How to Enable Tracking Protection on Opera
If you're concerned about your online privacy, enabling tracking protection on Opera might be just what you need. With this feature, you can block unwanted trackers and prevent them from collecting your data. In this article, you'll learn everything you need to know about tracking protection in Opera, how to enable it on both desktop and mobile devices, as well as how to customize its settings to fit your needs.
Understanding Tracking Protection
What is Tracking Protection?
Tracking protection is a feature in web browsers that aims to block online trackers. These are scripts that collect data on your browsing activity and can be used to build a profile of your interests, demographics, and online behavior. While some websites use trackers for benign purposes, such as analytics or personalization, others can be more invasive and use your data for targeted advertising or other nefarious purposes.
Tracking protection works by blocking third-party cookies, which are small pieces of data that are stored on your computer by websites that you visit. These cookies can be used to track your browsing activity across multiple sites, allowing advertisers and other entities to build a detailed profile of your online behavior. By blocking these cookies, tracking protection helps to keep your online activity private and secure.
Why is Tracking Protection Important?
Tracking protection is important because it helps to preserve your online privacy. By blocking online trackers, you reduce the amount of data that can be collected about you, making it more difficult for third-party entities to build a profile of your online activity. Additionally, tracking protection can prevent you from being served with targeted ads or scams that may be tailored to your browsing history or personal information.
Another reason why tracking protection is important is that it can help to improve your browsing experience. By blocking online trackers, you may notice that web pages load faster and that your browser runs more smoothly. This is because tracking scripts can often slow down your browsing experience by consuming system resources and slowing down page load times.
How Does Tracking Protection Work?
Tracking protection works by blocking third-party cookies and other tracking scripts that are embedded in web pages. When you visit a website, your browser will typically download a number of different resources, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images. Some of these resources may be hosted on third-party servers, such as advertising networks or analytics providers.
When your browser requests these resources, it sends a request to the third-party server asking for the resource to be sent back to your computer. If the server responds with a cookie or other tracking script, your browser will download and store it on your computer. This is how online trackers are able to collect data on your browsing activity.
Tracking protection works by blocking these requests and preventing the cookies and tracking scripts from being downloaded and stored on your computer. This helps to keep your browsing activity private and secure, and can also improve your browsing experience by reducing the amount of data that needs to be downloaded and processed.
Enabling Tracking Protection on Opera Desktop
Step-by-Step Guide for Windows and macOS
Enabling tracking protection on Opera desktop is a simple process. Here's how to do it in just a few steps:
Open Opera and click on the "Menu" icon in the top-left corner of the window.
Click on "Settings" from the dropdown menu.
Scroll down to the "Privacy & security" section and click on "Cookies and other site data".
Select "Block third-party cookies" from the dropdown menu.
Under the "Privacy" section, turn on "Enhanced protection" to enable tracking protection.
Step-by-Step Guide for Linux
The process for enabling tracking protection on Opera for Linux is similar to that for Windows and macOS:
Open Opera and click on the "Menu" icon in the top-left corner of the window.
Click on "Settings" from the dropdown menu.
Scroll down to the "Privacy & security" section and click on "Cookies and site data".
Select "Block third-party cookies" from the dropdown menu.
Under the "Privacy" section, turn on "Enhanced protection" to enable tracking protection.
Enabling Tracking Protection on Opera Mobile
Step-by-Step Guide for Android
Enabling tracking protection on Opera for Android is just as easy as on desktop. Here's how:
Open Opera for Android and tap on the "Menu" icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Tap on "Settings" from the bottom-left corner of the screen.
Scroll down to the "Privacy & security" section and tap on "Tracker blocker".
Toggle the switch to turn on tracking protection.
Step-by-Step Guide for iOS
If you're an iOS user, you can also enable tracking protection on Opera for your mobile device:
Open the Opera browser app on your iOS device and tap on the "Menu" icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Tap on "Settings" from the bottom-left corner of the screen.
Scroll down to the "Privacy & security" section and tap on "Tracker blocker".
Toggle the switch to activate tracking protection.
Customizing Tracking Protection Settings
Choosing Your Preferred Blocking Level
Depending on your browsing habits, you may want to adjust the level of blocking set by Opera's tracking protection feature. You can choose between three levels: Basic, Balanced, and Strict. Here's how to change your blocking level:
Open Opera and click on the "Menu" icon in the top-left corner of the window.
Click on "Settings" from the dropdown menu.
Scroll down and select "Advanced" from the list on the left-hand side of the screen.
Click on "Privacy & security".
Scroll down to the "Tracker blocking" section and select your preferred blocking level.
Managing Exceptions for Specific Websites
If you want to allow tracking on specific websites, you can create exceptions so that Opera's tracking protection doesn't block them. Here's how:
Open Opera and click on the "Menu" icon in the top-left corner of the window.
Click on "Settings" from the dropdown menu.
Scroll down and select "Advanced" from the list on the left-hand side of the screen.
Click on "Privacy & security".
Scroll down to the "Exceptions" section and click on "Add a rule".
Add the domain of the website you want to create an exception for and select your preferred tracking protection settings for that site.
Verifying Tracking Protection is Working
Using Opera's Built-in Tracker Blocker Indicator
Once you've enabled tracking protection, it's important to verify that it's working as expected. Opera has a built-in tracker blocker indicator that lets you know if a tracker has been blocked on a website. Here's how to access it:
Open a website in Opera.
Look for the purple shield icon in the address bar.
If the shield icon has a number next to it, it means that Opera has blocked that many trackers on the site.
Testing with Third-Party Tools
If you want to test tracking protection more thoroughly, there are several third-party tools available that can help you do so. Some popular options include Disconnect, Privacy Badger, and Ghostery. These tools can give you a more detailed report on the types of trackers being blocked and their impact on your browsing experience.
Conclusion
Enabling tracking protection on Opera is a simple yet effective way to safeguard your online privacy and reduce your exposure to unwanted trackers. Whether you're using Opera on desktop or mobile devices, these steps will help you to get started with tracking protection. Remember that you can also customize the settings and monitor the feature's performance to ensure it's working effectively.