Vanilla Firefox is a swamp of user-hostile defaults, telemetry, useless AI features, and forced addons that try to upsell you.
The most sensible way to get around this is to use LibreWolf or Waterfox. They aggressively rip all of this out.
The most sensible way to get around this is to use LibreWolf or Waterfox. They aggressively rip all of this out.
I just started a two fresh profiles to test your claim (one in Firefox, one in Dev Edition), the opt-out for telemetry is present in the very first dialogue box and costs 2 clicks. There's a daily usage ping that's still on, and I'm happy to keep it on, because I believe that usage stat is valuable. It's easily disabled.
There are zero extensions by default, and one video decoding plugin. There is a skippable 'recommended add-ons' step on first run, so skip it if you want, easy.
The AI controls are all set to Available but none are automatically used, one must intentionally do so, at which point one is reminded these can be entirely disabled. Even opening the AI chat sidebar doesn't actually connect to a bot, it offers a list of bots, beneath which is a Close button, though that's not the only way to close it.
If you prefer Waterfox, great, you're not the primary target demographic for Firefox, but you can still use it without all the pain you complain of.
And now I'm confused. Firefox 153 on Linux, new profile.
First screen:
> You’re in safe paws
> We protect your data and block companies from spying on your clicks — automatically.
> Set Firefox as default browser
> Import from previous browser
Second screen:
> Give your browsing a boost
> Extensions are tiny apps that let you customize Firefox. They can power up your privacy, enhance productivity, change the way Firefox looks, and so much more.
> Explore staff recommended extensions
Third screen:
> Go anywhere. Sync everything.
> Grab bookmarks, passwords, and more everywhere you’re signed in to Firefox. Plus, your data is encrypted so only you can see it.
> Sign up or sign in
And that's it; after that it dumps out to the page of ads that is the new tab screen. If I click to Settings > Permissions and data > Firefox data collection and use, it appears that everything is default enabled except automatically sending crash reports.