Tracker blocking
What are trackers?
There are proprietary or third-party cookies. The latter are called trackers.
Proprietary cookies are small files that the browser uses to record data about the sites you've visited. Sites use cookies to recognize users. For example, to avoid asking for their username and password every time they visit the site.
Trackers (or third-party cookies) are small pieces of the website software code. When you open a site, trackers load automatically, collect information (such as location, device type, or IP address), and send it back to their owner. A tracker can be hosted both by the site administrator and by site partners. For example, the site that you're viewing has an ad banner from http://www.example.org. This banner sends your browser a cookie that stores information about your activity on the site. If you visit another site with an ad banner from http://www.example.org, the ad network makes a connection between these visits.
Why are trackers useful?
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A site owner can use trackers to estimate how many visitors the site gets, what regions they're from, and what devices they use. This data can help them optimize the site for audience needs.
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Trackers let you use the same username or social network widget on several sites.
Trackers from sites that you visited yourself (such as social networks) are most likely used in good faith.
Examples of malicious use
- Malicious tracker owners may collect the personal data that you enter on a website, such as your phone number or email address, and sell it to third parties. As a result, you may receive emails with unwanted ads or get annoying calls from advertisers who you never gave your phone number to.
We consider malicious data tracking to be a violation of your privacy. To protect you, Yandex Browser has developed a special YTP technology that's part of the Protect security system.
What is YTP?
Your Tracking Protection (YTP) is a technology that restricts trackers. By using it, you can choose which resources to trust with your data.
YTP has a simple underlying principle: only the websites that you've visited before are allowed to run trackers. Only these sites can transfer your data from site to site and show you relevant ads. If you haven't visited a website for 45 days, Yandex Browser starts blocking its trackers.
Advertising allows site owners to receive income, and you don't have to pay for viewing their sites. Yandex aims to find a balance between free services and unobtrusive ads.
This way, you can continue using the internet in a way that's convenient for you (such as use the same login on different sites), while sites can support themselves financially without using irrelevant ads that bother users.
Pages where trackers are blocked load much faster.
You can also use the YTP technology to find out what trackers are running on a page and block the ones that you don't trust.
Block trackers on a site
After loading the page, you can find out how many trackers have been blocked on it. To do this:
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Tap
→ About the site. -
The Tracker blocking option will indicate the number of blocked trackers.
Block before visiting the site
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Tap
→ About the site → Tracker blocking. -
To the right of the tracker, tap
→ Block.
The tracker will be blocked until your next visit to the site that it belongs to.
Block permanently
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Tap
→ About the site → Tracker blocking. -
To the right of the tracker, tap
→ Block permanently.
The tracker will be blocked until you cancel the block.
Unblock
If the tracker is blocked, you can unblock it until your next visit to the site or permanently:
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Tap
→ About the site → Tracker blocking. -
To the right of the tracker, tap
and select Unblock or Unblock permanently.
If the tracker is unblocked, the Revoke permission option will block it until your next visit to its domain.
If the site doesn't work without trackers
Some sites can't function properly without using third-party cookies. For example, you purchase a ticket online, but then you can't choose your seat because that part of the site stops working. If the site doesn't work, try to disable tracker blocking completely:
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Tap
→ About the site → Tracker blocking. -
In the Tracking protection window, tap Site not working?
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Tap Allow third-party cookies.
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Tap Refresh to reload the page.
To re-enable tracking protection:
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Tap
→ About the site → Tracker blocking. -
In the Tracking protection window, tap Site not working?
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Tap Do not allow.
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Tap Refresh to reload the page.