Waterfox is a free and open-source web browser and fork of Firefox. It claims to be ethical and user-centric, emphasizing performance and privacy.
Divisions
Waterfox
Waterfox shares core features and technologies like the Gecko browser engine
and support for Firefox Add-ons
with Firefox. It is also compatible with
Google Chrome and Opera extensions.
It disables telemetry and Pocket by default, which are present in Firefox builds. However, it collects technical information about the user's device to update properly.
Waterfox Classic
Waterfox Classic is a version of the browser based on an older version of the Gecko engine that supports legacy
XUL and
XPCOM add-on capabilities that Firefox removed in version 57.
It is still partially maintained with fixes and patches from Waterfox and Firefox ESR releases. However, its development has been separated due to several changes from Waterfox that are otherwise unapplicable.
Vulnerabilities
Waterfox Classic has multiple unpatched security advisories. The developer states that "changes between versions so numerous between
Firefox ESR making merging difficult if not impossible".
History
Waterfox was first released by Alex Kontos
on 27 March 2011 for 64-bit Windows. The macOS build was introduced on 14 May 2015 with the release of version 38.0,
the Linux build was introduced on 20 December 2016 with the release of version 50.0,
and an Android build was first introduced on 10 October 2017 in version 55.2.2.
From 22 July 2015 to 12 November 2015, Waterfox had its own search-engine called "Storm" that would raise funds for charity and Waterfox. Storm was developed with over £2 million of investor funding and powered by Yahoo! Search.
In December 2019, System1, an advertising company which portrays itself as privacy-focused,[
]
An Android release of the browser was made available via the Google Play Store in November 2023.
In April 2025, Waterfox launched a privacy-friendly metasearch engine, using Google's search results.
=== Logos ===
See also
External links
