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Browsing on Android? This new Firefox browser blocks ad trackers and boosts privacy

Mozilla's Firefox Focus browser for Android promises that you can 'browse like no one's watching'.
Written by Steve Ranger, Global News Director
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Mozilla's new Firefox Focus for Android.

Image: ZDNet

Firefox maker Mozilla has unveiled a privacy-focused browser for Android devices that blocks web trackers and makes it easier to erase your browsing history.

The non-profit browser maker's Firefox Focus automatically blocks a 'wide range' of online trackers and makes it easier to delete browsing history, passwords and cookies. As well as improving privacy, by removing trackers and ads, web pages may require less data and load faster, Mozilla said.

"More than ever before, we're seeing consumers play an active role in trying to protect their personal data and save valuable megabytes on their data plans," said Mozilla.

"Why do we block these ad trackers? Because they not only track your behavior without your knowledge, they also slow down the web on your mobile device," Mozilla added.

Firefox Focus was launched in November last year for devices running iOS. The browser is relatively simple (it doesn't support tabs for example), but for the Android release Mozilla has added more features -- including an ad tracker counter that allows users to see the number of ads that are blocked per site while using the app.

There's also an option to switch off the tracker blocker if it stops sites loading properly.

And when Firefox Focus is running in the background it will send a reminder to erase your browsing history, which can be done be tapping the dustbin icon that appears at the bottom of the screen. The browser can be downloaded from Google Play and Apple's iOS App Store.

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