Today, Mozilla released Firefox 94 for iOS, with the updated version introducing a new homepage design loaded with quality of life improvements such as the ability to jump back to the last opened tab and searches grouped by topic. On macOS, theming and security have improved.
Starting off with the iOS-specific feature improvements, Firefox claims it brings new features designed for “short bursts of online interactions that are constantly interrupted by life.” The update brings a handy feature using which you can jump back to the tab you were using when you closed the app. This helps pick up right from the last active tab when you reopen the browser. Additionally, bookmarks are now easier to find and get to on Firefox 94.
Previously, Firefox’s homepage only linked commonly-visited websites (just like Google Chrome) and had a space for Collections where one could save tabs for organizing later. On the reorganized homepage in Firefox 94, a section has been added for recent tabs and recent bookmarks alongside the commonly visited website section. In case you want to hide some or all of the sections, there is an option for each section in the Firefox app settings. Announcing the new feature, Mozilla said “we wanted to lift that heavy mental burden of remembering to finish those halfway-read articles or vacation research until you’re ready to jump back and finish those tasks.”
Firefox 94’s redesigned homepage on iOS
Additionally, Firefox 94 for iOS will soon get the feature where tabs that haven’t been used for 14 days will be moved to an inactive section so they don’t clutter the tabs you’re actually using. On Android, the feature is already available and users can choose to automatically close tabs after day, week, or month. This feature can be turned off as well.
About:unloads in Firefox 94 on macOS
Now, coming to the changes Firefox 94 brings for macOS, 18 new themes have been added. Of these, six themes are new limited-time seasonal additions. The updated version also allows Firefox to use Apple’s low-power mode for fullscreen video playback on YouTube and Twitch so you can consume content for longer. For power users, Firefox 94 offers a new page called about:unloads so tabs can be manually unloaded from system resources without closing them.
Besides this, Firefox 94 for macOS also sports a new Site Isolation feature so users are protected against side-channel attacks such as Spectre, thereby improving security.
Do let us know other features you would like to see on upcoming versions of Firefox.
