Firefox Beta and Developer Edition
Release Notes

Release Notes tell you what’s new in Firefox. As always, we welcome your feedback. You can also file a bug in Bugzilla or see the system requirements of this release.

89.0beta Firefox Beta

April 20, 2021

Version 89.0beta, first offered to Beta channel users on April 20, 2021

Firefox Beta gets updated several times per week and as a consequence, the release notes for the Beta channel are updated continuously to reflect features that have reached sufficient maturity to benefit from community feedback and bug reports. In addition to these release notes, you can follow ongoing development on our @FirefoxBeta Twitter account.

New

  • For macOS users, we're introducing the elastic overscroll effect known from many other applications. A gentle bouncing animation will indicate that you reached the end of the page.

    In addition, we added support for smart zoom. Double-tap with two fingers on your trackpad, or with a single finger on your Magic Mouse, to zoom the content below your cursor into focus.

  • Say hello to a fresh new Firefox, designed to get you where you want to go even faster. We've redesigned and modernized the core experience to be cleaner, more inviting, and easier to use.

    Beginning in 89, you'll notice a number of changes, including:

    • Simplified browser chrome and toolbar: Redundant or less frequently used features have been removed to focus on the most important navigation items.
    • Streamlined menus: Content has been re-organized and prioritized according to usage. We've reduced visual noise by removing unnecessary iconography and provided clearer labels.
    • Updated prompts: Infobars and modals have a cleaner design and clearer language.
    • Inspired new tab design: Floating tabs neatly contain information and surface cues when you need them, like visual indicators for audio controls. The rounded design of the active tab supports focus and signals the ability to easily move the tab as needed.
    • Fewer interruptions: We've removed unnecessary alerts and messages.
    • Cohesive, calmer visuals: Lighter iconography, a refined color palette, and more consistent styling throughout.

    This release also includes enhancements to our privacy offerings:

    • We've enhanced the privacy of the Firefox Browser's Private Browsing mode with Total Cookie Protection, which confines cookies to the site where they were created, preventing companies from using cookies to track your browsing from site to site. This feature was previously available only in Firefox's ETP Strict mode.
    • We are rolling out Version 2 of our existing SmartBlock feature, which enables a seamless web page experience that would otherwise stop working when we block trackers.

Fixed

  • Colors in Firefox on macOS will no longer be saturated on wide gamut displays, untagged images are properly treated as sRGB, and colors in images tagged as sRGB will now match CSS colors.

  • In full screen mode on macOS, moving your mouse to the top of the screen will no longer hide your tabs behind the system menu bar.

  • Also in full screen mode on macOS, it is now possible to hide the browser toolbars for a fully immersive full screen experience. This brings macOS in line with Windows and Linux.

Changed

  • Introducing a non-native implementation of web form controls, which delivers a new modern design and some improvements to page load performance. Watch for layout bugs in web pages that make assumptions about the dimensions or styling of form controls.

  • Also on macOS, we are switching to native context menus instead of our custom implementation. Enjoy a consistent look and feel and a better integration with the operating system.

Web Platform

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