Firefox for Android and iOS gets a new home page while Firefox 94 for desktops picks up performance, behavior tweaks

Mozilla is brining a new home page experience to the mobile version of its Firefox web browser. Now when you launch the browser or view a new tab you’ll be greeted by more personalized info.

At the top of the screen you’ll find the usual list of “top sites” pinned to the top of the screen. But there’s new stuff below that, whether you want them or not.

First, there’s a Jump back in section that will let you re-open your last opened browser tab without the need to dig through your browser history.

Below that there’s a Recent searches section, with searches conducted from the browser sorted by topic. Mozilla says this is an Android-specific feature, and search info will be saved for up to 14 days.

Mozilla is also adding recently saved bookmarks to the home page, and if you use a Firefox account to sync your desktop and mobile browsers, recently saved bookmarks from your desktop will show up on your mobile device.

And the company says it’s introducing a clutter free tabs experience that will hide inactive tabs that you haven’t viewed in 14 days. This offers users who like to open a bunch of tabs for reading later the ability to keep doing that, while also not cluttering their view indefinitely. Unviewed tabs will be put in an inactive state, which means they’re still saved but they won’t take up visual space until you’re ready to view them and/or close them. This feature is rolling out first to Android, but Mozilla says it’s coming to iOS “in the coming months.”

Finally, Mozilla says that it will allow you to customize the recommended articles from Pocket by selecting which topics you’re interested in seeing. This is another Android-now, iOS-later feature.

For desktop users, Firefox 94 is now rolling out for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Among other changes to the desktop browser:

• The Mac version of the browser now uses low power mode when watching full screen video on YouTube and Twitch in order to extend battery life.
• Users can open about:unloads in the location bar to release system resources by manually unloading tabs without closing them.

• Firefox for Windows will download and install browser updates in the background instead of prompting you, resulting in fewer interruptions.
• Windows 11 users can also take advantage of the new Snap Layouts menus with Firefox.
• Site isolation will help protect against side-channel attacks like Spectre.
• Firefox will no longer warn you by default when you exit the browser using a menu, button, or three-key command.