Block Trackers and Ads on desktop

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Vivaldi does not track your activities in the browser and on the web. In addition, it can protect your browsing experience from those who do.

Trackers collect information about your activities on websites and based on that compile profiles, which are then shared and used, for example, for targeted advertising. Many ads online use the same technology as trackers.

Vivaldi’s built-in Ad and Tracker Blocker blocks these tracker and ads, allowing you to browser more privately, safely, and faster. It does it by relying on a list of URLs known to track and distribute ads and stops requests to those URLs before they are sent.

Blocking Levels

Out of the box, there are 4 blocking levels.

• Off – Ad and Tracker Blocker is disabled and nothing is blocked.
• Light – Most trackers and some ads are blocked. Doesn’t cause issues with websites.
• Strong – Blocks more trackers and ads than the Light level, but some sites may break.
• Aggressive – Blocks almost all trackers and ads. Some websites will not work as expected.

To change the default blocking level:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker.
2. Select your preferred level.

When you’ve just installed Vivaldi, you can also select the blocking level during onboarding.

Blocking level per website

It’s best to select a default that works for most websites you visit, but there will always be exceptions. You may want to go with a light level for your bank’s website and enable maximum blocking for the site that is so full of ads it’s hard to see where the main content is.

To change the blocking level on a specific website:

Option 1

1. Go to the website.
2. Click the Site info button on the left side of the Address Field.
3. Click on the blocking level you want to set for the website.

Option 2

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker > Exceptions.
2. Click on Add Site Exception.
3. Enter the website’s URL.
4. Select the blocking level.

To remove a website from Exceptions:

Option 1

1. Go to the website you want to remove from exceptions.
2. Click the Site info button on the left side of the Address Field.
3. Click on the default blocking level (has a dot in front of the name).

Option 2

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker > Exceptions.
2. Click on the website you want to remove from exceptions.
3. Click Remove site exception at the bottom of the Exceptions list.

Custom Blocking Levels

You can also create your own custom blocking levels with custom settings.

To add a new blocking level:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker.
2. Click Add Custom Blocking Level.
3. Give the level a name and a description.
4. Select which blocking sources should be used on that level.
   In Additional Rule Lists, you can enable Custom Lists you’ve added yourself and/or Regional Lists.
5. Click OK to create the level.

To delete a custom level:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker.
2. Click Delete Custom Blocking Level in the top right corner of the list’s card.

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Customize Blocking Levels

In addition to making exceptions for websites, you can fine tune the blocker by customizing each blocking level. You can review and make changes to the blocking options and enable additional rule lists.

To edit a blocking level:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker.
2. Hover over the level you want to update.
3. Click Edit.
4. Make the changes.
5. Click OK.

To reset a blocking level back to default:

Option 1

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker.
2. Hover over the level you want to update.
3. Click Edit.
4. Click Reset to Deafult.

Option 2

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker.
2. Right-click on a blocking level.
3. Select Reset to Default from the menu.

Blocking Options

While you have the blocking level editor open, you can hover over a list in Blocking Options. You’ll see a little clickable arrow. It opens a menu with a bit of information about the list and options to refresh the list, copy its origin URL, and visit the list maintainer’s website. Alternatively, you can right-click on the list to see the options. The latter option, also works on Additional Rule Lists.

Document blocking also blocks pages which match blocking rules, if those pages are loaded either directly, or loaded as a redirect. This is most commonly encountered when a link redirects via a tracker.

Ads and tracking resources can be blocked no matter what website they appear on, or they can optionally be loaded when you load the ad/tracking website directly. This is controlled by the Same Origin Blocking setting. If it is disabled, then when you visit an ad/tracker producer’s website, it will allow ads/trackers to load from their own website.

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Custom Lists

If you’ve found a blocking list that’s not included in Vivaldi by default or you’ve created one of your own, you can add them to Vivaldi’s Ad and Tracker Blocker.

To add a custom blocker list:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker.
2. Edit one of the blocking levels.
3. Go to Additional Rule Lists.
4. At the bottom of the Custom Lists section, click on Add List.
5. If the list is hosted online, enter its URL. If it’s a local file on your computer, click Import Blocker List File and find the file.
6. Select a group for the list.
7. Review and edit additional settings.
8. Click Import.
9. When the import has finished, click Done.
10. Enable the list for the levels you want to use it on.

To delete a custom list:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad and Tracker Blocker.
2. Edit one of the blocking levels.
3. Go to Additional Rule Lists.
4. Select the list you want to remove.
5. At the bottom of the Custom Lists section, click Remove List.

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Privacy Report

If you’re curious about how well the Ad and Tracker Blocker in Vivaldi is working, you can see how many tracking attempts it has blocked. The Privacy Report gives you a good overview and a reality check of how much tracking is done by websites online.

To view the report:

Option 1

1. Add a Privacy Report Widget to your Start Page.
2. Click on the widget to open the full report.

Option 2

1. Go to the website.
2. Click the Site info button on the left side of the Address Field.
3. Click Privacy Report at the bottom of the menu.

Option 3

Use a shortcut:

• Type “Show Privacy Report” in Quick Commands.
• Create a Keyboard Shortcut or a Mouse Gesture for the command.

In addition to seeing how many tracking requests Vivaldi has blocked overall, you can see this information also for each website.

To view statistics per website:

1. Go to the website.
2. Click the Site info button on the left side of the Address Field.
3. Near the bottom of the menu you can see the number of requests that have been blocked.
4. Click on it to see detailed information.

If you don’t see any information, it means that there were no trackers to block or that blocking on the site has been disabled.