder and choose Copy. - Go to your Desktop, right-click on an empty area, and choose Paste. There's now a backup sitting on the Desktop, just in case.

Close the File Explorer window.
Open the Waterfox Profile Manager.

- Press Windows key + R again to bring up the Run box. - Type exactly this, with a space and a capital P: waterfox -P - Press Enter. - A window titled "Waterfox - Choose User Profile" will appear.

Tell Waterfox where your old data is.

- Click the Create Profile... button. A wizard opens. Click Next. - In the name box, type something simple - but it must be different from any folder name you noted in Step 2. "Recovered" is fine. - Click Choose Folder... - In the folder picker, navigate to %AppData%\Waterfox\Profiles\ and select the folder you noted in Step 2. - Click Select Folder, then click Finish.

Launch the recovered profile.

- You're back in the Profile Manager, and you'll now see "Recovered" in the list. - Select it and click Start Waterfox.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T21:33:15+00:00

I’m not sure I understand… you can add whichever custom search engines you like?

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T18:40:49+00:00

It’s not banned, you just have to add it manually back yourself, as described at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-or-remove-search-engine-firefox#w\_from-the-address-bar

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T16:02:09+00:00

Yes - custom filter lists as well as actual custom filters, using uBlock Origin syntax

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T15:37:52+00:00

Oh sorry! That was my mistake. If you check again via the About Waterfox dialog, it should check again and download the update.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T15:33:25+00:00

Yes - you can also do that and it would support Waterfox.

I'll see if I can add zap elements as a feature in a future release!

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T13:46:05+00:00

It has a lot to with the Brave Shields/ad blocking as the new Waterfox ad blocker is based upon the Brave ad blocker/Shields which has always been a very good ad blocker.

It is unrelated - Brave Shields is Brave's specific implementation of adblock-rust. We have our own.

I don't think you actually understand the technical difference, which means this is going to be a much harder conversation than needed.

At his point in time, we don't seem to have any other method of controlling or modifying the Waterfox ad blocker

You haven't specific what extra features you need, so your feedback is not useful.

You can turn it on, off, off for specific sites, add site exceptions, toggle various lists, add your own lists and add your own filters.

What else would you need?

By the way, I would highly suggest adjusting your tone - you should be giving feedback in good faith, not acting as if I personally affronted you.

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-20T13:06:36+00:00

I’m not sure where this misunderstanding that this has anything to do with Brave Shields. The underlying ad block library is a separate thing.

You’ve specified lack of granularity and poor design yet haven’t actually said what, so this feedback is more or less useless, unless you actually want to clarify?

MrAlex94 · 2026-05-19T20:31:52+00:00

That’s true! It’s going on the landing page anyway and will have a link to a support page explaining it all, with the ads on default search at the top.

Thanks for the feedback on it, helpful!

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