We set out in 2021 to reinvent the design of Firefox to be fast, modern and inviting the first time you run it and every day after. We have always had your back on privacy, and still do. Now with the new version of Firefox, we also bring you a new modern look designed to streamline and calm things down so that you have a new web experience every time you use Firefox.

We live in a hectic time, where people are facing difficult changes in our daily lives and difficult to solve problems are popping up everywhere. We believe the browser should be software you can rely on, fun to watch, and work seamlessly with the web.

We’re also on a mission to save you time, whether that’s by speeding up page loading, using less memory, or streamlining daily browser use. Good design is invisible. So if things are working out, you don’t really think about it. But a ton of thought has been put into the flow. Our users who have tried the new Firefox said, the fact that I was using a new web browser faded into the background of my consciousness. And that’s exactly what we were looking for.

Today’s desktop and mobile versions represent the intentional and thoughtful touches we’ve made to give you a safe, calm, and useful online experience. We’ve made these changes with you and your online habits in mind. Check for yourself:

The new Firefox overhaulToday Firefox gets you where you want to go online

Here’s a quick and easy breakdown of what you’ll find:

For starters, we’ve cleaned up the amount of stuff that needs your attention, from prompts and notifications to actions on the menu bar.

• Simplified and hassle-free navigation: The first step to going anywhere online is the toolbar, just type in the URL and hit Enter / Enter, and voila. In some ways, this area serves as your car’s dashboard that you look at every time you get behind the wheel. We’ve kept it simple and focused on these three key toolbar areas: 1) Navigation ?? back, forward and refresh 2) Address bar ?? privacy shield (so you know your ambient information is always protected), security lock and where to type your URL. 3) Frequently used settings ?? reader mode, zoom level and bookmark. Our intention was to make it easier for people to focus on the items frequently used in this area and to get to where they needed to go easily.
• Simplified and clutter-free menus: There are many ways to access your preferences and settings, and we found the two most popular ways to be: 1) the hamburger menu ?? button on the far right with three equal horizontal lines ?? and 2) the context menu. So we prioritized the content based on what people clicked on when they visited the menu. We’ve made the labels less cryptic and clear and easier to understand, and we’ve removed some icons to make it easier for people to see at a glance where they want to go.
• New tab design inspired by productivity: Tabs. We use them every day. They signal where you are, but we need them to do more work. Everything from conveying information about the video that’s playing to where your next Zoom meeting is. It’s no surprise that over 50% of people have 4 or more tabs open. We’ve redesigned these tabs to float perfectly, and we’ve added visual indicators, like blocking videos from autoplaying until you’re ready to visit that tab. We’ve detached the browser tab to invite you to move, rearrange, and extract tabs in a new window to suit your flow, and organize them so they’re easier to find.
• We silenced the notifications: Your web experience shouldn’t be hampered by a bunch of notifications, and if there’s something you need to know about, it should look good and not be a distraction. You’ll see the consolidated panels so you can respond faster and get back to why you were online more quickly. We’ve specifically reduced some of the frustration and new prompts associated with entering and leaving Google Meet meetings. With this clean interface, you can access all your web calls and meetings with fewer clicks.
• All new Firefox for iOS: And we took care to pay attention to the keys, especially on Apple devices. The enhanced iPhone and iPad experience includes a modernized, optimized and differentiated Firefox user interface. We’ve reduced the search steps in a new tab by automatically showing the keyboard, emphasizing the ability to perform quick searches with the search engine logo, and adding the add function. You’ll see improved navigation around the app with new tab views and moved synced tabs to the tab bar for better visibility on any device. We’ve updated design elements like iconography and menu item names to be consistent across our desktop platforms and Firefox for Android.

17 billion clicks prompted us to create a new Firefox

As you can see, for the past couple of months we’ve been obsessed with everything from the icons you click to the address bar to the navigation buttons and menus you use. When we embarked on this browser redesign journey, we started by taking a closer look at where people spent their time in the Firefox browser. We needed to know which clicks led to an action and whether people accomplished what they intended to do when they clicked. For a month, we took a close look at the parts of the browser that “caused joy”? for the people, and the parts that weren’t.

We learned there was an opportunity to create a more streamlined environment to get people where they needed to go with fewer clicks and distractions. Our goal was to get people to their destinations faster, with the fewest clicks. Based on our user data, we observed how people use Firefox to access their online destinations:

In one month, there are 17 billion clicks in the Firefox browser. Of those 17 billion clicks, there were three main areas in the browser they visited:

• Tab bar ?? About 43% of clicks go to the top of the browser where they can open as many tabs as they want
• Navigation bar ?? About 33% of clicks go to the area below the tab bar where users can move forward, backward, or refresh; and add the url in the address bar, as well as other functions on the navigation bar
• Ba bookmarkr ?? About 5% of clicks go to the section where people bookmark their frequently visited place

Another area we observed was the menu area. Previously we had three menus: the context menu, the meatball menu (it appears as three dots at the end of the address bar), and the hamburger menu (it appears as three lines parallel to the far right of the address bar). The two popular menus were the context menu and the three-line parallel menu. People intuitively like or believe that what they need is in the right-click menu. We have also seen differences around the world, such as:

• Canada ?? Achieves the crown of efficiency with an average of 12+ keyboard shortcuts per user and approximately 19 right clicks per user.
• France ?? With an average of around 93 clicks per user, French users click the most in the browser.
• Britain ?? We’ve always wondered which country has the most tab accumulators? In the UK, users have the most tabs open with around 7% of users who have opened 16 or more tabs.
• India ?? Are the most orderly in terms of browser usage with over 60% of users having 3 or fewer tabs open.
• United States: We have found that they are at the top of the list of countries that like to access their settings and customize their browsers.

With these ideas, we wanted to create a fresh and modern place, and keep things like icons and menus fluid in a cohesive manner. It meant using simple design and easy-to-understand language to reduce people’s cognitive load, essentially getting them to where they wanted to go faster. It also meant removing alerts and intrusive messages to avoid a jarring experience and provide a more calming environment. Throughout this process, our amazing team of designers really thought about the colors and iconography and wanted to make them more refined and cohesive.

We’ve taken private browsing to the next level

We’ve designed the new Firefox to ensure that using a browser with industry-leading privacy is always an inviting experience. For those who sail exclusively or occasionally in Private Browse fashion, we’re taking privacy to another level with today’s privacy protections. In February, we deployed Total Cookie Protection in ETP (Enhanced Tracking Protection) strict diet. This privacy protection prevents cookies from tracking you around the web by creating a separate cookie box for each website. Today, Total Cookie Protection is now available in private browsing mode.

What’s new for Firefox

We’re excited to share this new Firefox experience on your devices. We plan to roll out some exciting new features this year, which will build on the modern web overhaul of this new Firefox. Whichever device you choose to tackle the web in the future, Firefox will be there for you. We will share more details once we have them.

You can download the latest version of Firefox for your desktop and mobile devices and get ready for a new look and feel.