Mozilla is rolling out a new update for its popular Firefox web browser for Android. Firefox for Android version 80.0 brings in several new features that users have been longing for. Most notably, the latest version of the browser brings back the back button. Mozilla says the feature has been re-introduced on the feedback from users. “The people have spoken! The back button is back,” the company writes in its Release Notes.
With Firefox 80, users can now view the history of the currently open tab by long pressing on the back button. It’s another handy addition that enhances the browsing experience. The browser now also lets you open as many tabs as you like. Tabs are organized into Collections, a leaf out of Google Chrome’s book.
Firefox now comes with Enhanced Tracking Protection turned on by default. You can easily access the protection settings by tapping the “shield” icon on the left corner of the navigation bar. The navigation bar itself now sits at the bottom of the screen, facilitating a more ergonomic browsing experience. You can still move the navigation bar to the top by navigating into “Customize” settings.
The browser now also follows your device’s system dark/light theme. Mozilla does offer an independent toggle to turn on the dark or light theme, though. Entering Private Browsing (incognito) mode is also as easy as it gets, thanks to the new “one-tap” button on the browser’s home screen. Last but not least, Firefox now supports picture-in-picture for videos.
Firefox Daylight, as Mozilla calls its browser now, is based on the company’s own GeckoView engine.
Mozilla tries to win back users’ trust with Firefox 80 for Android
Mozilla rolled out Firefox 79 for Android backing July, jumping from version 68 to 79 and bringing in a year’s worth of changes. However, it wasn’t received well by users because of several missing features and lack of extensions. The browser also came with a revamped UI, introducing issues of its own.
On top of it, Mozilla was very slow to roll out the update globally. The company is now following up with a new version of the app in order to address the issues that were upsetting users. Hopefully, it’ll be able to win some trust back.
In addition to all the new features and changes mentioned above, Firefox 80 for Android also includes fixes for several known bugs and security issues from previous releases. You can find all the security fixes in Firefox 80 here. The latest version of the browser also brings some changes for web developers.