What you need to know
- Firefox has released a major redesign for its browser.
- The experience is rolling out to macOS, iOS, and iPadOS starting today.
Firefox has launched a major redesign to its browser on the Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
In a blog post, Mozilla has announced a fresh new look for Firefox across both the desktop and mobile. The update is designed to make the using the browser "fast and distraction-free" and also adds some new privacy features.
Even though we're in the web browser business, we know you don't go online to look at Firefox, it's more that you look through Firefox to get to everything on the open web. In today's major release, Firefox sports a fresh new design that gets you where you're going online, fast and distraction-free. And since we're all about privacy, we're also expanding integrated privacy protections in Firefox, so you feel safe and free to be yourself online thanks to fewer eyes following you across the web.
The main design refreshes focus on brightness, the toolbar, the menu, tabs, and notifications.
Bright and buoyant throughoutThe fresh new Firefox is easy on the eyes, bright and buoyant on screens of all sizes — computers, phones and tablets. A new icon set, crisp typography and thoughtful spacing throughout all reflect a modern aesthetic for 2021.Streamlined toolbar and menusThe toolbar is naturally where you start every web visit. It's the place where you type a URL to go somewhere online. After web page content, it's what you look at most in Firefox. The new toolbar is simplified and clutter-free so you get to the good stuff effortlessly.Menus are where key Firefox actions and commands live. We've consolidated extra menus to reduce clutter and be more intuitive through the three bars menu in the upper right or by right-clicking to activate it on your computer screen. The new look reorganized and streamlined our menus to put the best actions quickly at your fingertips.A new look for tabsBased on our research, we found out that more than half of you have 4+ tabs open all the time, and some of you have more, a lot more. And we feel that! Tab as much as you like, friends. Tabs got a makeover so they are now gently curved and float above the toolbar. It's an exciting change that also serves as a reminder that tabs aren't stationary. So grab those tabs, move them around and organize them as you like. Tabs also got a glow-up to be a touch brighter when active.🤫 Shhhhhh…. notificationsNo one likes to be interrupted when they're in the flow, but if you must be alerted to something, at least it can look good. We've updated notifications and alerts of all kinds in Firefox to take up less space for less jarring interruptions. Plus, non-essential alerts and messages have been removed altogether. Media autoplay is turned off by default, so you won't be interrupted by a random video blasting unexpectedly. Spotting a noisy tab is easy, and unmuting/muting takes just a quick click on the tab itself.
The company has also added more ways to customize your privacy preferences with more tools and indications of privacy across the web.
The best private browsing mode out thereAll browsers have a private browsing mode, but none match Firefox. The popular Total Cookie Protection moves from the optional strict setting to always-on in private browsing. This feature maintains a separate "cookie jar" for each website you visit while browsing privately. Any time a site deposits a cookie, Firefox locks it up in its own cookie jar so that it can't be shared with any other website.When privacy protections are engaged in Firefox, the shield icon in the toolbar glows subtly indicating that we're working behind the scenes to protect you from nosy trackers. Fun fact: Firefox has blocked more than 6 trillion — that's trillion with a T — trackers since we rolled out enhanced tracking protection, stopping thousands of companies from viewing your online activity.. We're talking about tracking cookies, social media trackers, fingerprinters, cryptominers and more. Go ahead and click on the shield to see who and what Firefox is blocking… you might be surprised by what you find out.
The new design for Firefox is rolling out today. You can download the latest version of Firefox for the desktop from the Firefox website and for iOS or iPadOS on the App Store.
