Mozilla is releasing its latest version of the Firefox browser as of Tuesday with a focus on privacy, accessibility, and customization, according to the brand.
The new release will include a number of features, but one notable highlight is the introduction of a shortcut button for Private Browsing mode that you can pin to your desktop. This is a feature intended for easy access to the feature that is typically found within the triple bar icon at the upper right corner of the browser or when right-clicking the Firefox icon on the Windows taskbar with a mouse or trackpad. While it might not be extremely tedious, this feature takes out some extra steps for those who wish to take advantage.
Additionally, the Firefox Private Browsing mode had gotten some design updates, including a new logo and an automatic dark theme, in order for you to better differentiate between the standard browser and Private Browsing. These upgrades add to the Total Cookie Protection and HTTPS by default features Mozilla added to its Private Browsing last year, according to the brand.
Another feature highlight on the latest browser version of Firefox, which gives you a curated look of up to 25 of your recently closed tabs. Again, this feature works without having to search into your history for old tabs and is different from other browsers that might only show frequently visited tabs rather than recently visited tabs. For many users, they are one and the same but might also include one-off pages you wouldn’t mind revisiting without a hunt. Additionally, with this feature, you can also view the last three active tabs from synced mobile devices.
Mozilla has also added productivity shortcuts to the new Firefox in the form of a PDF editor that allows you to add signatures to documents before printing. Additionally, the browser has a text recognition feature that works for macOS 10.15 and higher and allows you “to copy only the text so that you can share and store without having to manually retype it,” Mozilla stated in a blog post.
Mozilla’s latest version revamp comes after it announced that the browser has updated to its 100th version in May. Firefox has long been an innovative brand, having established the concept of tabs on web browsers since its inception.
Though Firefox remains among the top five most users browsers globally, it ranks fourth with 7.28% of desktop users in September, according to StatsCounter.
This is a slight dip from its 7.86% usership in May at the same rank. In comparison, Apple’s Safari accounts for 8.93% of the world’s desktop browser users, Microsoft Edge users are at 10.81%, and Google Chrome users remain number on at 67.34%.
The latest Firefox version is available for download Tuesday for desktop, Android, and iOS.