Advertisement

News

Firefox turns 100: a look at all the new features

Firefox turns 100: a look at all the new features
Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

  • Updated:

Mozilla Firefox is a great web browser and has been for a very long time. The app is now at version 100, meaning it has received 100 full updates since it first launched back in 2004. It’s a good job Mozilla was able to fix any potential Y2K-like issues related to the extra digit in the Firefox update number.

Mozilla Firefox Download Now

Back when it launched, Firefox was seen as the hot new kid on the block that had a chance to break through Microsoft Internet Explorer’s dominance of the market. Now that market dominance belongs to the Google Chrome browser that sits atop a crowded field that now includes the likes of Microsoft Edge and Safari. Firefox is still here though and is still innovating, so let’s dive into all the new features.

The first major new update coming to Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of the browser is the addition of subtitles and caption support to the Picture-in-Picture video feature that Mozilla added to Firefox back in 2019. To start with the feature works with Netflix, Prime Video, and YouTube meaning you can easily browse the internet while watching content on any of those platforms silently. You can in essence read what is going on in the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills while shopping for the shoes and handbags featured on the show at the office without anybody ever knowing!

The next big update comes to Firefox on mobile with the addition of new browser wallpapers. If you are an Android user, you should already have access to these new wallpapers with iOS users getting access sometime next week.

Another update to land on the mobile version of the app comes in the form of new clutter-free interfaces on history and tabs. For your browser history, Mozilla is adding an interesting feature that will actually group all related sites together. If we take our office shopping spree for fabulous shoes and bags as an example, the new Firefox features will group all visited sites browsed while searching for shoes into one tab and all the handbag sites into another. There will also be no more duplicate sites in your history either, which should make it much easier to navigate.

Tabs are another modern web browser feature that can easily get out of hand, particularly on mobile, and Mozilla is helping you deal with that through a new “Inactive Tabs” section. All open tabs that haven’t been used for 14 days will be moved to the new inactive section where you can easily re-activate or close them en masse.

The final brand-new feature is the HTTPS-only mode, which should help keep you safe online by automatically opting you into the more secure protocol. This new feature only comes to the Android version of Firefox, however, so iPhone users won’t be getting it.

If you like the sound of these updates, you should read our 4 ways to set Mozilla Firefox as your default browser guide.

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney is a news reporter for Softonic, keeping readers up to date on everything affecting their favorite apps and programs. His beat includes social media apps and sites like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Patrick also covers antivirus and security issues, web browsers, the full Google suite of apps and programs, and operating systems like Windows, iOS, and Android.

Latest from Patrick Devaney

Editorial Guidelines