How are you using and configuring Firefox Multi-Account Containers?

Questions
1

I’ve been mainly a Brave user, but I do use Firefox strictly for web mail. So all personal and work emails are done on Firefox, and everything else except social media is done on Brave. I only use social media on an old iPhone. My strategy is to segregate the apps as much as possible to mitigate tracking attempts.

I’ve been aware of Firefox Multi-Account Containers for a while, but never installed it. I finally did, but I’m not sure if I’m configuring it right to ensure all data is segregated. I don’t want to go all out and implement it into my daily flow until I’m confident it’s configured properly for maximum privacy and security. I also want to add my social media accounts to Firefox. How are you using and configuring Firefox Multi-Account Containers? How do I know it’s installed and configured properly?

What I want to do is to be able to log into three Hotmail/Outlook accounts simultaneously, one Gmail account, one work Microsoft 365 email account, and then my social media accounts. Based on my understanding thus far, I should have one container for each account to ensure all data is segregated and tracking to be as difficult as possible? If my understanding is wrong, please correct me.

Thank you!

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This can be accomplished by creating three unique containers for Hotmail/Outlook. The others, so long as you’re only signing into one account, could be done a variety of ways. Technically, they don’t even need a container.

However, an example of this setup would look something like:

  • Outlook - Primary
  • Outlook - Secondary
  • Outlook - Other
  • Gmail / Social Media
  • Work

I’m sure more knowledgable individuals than I will mention this, but my understanding is that the security benefits of MACs have largely been integrated into Firefox wholesale, no MACs required.

As such, the extension is more of a useability / organization tool at this point. That doesn’t mean there’s no value to the setup, it’s just not necessary anymore for security.

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You know you can have 10 outlook emails per Microsoft account right?

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What do you mean? These are all separate inboxes with different usernames.

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Interesting! Where did you get that info from? I was reading the opposite! So, if I want to keep Facebook and Hotmail separate, then I would need two containers?

Thanks!

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My understanding of Multi-Account Containers (MACs) is that they partition a lot of the data (but not all) between each container, which is what allows you to sign in with different credentials. Essentially, this means session state, cookies, etc.

With regard to security/privacy, this is from the arkenfox wiki:

While third parties are already partitioned with Total Cookie Protection (dFPI), leveraging containers can provide additonal benefits, such as:

  • an extra layer of isolation
  • signing in to multiple accounts on the same site
  • MAC and Mozilla VPN adds advanced VPN and proxy settings

Source: 4.1 Extensions · arkenfox/user.js Wiki · GitHub

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7

Not necessarily. You only need separate containers if you’re logging into different accounts on the same site (i.e., logging into two Yahoo! accounts simultaneously would require two containers). However, most services let you switch the user within the web UI. I’d look into that first, but if they don’t, MACs are a good way around that.

So for Facebook and Hotmail, they can share the same container so long as you’re only logging into one Facebook account and one Hotmail account. That said, it may be more intuitive to create a “Social Media” container and use that for social.

Hope that makes sense!

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8

Firefox is my default browser because of containers. I use them every single day.

There are 2 main extensions for Firefox containers: Firefox Multi-Account Containers and Temporary Containers.

  1. FIREFOX MULTI-ACCOUNT CONTAINERS BY FIREFOX.

This allows you to create containers for accounts that you use frequently. At least that’s what I do.

Single containers for single websites

I have exclusive containers for Twitter, Reddit, BlueSky. That means I have a single container for each of those sites. I also lock those containers.

To do that, go to the container icon > Manager Containers > Select container > Enable "Limit to Designated Sites"

When a container is locked, that means only a Reddit link can be opened in the Reddit container. If I click on a PG link that someone posted on Reddit, it will open a new tab, which for me is the container I have for PG.

One container for multiple websites

I have a container for news subscriptions I have. That means that The Verge, New York Times, and 404 Media all open in my news container because I need to be logged in to read the articles.

Almost all of my containers for grouped sites are also locked. If I click on a YouTube link in a Verge article, it will open in my Google Account container.

Containers that are not locked

I have a container for my Google account, specifically for when I am logged into YouTube and Gmail, which have different domains.

When you create a container for a website, the first time you go to that website after your container is created it, Firefox will ask you if you always want to open that URL in that container. For YouTube.com, I choose yes. For Google.com as in the search engine, I choose no.

Although I almost never use Google search, the rare times that I do, I don’t want to do it in the same container where I am logged into my Google account. That way, my Google searches are not linked to it. Sometimes I do Google searches on Firefox, but I also often do it on Mullvad Browser.

If I want to watch a YouTube video anonymously, or search for a video anonymously, I do it on FreeTube or Mullvad Browser. It’s quite common that YouTube won’t let you watch certain videos unless you are logged into an account and/or your VPN is on. Whenever I encounter that situation, I just download the YouTube video with Stacher, which is an open sourced YouTube downloader.

  1. TEMPORARY CONTAINERS

Temporary Containers is a popular extension that is not made by Firefox, but it is based on FF Containers. It’s a fork of it that allows more customizability. It’s not useful to use it without FF containers installed.

Temporary containers opens every URL that is not assigned to a specific container into a unique Temporary container. They get deleted when you close your browser or when you close a temporary container tab.

If you only use FF container without Temporary containers, FF will behave differently.
I don’t have a container for CNN’s website. If I open a CNN link in a Verge article which is assigned to my News Container, Firefox will open it in a new tab that is not assigned to any container. That means that CNN’s cookies are running loose, and I don’t want that, which is why I use Temporary containers.

With Temporary containers, every tab you open, even an empty one, will create a new temporary container for whatever website you are about to visit. If that website is assigned to a FF container (eg: The Verge), FF will open it in that container (News).

Automatic Mode

By default, when you visit any website in a Temporary container, any URL you click on that website will open in the same temporary container. The means that if I visit CNN’s website in Temporary Container 105, and I click on a BBC News link inside the CNN article, that BBC news link will open in the same temporary container, i.e. Temporary Container 105.

However, I use Temporary Containers in automatic mode, which you can enable in the settings.

In automatic mode, every single URL that is not assigned to a FF container, will open a unique Temporary container. This means that if I visit CNN’s website in Temporary Container 105, and I click on a BBC News link inside the CNN article, that BBC news link will open in a new temporary container, i.e. Temporary Container 106. And if I click on a CNN article inside that BBC article, it will not open in Temporary Container 105, but a new temporary container, ie Temporary Container 107

THINGS I LEARNED FROM MY EXPERIENCE WITH CONTAINERS:

Some accounts don’t require assigned containers.

Amazon and most online shops

I used to have an Amazon container, but I don’t shop on Amazon frequently enough for it to be useful, so I deleted it. Now every time I visit an Amazon website site it’s in a Temporary container, and I am never logged in. If I see something I want to add to my wishlist, I just bookmark it with Raindrop. It’s not linked to my Amazon account.

If I actually need to make a purchase on Amazon, I can log in my account via a Temporary container, but I usually just open an incognito window in Brave.

Banking

It’s the same for my bank accounts. I used to have a banking container for all my banks, but I realized I didn’t need it. Every time I log into a bank account, it’s in a temporary container.

Logging into multiple accounts in the same browser is not that useful for privacy.

Containers allow you to log into 2 Google accounts in the same browser. But is it really that useful if they both use the same IP address? You don’t want any website to know that the same person owns different accounts. It’s better for privacy.

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9

Thanks for taking the time to respond! That’s a good template to take and adapt it for my own use.

In your last paragraph, are you saying it’s best to have a container for each Gmail account or that it’s not necessary and one container for both Gmail accounts? If so, is it possible to do that and sign into two different accounts?

I was just playing around with FF’s MAC. I wanted to pin the containers so that if I restart FF, the containers will reopen immediately. The problem with pinning is that the tab will shrink and just show an icon rather than the text outlining what the tab is.

I thought each container would be its own thing and all cookies and data are isolated. I’m sure this is true. When I go to FF and delete all of my browsing data, I noticed that it affects the containers as well. I’m immediately signed out of my accounts. I thought that delete feature would only affect tabs outside the containers and not for every tab whether it’s in a container or not.

Since the Mullvad browser is based on FF, does it support extensions?

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It does, and thank you for the clarification. Why would you want Hotmail and Facebook in the same container? Wouldn’t that give Meta the ability to track how I interact with Hotmail? I’m not sure if I necessarily want a social media container anymore, since if I lump X with Facebook and TikTok, won’t tracking be a problem? A separate container fo each email or social media account may be a better idea? What do you think? How would you do this?

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Do not use Mullvad for these needs or daily browsing needs (like logging into accounts)
use other browsers for that

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I mean that each Microsoft account is allowed 10 free outlook addresses. The addition 9 that you make act as aliases, and all of them go to the same mailbox.

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You’re welcome! I hope it helps!

To the extent that services like Google, Twitter, and Reddit allow you to manage multiple accounts and switch in between them easily in the same browser and app, it is possible to be logged into 2 Gmail accounts in the same container.

However, most websites don’t let you manage multiple accounts in the same browser/app. For example, if you have 2 PayPal accounts, one for Australia and one for the US, you cannot manage them simultaneously in the same container or the same app. If you are logged into your Australian account, and want to switch to your US account, you will have to log out of the former first.

My opinion is that if privacy is your goal, you do not want to log into multiple Google accounts in the same browser, let alone container, because you don’t want Google to know the same person owns all these accounts.

You can create a separate container for your 2nd Google account, but if you are using the same IP address, you compromise your privacy. If you don’t mind Google knowing that the 2 Google accounts you manage are owned by the same person (e.g.: business & personal), then that’s not a big deal. I personally mind.

Using a VPN to Protect Your Privacy

If privacy is the goal, you need to be careful when you use a VPN with multiple accounts. Suppose you are logged into your first google account, regardless of if it’s in a container or not, and it is using French IP Address 1.

You then open a new container, and change your VPN location to US IP 1, and log into your 2nd Google account. If the container tab for your first Google account is still open, and you are logged in, it will register the change of IP address to US IP 1. And both your Google accounts can be linked to the same IP.

That’s why if you want to avoid Google knowing two accounts have the same owner, it’s important to make sure that all the tabs/windows/containers where you are logged into your first account, are closed before you change IP addresses to log into your 2nd account.

And of course, even if you log into your 2nd Google account in a separate browser like Brave, you want to make sure all the browser windows/tabs where you are logged in your first account are close before you change IP addresses to log in your 2nd account.

When I have to log into a 2nd account, I typically use Mullvad and sometimes Brave in private mode. And or course, I make sure any browser window/tab where I logged in my first account is closed.

I have to admit I don’t use pins. Every time I pinned a tab it was by accident. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Yes. If you delete all your browsing data, you will be logged out of every online account, regardless of if they are assigned to a container or not.

It technically does, but you might have to make some tweaks to make them work because Mullvad will likely block them access. Mullvad is meant to be an ephemeral browser. Every time you close it, it will clear all your data.

I tried installing my password manager’s extension in Mullvad (1Password). It’s the one extension I would like in it. The installation went fine, but I couldn’t get it to work. I’m sure there are some settings I can change, but I didn’t bother looking too much into it. I accept that Mullvad is meant to protect me and if I have to log into an account, I just copy and paste the credentials from 1Password’s desktop app.

Which extension did you want in Mullvad?

Firefox Containers is completely unnecessary for it. Using Mullvad is like using any browser in private mode, but with even more protections/restrictions. If you open Firefox in private mode, you won’t have any containers because it’s in private mode. There’s no need for containers. All your data will be deleted once you close the window.

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Is there any real evidence that Temporary Containers is trustworthy?

I like the idea, yet it gets a lot of access.

For that matter, I have to wonder about Firefox also

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Considering that a lot of websites require signing in these days, what’s a good use case for the Mullvad browser then?

16

Oh, thank you, but I already have two Microsoft accounts with two email addresses. So it’s two inboxes.

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I would at a minimum like to use Bitwarden with Mullvad to make signing into accounts easier. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but the Bitwarden app on Windows seems to redirect me to the browser.

So you don’t think it’s a good idea to even have separate containers for YouTube and Gmail?

Or one container for Facebook and another container for Instagram?

Here’s something that I noticed. I have a container pinned. I did what you said and checked the setting to force all new tabs to be opened within the same container. With Hotmail and Proton Mail, I noticed that a new tab is opened on the other side of the browser. I do see the same container panel, but the pinned container is blank. Strange behaviour and not a huge deal, but it does make it hard to organize things. It would be great if the new tab in the container is opened adjacent to the pinned tab. This way all yellow tabs/containers are grouped together. Not sure if I’m doing anything else or not.

I wish there was a way to clear all of the data and cookies within the containers and not having to do so individually. Not a huge fan that the global clear data button deletes everything including within the containers.

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From the Reviews ( Reviews for Temporary Containers – Add-ons for Firefox (en-US) )

Unfortunately, the developer of this wonderful add-on passed away in 2023 (@stoically). Another user is now maintaining a fork which users can find under the name Temporary Containers Plus. Memory eternal!

Notably, the most recent update was Feb 8 2021:

https://github.com/stoically/temporary-containers/releases/tag/v1.9.2

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For your convenience, this is the link to the current fork, Temporary Containers Plus, and that’s about as far as I’m going down this particular rabbit hole

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-containers-plus/

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Any web activity that doesn’t require signing in to an account, such as googling or watching YouTube videos.