# How are you using and configuring Firefox Multi-Account Containers? **URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/how-are-you-using-and-configuring-firefox-multi-account-containers/34407 **Category:** Questions **Created:** 2026-01-04T01:46:11Z **Posts:** 33 ## Post 1 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-01-04T01:46:11Z 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! --- ## Post 2 by @SunDevil311 — 2026-01-04T06:17:19Z > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > 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. 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. --- ## Post 3 by @velsolus — 2026-01-04T06:48:39Z You know you can have 10 outlook emails per Microsoft account right? --- ## Post 4 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-01-04T08:30:03Z What do you mean? These are all separate inboxes with different usernames. --- ## Post 5 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-01-04T08:39:35Z 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! --- ## Post 6 by @SunDevil311 — 2026-01-04T09:04:34Z 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](https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/wiki/4.1-Extensions) --- ## Post 7 by @SunDevil311 — 2026-01-04T09:11:17Z 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! --- ## Post 8 by @PurpleDime — 2026-01-04T10:30:46Z 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**.](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/) 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](http://YouTube.com), I choose yes. For [Google.com](http://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**](https://stacher.io/), which is an open sourced YouTube downloader. 1. [**TEMPORARY CONTAINERS**](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/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](https://raindrop.io/). 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. --- ## Post 9 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-01-04T13:17:49Z 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? --- ## Post 10 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-01-04T13:21:59Z 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? --- ## Post 11 by @anon39279085 — 2026-01-04T15:27:06Z Do not use Mullvad for these needs or daily browsing needs (like logging into accounts) use other browsers for that --- ## Post 12 by @velsolus — 2026-01-04T17:22:43Z 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. --- ## Post 13 by @PurpleDime — 2026-01-04T17:51:19Z > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > Thanks for taking the time to respond! You’re welcome! I hope it helps! > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > 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? 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. > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > 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 have to admit I don’t use pins. Every time I pinned a tab it was by accident. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > When I go to FF and delete all of my browsing data, I noticed that it affects the containers as well. 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. > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > Since the Mullvad browser is based on FF, does it support extensions? 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. --- ## Post 14 by @knuckles — 2026-01-04T22:21:44Z 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 --- ## Post 15 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-01-05T04:50:49Z Considering that a lot of websites require signing in these days, what’s a good use case for the Mullvad browser then? --- ## Post 16 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-01-05T04:51:37Z Oh, thank you, but I already have two Microsoft accounts with two email addresses. So it’s two inboxes. --- ## Post 17 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-01-05T04:59:19Z 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. --- ## Post 19 by @knuckles — 2026-01-05T11:07:40Z From the Reviews ( [Reviews for Temporary Containers – Add-ons for Firefox (en-US)](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-containers/reviews/?score=5) ) > 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](https://github.com/stoically/temporary-containers/releases/tag/v1.9.2) --- ## Post 20 by @knuckles — 2026-01-05T11:27:23Z 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/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-containers-plus/) --- ## Post 21 by @ImTooPhaT — 2026-01-05T11:40:59Z > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > Considering that a lot of websites require signing in these days, what’s a good use case for the Mullvad browser then? Any web activity that doesn’t require signing in to an account, such as googling or watching YouTube videos. --- ## Post 22 by @ImTooPhaT — 2026-01-05T11:57:09Z I use virtual machines for e-mails and social media, and I use separate containers for them. On my host OS, I mainly use Firefox for self-hosting and everything else would have their own containers. You can achieve the same thing by creating multiple profiles e.g. Personal profile with personal e-mail and social media containers, work profile with work e-mail and social media containers, etc. --- ## Post 23 by @PurpleDime — 2026-01-05T12:20:10Z > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > I would at a minimum like to use Bitwarden with Mullvad to make signing into accounts easier. I agree that being able to at least have your password manager in Mullvad would be great. I believe there is a way to enable it, but I don’t know how as I haven’t looked much into it. If memory serves me well, I believe @henry-fisher from TechLore managed to get his password manager to work in Mullvad. > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > So you don’t think it’s a good idea to even have separate containers for YouTube and Gmail? Unless you use YouTube anonymously, with no account linked to it, no, I do not think it’s a good idea to have separate containers for YouTube and Gmail. I have one main Google account, which is tied to my personal identity. It’s the account I use for both Gmail and YouTube, and pretty much the only Google account I use on a day-to-day basis because I watch YouTube videos every day. If you use one account for both Gmail and YouTube, you can’t put them in separate containers. It is simply not possible. > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > I wish there was a way to clear all of the data and cookies within the containers and not having to do so individually. **Do you mean deleting all the data in a single container?** If yes, that’s possible. **There are 2 methods:** **1) Delete website from container** _Click on container icon \> Manage containers \> Select Container \> Manage Site List \> Delete websites you don’t want in container._ _**2) Delete Container**_ _Click on container icon \> Manage containers \> Delete this container_ This will delete the container, and hence remove all the sites linked to this container. I hope this helps. --- ## Post 24 by @nikwunu — 2026-01-06T15:02:16Z I think containers are neat but i don’t use them because clearing site data in browser settings doesn’t just clear the uncontainerized tabs, but the container tabs as well. --- ## Post 25 by @ImTooPhaT — 2026-01-06T15:26:25Z You can disable browsing history and add cookie exceptions. That way, your browser doesn’t store any cookies except for the cookies you want. --- ## Post 27 by @velsolus — 2026-01-06T19:24:28Z Well the option is there. I prefer to do it this way and only have one Microsoft account in case they start being a pain in the ass like Google and become desperate to get my phone number --- ## Post 28 by @overuse — 2026-03-20T10:42:30Z well put , and on top of it you can go for new proxy for each container , you can either go with mozilla vpn (which uses mullvad servers) , or you can set it up manually using socks (ivpn , mullvad ) or https proxy . I still havent found a way to open temporary containers in random proxy , maybe someone else can help with that , it would be very close to Tor without sacrificing speed and getting captchas every minute --- ## Post 29 by @overuse — 2026-04-09T05:22:16Z > **[Release beta-2.1.1 · GodKratos/temporary-containers](https://github.com/GodKratos/temporary-containers/releases/tag/beta-2.1.1)** > > Fixed proxy authentication working great , new container gets new random ip (from provided list of proxies) --- ## Post 30 by @Machkiel — 2026-04-12T11:14:54Z I have been experimenting with Multi-Account Containers and Tor’s SocksPort, creating a unique SocksPort port for each Multi-Account Container. For example, in Tor’s “torrc”: ``` ## SocksPort 192.168.0.11:9200 is for Firefox - Weather SocksPort 192.168.0.11:9200 ``` For example, in Firefox Multi-Account Containers \> Manage Containers \> (select container) \> Advanced proxy settings: ``` socks://192.168.0.11:9200 ``` This appears to be working well, and it should provide Tor Stream Isolation for each Multi-Account Container. --- ## Post 31 by @jackrm — 2026-04-12T14:44:05Z > [@iluvprivacy](#): > > 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. For example, I use one Container for personal pages in which I trust: mastodon, this forum, disroot…, other container only for my Telegram account, other only for Google products: gmail, maps, etc, another container only for tutamail, another one for press pages who share cookies with other partners, other container for shopping pages and paypal and other one for my banking pages. It’s easy to configure in Firefox in which container must open each page. --- ## Post 32 by @Cobson — 2026-04-14T14:25:44Z Does it make sense to use Multi Account containers and Temporary Containers (in Auto Mode) at the same time with Librewolf/Arkenfox? (trying both of them out, haven’t decided yet) By default LW doesn’t store any cookies, I manually allow them for websites where I want to stay logged in + make their own container. Does my set up make sense or is it redundant? I’ve literally just discovered these two extensions thanks to this thread so I’m not really sure on howto use or configure them. --- ## Post 33 by @dada_goose — 2026-04-14T15:23:00Z I’m also trying to figure out if there’s any benefit here. I really like the idea of MACs, but it feels a bit like they might not be super useful anymore, they increase my surface area for attacks and potentially give Mozilla permission to see my data in a way they otherwise wouldn’t. Not sure if any of those are valid concerns but I haven’t installed them for the moment, I just use the default containers in Firefox browser.