Mozilla launches free desktop password manager, makes anti-tracking a default feature
Firefox extended its password manager's functionality to the desktop on Tuesday. Photo: Mozilla.
San Jose, Calif. (KTVU) - Mozilla has made significant strides in improving the speed and performance of its browser lately, and made privacy protection a core part of its brand ethos. On Tuesday, Mozilla upped the ante by making Enhanced Tracking Protection a default feature on Firefox, and launching a desktop version of its password free manager.
Launched a year ago as Lockbox, the password manager was only available on iOS, Android, and iPad until now. Mozilla has now extended its functionality to the desktop with a browser extension for Firefox. Mozilla has rebranded this product family, calling it Lockwise.
Firefox Lockwise lets users store, edit and access passwords seamlessly across desktop and mobile platforms with biometric access. After installing the extension, it can be accessed from Firefox's main menu under 'Logins and passwords'.
Among multiple announcements made on Tuesday, first-time users of Firefox will see Enhanced Tracking Protection turned on by default as part of the ‘Standard’ setting in the browser. This feature, denoted by a shield icon in the address bar, keeps third-party trackers and cookies from following users around the web without their knowledge or consent – a technique known as cross-site tracking.
Mozilla has also updated Facebook Container, a Firefox extension that isolates a user’s web activity from Facebook. The latest update prevents users from being tracked on sites that have embedded Facebook Share and Like buttons on their site. Mozilla says that Facebook Container has seen two million downloads so far.
And finally, Firefox Monitor, a free data breach notification service is getting a central dashboard to help users track and manage multiple email addresses.