14 DAY TRIAL // The most recent snapshot version of Vivaldi browser comes with a built-in tracking blocker that enhances your privacy when going online.
And while this is just an early version that will be significantly refined in the coming updates, the addition of a tracking blocker in Vivaldi is without a doubt good news, especially because it’s supposed to further block sites from tracking you as you browse the web. Tracking blockers have been around for some time in other browsers, but Vivaldi says its own will work a little bit different.
“This approach of completely blocking connections to trackers goes beyond what most major browsers are doing, which is just stopping trackers from setting cookies and limiting their access to browser resources after connecting to them,” the team that made this feature happen explained.
“The connection itself leaves you open to many types of tracking (e.g., by exposing your IP address and recording your browsing history in the process), and to really be protected they should be blocked outright.”
The Vivaldi tracking blocker is powered by DuckDuckGo and the list of known trackers is borrowed from the DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, which uses information collected from DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar.
Since this is just an early version of the tracking blocker, it doesn’t make much sense to review it, but anyone can give it a try anyway by installing the most recent snapshot release.
However, what’s worth knowing is that the tracking blocker doesn’t come enabled by default. If you want to enable it per each site, load a page and then click the shield icon to the left of the address bar.
“This will mean that the first time you go to the site they can track you, but without the ability to do so on future visits, it will be harder to build a profile of your behaviour online,” Vivaldi explains.
Of course, you can also enable the tracking blocker for absolutely all websites, as the browser already comes with dedicated settings in this regard. To do this, fire up Vivaldi and head over to:
Settings > Privacy > Content Blocker > Tracking Blocker
- Block trackers on all sites
- Block trackers on “Always Block” list only
Additionally, you can define your own websites that you want to always block and to exclude from the filters.
Just like any other tracking blocker, Vivaldi’s could break down some websites since certain code is restricted from running, so it’s essential to send feedback to the company to help further refine this feature before it goes live for everyone.
“We do not currently block tracking by default, though we may change this in the future depending on your feedback and testing. We are remaining cautious for the time being, as blocking resources has the potential to cause issues,” Vivaldi says.
There’s no ETA as to when this feature could be promoted to the stable version of Vivaldi, and this makes perfect sense. Since it’s just an early version of the blocker, it could take a while until further polishing is added, so the team needs to make sure that everything’s working correctly before rolling it out to everyone.
In the meantime, if you want a tracking blocker in the stable version of Vivaldi, your best choice is to just install the DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials extension that is available for all Chromium-powered browsers. Given it uses the same list, it should be just as effective as Vivaldi’s own blocker, only that you need to install it manually in the browser.
